Princess Marie by Prince Matchabelli was launched in 1933 as a tender tribute to a vanished world and a lost princess—Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, one of the four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II, born in 1899 and executed in 1918 during the Russian Revolution. The name “Princess Marie” would have been immediately evocative to those familiar with the tragic story of the Romanovs, then only fifteen years past their downfall. It reflected not only nostalgia for imperial splendor, but also a personal connection: Prince Georges V. Matchabelli himself was a Georgian nobleman and former ambassador to Italy for the Imperial Russian court. He was part of that aristocratic diaspora who carried the memory of the Romanovs with them into exile. Naming a perfume Princess Marie was both a poetic memorial and a romantic gesture—an embodiment of innocence, grace, and the poignant glamour of a fallen dynasty.
To women in 1933, Princess Marie would have represented both escapism and refinement. America was in the depths of the Great Depression, and romantic imagery from Old Europe offered a kind of emotional refuge. The name "Princess Marie" evoked youthful charm, courtly elegance, and a wistful nobility. It wasn’t simply a perfume—it was a story, wrapped in memories and royal lace. The scent itself was described as “sweet, spicy, with a whiff of carnation,” and also as “witty, teasing, aloof—the freshness after rainfall,” suggesting an airy floral spiced with character, not cloying but playful, elusive, and haunting. A bouquet of pinks—likely referring to dianthus or carnations—was at its heart, giving it a piquant, peppery lift.
