Peter Troubetzkoy

Who was Peter Troubetzkoy?

Pyotr Petrovich Troubetzkoy, was a Russian diplomat, administrator and general.

Troubetzkoy was born in Tulcin in 1822.

His first wife was Varvara Yourievna Troubetzkoy.

In 1844 he was appointed governor of Smolensk, and Orel.

In 1865 he went to Florence on a diplomatic mission which included the supervision of the Russian church there. In Florence he met Ada Winans, an American lyric singer, and with her moved to Ghiffa on Lake Maggiore.

Troubetzkoy divorced Varvara in 1870 and married Ada. He could then recognize his three sons born from Ada : Pierre, Paul and Luigi.

Keen on botany, Piotr found in Ghiffa the best place to develop an important botanic garden and build his residential Villa.

In 1884, owing to the financial disaster of the Panama canal construction he was forced to sell the villa in Ghiffa and, separated from Ada, he retired with Marianna Hahn first in Milano where was born their natural son Pietro Troubetzkoy Hahn 1886, and finally to Menton where he died in 1892.