As I was checking out the translated pages of Point de Vue for any pictures of the wedding anniversary of the Portuguese royals this weekend, I found this scandal that was reported about a week ago, if page loads in French just mouse over and right click over the browser page and select translate to English:
Did this family secret cause the divorce of Archduke Alexander of Austria?
By Chloé Friedmann - May 05, 2025, 5:15 p.m.
The rumour of a rift between the Archduke and Natacha Rumiantzoff-Pashkevich was born on the blog of the historian Marlene A. Eilers Koenig on 19 April. Since then, the German daily Bunte has looked into the "scandal" that could be at the origin of this separation.
Did he marry a "false countess"? At least that's what the daily Bunte claims in an article published on May 5. According to the German media, this "scandal" could be at the origin of the recent divorce between the young man and his (ex?) wife Natacha, pronounced after a year and a half of marriage. "The family of Counts Rumiantzoff-Pashkevich does not exist," wrote journalist Antonia Barbarino. This information was already shared by historian Marlene A. Eilers Koenig on her blog in 2023.
I recall reading about this suspicion here in the RFs, I just don't remember where but that there were questions on the family title that had nothing to do with his wife Natacha because, from what I recall, she also believed she was part of a noble family, too and not a long standing made up claim by an ancestor.
Europe has so many fraudulent aristocrats from the past that never got exposed, it's bad that this young lady had to discover it later in life. And this is not just an European thing, here in the USA we also had modern day impostors...think of a man named George Santos!