While in Nice, in 1891, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich fell in love with Countess Sophie von Merenberg, daughter of Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau and his morganatic wife, "née" Natalie Alexandrovna Pushkin, a member of the minor Russian nobility. Sophie's maternal grandfather was the renowned poet-author Alexander Pushkin; through him, she had black African ancestry (one part in 32) as a direct descendant of Peter the Great's "protégé", Abram Petrovich Gannibal. The grand duke met Sophie when he saved her from a horse that had run away with her. He did not bother to ask for the necessary permission for the marriage from the Tsar or his parents because he knew it would not be granted. They were married in San Remo on 26 February 1891.