Based on previously unpublished documents, this book traces the life in Paris of Countess Olga von Hohenfelsen, later known as Princess Paley, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul of Russia, uncle of the last emperor Nicholas II.

While immersing us in the world of Marcel Proust (most of Princess Paley's social contacts had fed the writer's imagination) the book explores the couple's day-to-day life, highlighting their relationships with leading suppliers such as couturiers Worth and Paquin, and the jeweler Cartier. It also provides an overview of the Parisian art market, and follows the development of the couple's successive residences from Paris to St Petersburg. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the importance of the collection was recognised, as was the importance of the palace built to house it, which for a time housed the Museum of French Art and History. Dispersed during the 1920s, the collection is here studied as a whole for the first time.