Princess Melikoff

Princess Melikoff (1893–1988), philanthropist, was born Pauline Curran, a favoured and fortunate child in a middle-class merchant family in Hobart. After her father's death, and past the age where a young woman should be married, Pauline travelled to Europe. She was now wealthy, and known for her vitality and humour. Pauline returned to Hobart in 1925 with her fiancé, Prince Maximilian Melikoff, a Russian aristocrat in exile, and the girl from the wool and grain store was welcomed back for what became Hobart's 'Royal Wedding'. After she died in London, the Princess Melikoff Trust Fund was established to 'prevent the practice of killing the baby seals and dolphins', and it supports several marine life conservation programmes in Tasmania, as well as St Ann's Homes for the aged.

Interest in Princess Melikoff was renewed in 2004 when Tasmanian woman Mary Donaldson became Princess Mary of Denmark.

Victoria Rigney