Lot Essay
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (1875-1960) was born at Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg, the fourth child and eldest daughter of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. She married Grand Duke Alexander (Sandro) Mikhailovich, son of Michael Nikolaevich, in August 1894 and eventually bore seven children. Following the Revolution, Xenia escaped from Russia with her mother the Dowager Empress Maria and settled in England. By 1920, she had been allowed to move into Frogmore Cottage in Windsor Great Park by King George V, her first cousin. By the end of the 1930s, Xenia had moved to Wilderness House in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, where she remained until her death in 1960.