Publications
A Princess of Dreams: The Life and Times of Lydia Yavorska, Princess Bariatinsky, by John & Jeannette Simpson, published 2016 (350 pp., Old Shoreham Publishing, ISBN-10: 0993318002 & ISBN-13: 9780993318009) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries
Abstract:Many visitors to the glorious Norman church of St Nicolas' Old Shoreham are curious about this unusual gravestone but few know the full story. It marks the last resting place of a Russian Princess, whose life story reads like an even more dramatic version of the plot of Doctor Zhivago. Born in Kiev, daughter of a police chief, she became an acclaimed actress in Moscow, where her lifestyle, including her relationship with the writer Chekhov, both shocked and fascinated society, although audiences worshipped her. Her marriage to a Prince scandalised the Russian Court.
With her husband's support, she managed her own theatre in St Petersburg, and introduced to the repertoire the work of many avant-garde playwrights. The couple's liberal views became too much for the Imperial authorities so they left Russia to tour Europe, and then settled in London. She became a fashion icon and a Suffragette, and took the English stage by storm. Her production of the first stage version of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in English was an outstanding success and the record-breaking run was only halted by the outbreak of WWI.
She raised funds for relief work in Russia and returned there in 1915 and became a staunch opponent of the Bolsheviks. After the Revolution, a warrant was issued for her arrest but she narrowly escaped and fled back to England. She died in Hove in 1921 and now lies in this quiet churchyard. In her day, she was world-famous, but today few people know of her dramatic life.
With her husband's support, she managed her own theatre in St Petersburg, and introduced to the repertoire the work of many avant-garde playwrights. The couple's liberal views became too much for the Imperial authorities so they left Russia to tour Europe, and then settled in London. She became a fashion icon and a Suffragette, and took the English stage by storm. Her production of the first stage version of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in English was an outstanding success and the record-breaking run was only halted by the outbreak of WWI.
She raised funds for relief work in Russia and returned there in 1915 and became a staunch opponent of the Bolsheviks. After the Revolution, a warrant was issued for her arrest but she narrowly escaped and fled back to England. She died in Hove in 1921 and now lies in this quiet churchyard. In her day, she was world-famous, but today few people know of her dramatic life.