Catherine Gavrilovna Chislova

Biography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Chislova

Catherine Gavrilovna Chislova (Russian: Екатерина Гавриловна Числова) (21 September 1846 – 13 December 1889) was a Russian ballerina. She was the mistress of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich; they had five children.

Catherine Chislova was born on 21 September 1846, the daughter of Gabriel Chislov.[1] She became a danceuse with the Imperial Ballet.[2] She was an unrivalled partner to the famous Felix Kschessinsky [pl] in the Polish mazurka.[2]

Tsar Alexander II advised his brother to be more discreet and the couple traveled to San Remo and the Crimea. In 1881, the Grand Duke’s wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, retired to a convent in Kiev. Having given up her career as a dancer for him, and fearing for their children's well-being if something happened to him, Catherine Chislova begged Nicholas Nikolaievich to provide for her and their family. He arranged a change of class into the gentry for Catherine, and the couple’s illegitimate children were granted the surname Nikolaiev on 8 December 1882 by Tsar Alexander III of Russia.[1]
Unable to obtain a divorce, Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich hoped to survive his wife and then marry his mistress.[3]

However, Catherine Chislova died unexpectedly in Crimea on 13 December 1889. She was buried in the monastery of Saint Serge in St Petersburg under the name Catherine Gavrilovna Nikolaiev.[1] The Grand Duke had cancer and survived her by only two years. The couple’s two sons were elevated to the Russian nobility in 1894.

Children

1. Olga Nikolaevna Nikolaeva, (10 June 1868 - 31 August 1950). She married Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Cantacuzene (1858-1927), lieutenant-general, had two daughters, after the revolution they lived in France.
2. Vladimir Nikolaevich Nikolaev (4 June 1873 - 28 January 1942). He was an adjutant to Emperor Nicholas II since 1893, after the revolution he lived in Paris, had five children from four marriages, whose descendants live in the south of France, Quebec, and Finland. Of these, only daughter Galina (1897-1971) remained in Soviet Russia - with her husband, Colonel Alexander Nikolayevich Gotovsky, who was shot in 1937. The couple had three sons: Rostislav (1922-1991), Sergey (1924-1946), George (1927-1932); the descendants of the eldest of them live in Moscow
3. Catherine Nikolaevna Nikolaeva (1874 - 26 January 1940). She was married to Nikolai Korevo and Ivan Persiani. After the revolution, she lived in Belgrade where she died.
4. Nicholas Nikolaevich Nikolaev (16 April 1875 - 9 January 1902). He was an adjutant to his halfbrother Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich the Younger, He married Olga Dmitrievna Zabotkina (1871-1925) and they had two daughters. After his death, his widow became the wife of his brother Vladimir.
5. Galina Nikolaevna Nikolaeva (28 January 1877 - 3 August 1878). Died in childhood.

Википедия русская балерина, любовница великого князя Николая Николаевича и мать его пятерых детей.

роспись потомков http://alexorgco.narod.ru/Romanovs/Nicolaevi.htm