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Russian Princess Olga Romanoff from Norton near Faversham reveals her ideal man on ITV show Keeping Up With The Aristocrats

12:16, 16 January 2022

updated: 21:11, 16 January 2022

Kent's own real-life royal is likely to win a whole new army of TV fans as she reveals her ideal man.

Princess Olga Romanoff, a distant relative of the last emperor of Russia, appears in the first episode of Keeping Up With The Aristocrats tomorrow night (Monday) at 9pm on ITV.

Russian Princess Olga Romanoff at her home at Provender House. Picture: Tony Flashman
Russian Princess Olga Romanoff at her home at Provender House. Picture: Tony Flashman

The 71-year-old was born in London but moved to Provender House, tucked away in the village of Norton just off the A2 between Faversham and Sittingbourne, when she was a week old.

In the opening episode she is one of 50 diners at Lord Ivar Mountbatten's first pop-up restaurant at his Bridwell estate in Devon. Tickets are £165.

Guests discover what her ideal type of man is. She has been single since her marriage ended in 1989.

She told the Daily Mail that her daughter, Alex, who also features in the programme, had signed her up to an online dating agency.

"Unfortunately, I make the mistake of saying in the programme that I’d quite like a man who was ex-military, a trained killer. When it goes out, I’m going to be contacted by every psycho in England, aren’t I?"

Princess Olga outside Provender House near Faversham
Princess Olga outside Provender House near Faversham

She has quite a list of requirements for a future husband. He would be an attractive "a huntin’, shootin’, fishin’" type.

"Unfortunately, my chances of finding a man in his 70s who can sit on a horse and pick up a gun and look good are remote."

Her dream man was Prince Philip, who she met at a Serbian funeral.

"He had everything, backbone of steel, good sense of humour, there wasn’t a sport he couldn’t handle. He said it as it was, even if people got upset."

The TV show has exclusive access to four of Britain's most prominent aristocratic dynasties over one summer’s social season. Asset-rich, but often cash strapped, this posh bunch are mischievously self-deprecating and jolly.

Keeping Up With The Aristocrats on ITV on Monday at 9pm. Picture: ITV (54287686)
Keeping Up With The Aristocrats on ITV on Monday at 9pm. Picture: ITV (54287686)

An ITV spokesman said: "This fun and intriguing series lifts the lid on the lives of absolutely fabulous Lords, Ladies, and even the odd Princess, as they try to earn a crust."

Princess Olga's father was Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, nephew of Tsar Nicolas II, who was massacred, along with his wife and children, by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Her father, then 21, fled to Britain to be joined by members of the surviving family who would spend the rest of their lives in exile and dependent on their British relatives.

Her grandmother, a first cousin to George V, lived in a succession of grace-and-favour houses including, for 10 years, Frogmore Cottage, latterly home to Meghan and Harry and now Princess Eugenie and her family.

The Romanoffs were first associated with Provender House in 1890. Princess Olga's grandmother Sylvia McDougall, part of the Scottish flour family, bought it in 1912 for her mother who was living there as a tenant.

Provender House, Norton. Picture: Mike Smith
Provender House, Norton. Picture: Mike Smith

It is a vast 30-room 13th century property open to the public between May and October. Tours at £20 a head are conducted by Princess Olga herself. She said: “As hard as it is to maintain, I would never leave this house now.”

Details from www.provenderhouse.co.uk

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