Enter (In to marriage) At Your Own Risk

I recently stumbled across the story of one Henrietta (Harriet) Ely Blackford, aka Fanny Lear, and while not much is know about her, what tidbits I found made for a fascinating story.

Born in 1848 in Philadelphia to a respectable minister and his wife, she at sometime became the first real American courtesan. As she was a divorcee, most likely she became a courtesan as society would have closed their doors to her. Or, its entirely possible that it was her behavior that led to her being divorced. In any case she became quite notorious in America, and with the threat of arrest over her head she fled to Europe.

It was in Europe she met the Grand Duke Nicholas, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, and nephew of the reigning Tsar, Alexander III. The Grand Duke must have been truly smitten with Harriet and he gave her a diamond necklace that he had stolen from his own mother. Even more misguided, he wanted to marry Harriet, and even had the affront to request permission from his uncle, Tsar Alexander III, to marry her.

The Tsar was not sympathetic to his nephew, and immediately sent Nicolas to the battlefront. Harriet was arrested, and ordered out of the country. They would never see each other again.

I suppose the Russian Imperial family didn't want to imprison the Grand Duke (He survived his foray to the battlefront) so he was sent to live in exile in an area of the empire now known as Uzbekistan where he married the daughter of a local police chief, and had a number of children by various woman. He died in 1918.

As for Harriet, she wrote a book under the pen name Fanny Lear about her adventures in Russia, and died at the age of 38 in 1886 in Nice, France.

I wonder what the Tsar's objections were to Harriet? Was it because she was non-royal? Her notorious past, or was it because she was suspected in being involved in the plot to rob the Grand Duke's mother? A few other American woman did marry Russian princes and were presented at court. However, maybe the Grand Duke was too close to the throne for comfort. In any case, Harriet was lucky she was just shown the door. Her fate could have been Siberia, or worst. This was a marriage just not worth the risk.