Elim Pavlovich Demidov, 3rd Prince of San Donato (; 6 August (20 June, per Ferrand) 1868, in

Hietzing Hietzing () is the 13th Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna (). It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling. Hietzing is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also contains large areas of the Vi ...

suburb of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

– 28 March 1943, in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

) of the

Demidov The Demidov family (Russian: Деми́довы), also known as Demidoff or Dimidov, is a prominent Russian nobility, Russian noble family that rose to immense wealth and influence during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Demidovs became a wealth ...

industrial family, was the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

's last

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, where he and his wife remained in exile and him as White Russian ambassador.

Family

Elim Demidov was the only son of Princess

Maria Meshcherskaya Princess Maria Elimovna Meshcherskaya (; 1844–1868), was a Russian nobility, Russian noblewoman. She is known for her love affair with the future Alexander III of Russia, who attempted to renounce his place as heir to the throne in order to ma ...

and

Pavel Pavlovitch Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato (; 9 October 1839 – 26 January 1885) was a Russian industrialist, jurist, Table of Ranks, master of the hunt at Russian imperial court, philanthropist and nobleman of the Demidov, House o ...

. His mother, descended from indigenous princes of the

Volga Finns The Volga Finns are a historical group of peoples living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the Moksha (commonly grouped together as Mordvins) as well as ...

Meshchera The Meshchera or Meshchyora () were a Finno-Ugric tribe in the Volga region between the Oka River and the Klyazma river, today called the Meshchera Lowlands, who assimilated with the neighbouring tribes around the 16th century. History The f ...

and

Mordovia Mordovia ( ),; Moksha language, Moksha and officially the Republic of Mordovia,; ; is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of S ...

, died two days after his birth, whilst Elim's paternal grandmother was the Finnish beauty and philanthropist

Aurora Karamzin Eva Aurora Charlotta Karamzin ( Stjernvall; 1 or 7 August 1808 – 13 May 1902) was a Finnish philanthropist and a lady-in-waiting in the Imperial Court of Russia. She is better known as Princess Aurora Demidova and Aurora Karamzin, titles th ...

. Elim got close with his grandmother Aurora, who took care of him as an infant. His father died when Elim was just 18 years old. He had six half-brothers and half-sisters from his father's second marriage with Princess Elena (Hélène) Petrovna Trubetskaya. He married Countess Sophia Hilarionovna Vorontsova-Dashkova (9 August 1870, Novo Temnikovo - 16 April 1953, Athens), in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

on 18 April 1893. They had no children.

Career

Demidov chose to serve in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1890, he graduated from the Imperial Alexander Lyceum in

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...

. In December 1891, he was permitted to use the title of Prince of San Donato, which had been granted to his father by the King of Italy, but only within the borders of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1894, Demidov was appointed to the Russian Crown Embassy in London, and in 1897 he became second secretary of the embassy, with the rank of court councilor and the title of chamberlain. From 1901, Elim Demidov served as master of the hunt at the imperial court in St. Petersburg. In 1902, he was appointed first secretary of the embassy in Madrid, and in 1903, first secretary of the embassy in Copenhagen. From 1905 to 1908, he was first secretary of the embassy in Vienna. In 1911, he became a councilor of the embassy in Paris, and from 1912 to 1917, he was envoy to Greece with the rank of actual state councilor. In 1913, he inherited a fortune from his second cousin Nechayev-Maltsov, further increasing his wealth. Speculating in 1895 about the richest man on earth,

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

stated that "the wealth of Elim Demidoff is beyond calculation". In the early 20th century, Emperor

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

sent prince Elim as the Russian ambassador to the Greek court. His Greek connections played a role when he arranged his nephew

Prince Paul of Yugoslavia Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, also known as Paul Karađorđević (, English transliteration: ''Paul Karageorgevich''; 27 April 1893 – 14 September 1976), was prince regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the minority of King Peter II. Paul w ...

to marry

Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (; 11 June 1903 – 16 October 1997) was a Greek princess who married Prince Paul, Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After her marriage, she was known as Princess Paul of Yugoslavia. Princess Olga was a d ...

in 1923. He died in 1943, and is buried with his wife at the Russian Orthodox

Church of the Holy Trinity, Athens The Church of the Holy Trinity (, ) is a Byzantine-era church at Filellinon Street that serves the Russian Orthodox community of Athens, Greece. History The church is known by a variety of names: the Russian Church (Ρωσική Εκκλησία ...

. His half-brother Anatoly Pavlovich Demidov became the 4th Prince of San Donato.

Honours

* Chamberlain, Russia, 1897 * Master of the Hunt, Russia, 1901 *

Active State Councillor Active State Councillor (, deystvitelnyi statskiy sovetnik) was a civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. That was a civil rank of the 4th class and equal to those of M ...

, Russia, 1912

Writings

Hunting Trips in the Caucasus (1898)

After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia (1900)

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demidov, Elim 1868 births 1943 deaths Elim Princes of San Donato White Russian emigrants to Greece Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Greece Ambassadors of the Russian Empire to Greece Burials in Athens Russian people of Finnish descent