KILLED IN SMASH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 181, 5 August 1935, Page 7

KILLED IN SMASH

, FAMED SOCIETY FIGURE PRINCE ALEXIS MDIVANI. BARCELONA. Aug. 2. Prince Alexis Aldivaui was killed in a motor-car accident near Gerona and a woman friend was seriously injured. The prince was taking her to Perpigan to catch the Paris train when the car ran into a ditch and overturned. Prince Alexis Mdivani attained world-wide fame in 1933 when he married -Miss Barbara Hutton, the twentyon c-year old heiress to some of the Woolworth millions. Miss Jlutton’s father left her one-third of his £12,000,000 fortune, ami nt her introduction to society in 1930 there were a thousand guests. She was fascinated by travel, and though it was often rumoured that she was engaged, she remained unmar-

| j m 11. .along (•ante the prince. He was a descendant of Georgian nobility. His lather, who died in a clinic in I aris in April, 1933, was Prince Zachary Mdivani, a general and former aide to the Tsar of Russia. The prince, with his two brothers, de'•ided that Russia had noHiing to offer, ? When the war ami revolution camt ' they were forced to flee to Paris, as s penniless as any other refugees. Across the sea lay the land of op port unity and matrimonial progress. When a sister of the three princes Princess Roussadana, became popular in Hollywood, where she established a reputation as a sculptress, Prince David went, to join her. He married Mae Murray, then a popular motion picture star. That marriage ended in 1933. when Mae Murray sued for divorce, charging that her princely husband was unreasonably .jealous and objected to the plaudits movie goers gave her. Prince Serge was the next to appear. ID and Pola Negri soon were married. However, there wu.s a divorce two ( years later and Prime Serge married I Mary McCormic, the singer. Recently she sued him for separate maintenance, charging cruelty, and finally divorced j I.im. A Broken Romance. r A lexis came lasi. Al UaniHridgc Uni I versify where lie studied, he hud met i William Van Alen, and was invited to i go to America as a guest of the Van - Alons.* William \an Alen had a sis 1 ter, Louise Astor \an Alen, great - granddaughter of the late Mrs. William Astor. She ami Prince Alexis 1 were married in 193 L. The romance did not last. The stoiv- ’ book ending did not take place. Rum ours began Io drift across the tin tables [ that the prince was transferring his < affections to Barbara Hutton. After Prime Alexis and bis wile had separate, d, he was seen quite frequently with Miss Hutton. He wooed her persistently. Then, on November 29, 1932, Louise Aston Van Alen obtained a formal divorce from Prince Alexis Mdivani at The Hague ami the prince was free to woo the other heiress. They were married in .1933 and divorced this year, Airs. Hutton Mdivani being reniarrred at onee to Count Reventlow. The Mdivani-Hutton wed-