During World War II, Natalia and her daughter were separated as Natalia lived in Paris, and her daughter was in Britain. They were unable to communicate with each other until after the war, by which time Natalia was penniless and lived as a refugee in an attic box-room. On 23 January 1952, she died of cancer at the Laënnec charity hospital in Paris in complete poverty, and was buried in Passy Cemetery (Section 9, near the intersection with the outer wall and Section 8) in Paris beside her son George, Count Brasov.