Mdivani

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mdivani is the name of a family of the aznauri, or minor nobility, originating from the nation of Georgia. The best known bearers of this name were a group of five siblings who fled to Paris after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and there reinvented themselves as "princes" and "princesses". They became known as the "Marrying Mdivanis", as the siblings all managed to marry into wealth and fame. Their father, Zakharias Mdivani, once quipped that he was the only man to inherit a princely title from his children, and not the other way around. The Mdivani siblings were:

Alexis Mdivani (died 1935), who married Louise Astor Van Alen (a member of the Astor family) in 1931, but divorced her to marry Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton,one of the world's richest women at the time. He died in an automobile accident.

Serge Mdivani (died 1936), who married actress Pola Negri in 1927, but when she lost her fortune in the Stock Market Crash of 1929, he abandoned her and took up with opera singer Mary MacCormick, who divorced him in a highly-publicized trial. He then married his former sister-in-law, Louise Astor Van Alen Mdivani, in 1936, but died later that year in a polo accident.

David Mdivani (died 1984), who married actress Mae Murray, and had a son, Koran David, with her. After he bankrupted her, she divorced him in 1933 and they became involved in a fierce custody battle over their child. He was involved with French actress Arletty. David then married Sinclair Oil heiress Virginia Sinclair in 1944, and they had another son.

Isabelle Roussadana Mdivani (died 1938), aka Roussie or Roussy. A sculptor, she married the Spanish painter José María Sert in 1928.

Nina Mdivani, who married (1) banker Charles H. Huberich and (2) Denis Conan Doyle, a son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.