Dimitri Djordjadze

Prince Dimitri Djordjadze (October 26, 1898 – October, 1985) was a Georgian nobleman, Ambassador Hotel executive and race car driver.

Djordjadze was a member of the nobility of the province of Tiflis, who became exiled after the overthrow of Tsarist Russia and the subsequent Bolshevik takeover.

The six foot three inch Prince Djordjadze was probably best-known in racing circles. In early July 1931, he won the Touring Car Grand Prix, 24 Hours Spa Race, in Belgium. He covered the greatest distance, 1,580.7 miles at a speed of 65.8 miles per hour, in a Mercedes-Benz SSK with Goffredo Zehender.

Djordjadze was married twice. His first wife was Audrey Emery, the American-born former wife of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia; he married her in March 1937 in Maidstone, England). After their divorce, he married in 1954 Sylvia Ashley, a onetime English showgirl who was the former wife of Clark Gable and the widow of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

In June 1940, he bought the historic South Carolina plantation known as Boone Hall, eight miles from Charleston, from Thomas A. Stone of Canada. Boone Hall is one of the handsomest and most historic plantations in the South.

Djordjadze also raced Thoroughbreds under the "nom de course", Boone Hall stable. Most notable of his horses was Princequillo, who in 1943 was the fastest distance runner in the United States and who became a two-time Leading sire in North America and a seven-time Leading broodmare sire in North America.

Dimitri Djordjadze was associated with Prince Serge Obolensky in the hotel business in New York City.

Biography

* Gale Elton Mayo, "The Man in a Panther Skin: the Life of Prince Dimitri Djordjadze" (1985).

External links

* [http://www.purtonstoke.com/dmitri.htm Motor Races 1931 - Belgian 24-Hours-Race]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ga/georgian/history.html Republic of Georgia]
* [http://genealogy.euweb.cz/titles/russprince.html Princes of the Russian Empire]
* [http://hydrogen.pallasweb.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=roots;action=display;num=1099252953 The Alexander Palace Discussion Board - Princely families]