Nicholas Galitzine
Galitzine in 2016, photo by Joe Seer/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Nicholas Dimitri Konstantine Galitzine
Place of Birth: Westminster, London, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 29 September, 1994
Ethnicity:
*father – English, as well as 1/16th French
*mother – Greek
Nicholas Galitzine is a British actor and model. He has starred in the films High Strung, Handsome Devil, Share (2019), The Craft: Legacy, Cinderella (2021), Purple Hearts, Bottoms, Red, White & Royal Blue; and The Idea of You; on the series Chambers and Mary & George, and in the made-for-tv movie The Watcher in the Woods (2017).
His father, Geoffrey Leo Alexander Galitzine (born Tier), is of English descent, along with one sixteenth French. His mother, Lora Maria Konstantina (Papayanni), was raised at least partly in the U.S., and has Greek roots. His parents are financiers, and his father has worked with a glass-recycling business. His sister, Lexi Galitzine, is an illustrator and interior stylist. His father was named Geoffrey Leo after his own uncle.
The name Galitzine comes from the House of Golitsyn or Galitzine, one of the largest princely noble houses in the Russian Empire. Many Galitzine family members left Russia during the 1917 Revolution. Nicholas, his father, and grandfather are all listed as titled Princes in notations. Nicholas has stated that he is of Russian and Greek descent. Nicholas’ paternal grandfather legally changed his name from Tier to Galitzine in 1955. He had been using the name for a time. It is not clear where the origin for the change comes from in Nicholas’ family, but Nicholas’ paternal grandfather was English by birth.
Nicholas’ paternal grandfather was Edward Ralph Alexander Tier, also known as Alexander Galitzine (the son of Leonard Edward Tier and Nellie German). Nicholas’ grandfather Edward was born in 1913 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Leonard was the son of Edward Tier, who was born in Westborne, Sussex, England, and of Charlotte Caught. Nellie was the daughter of Alexander George German and Ellen Jane Burwood.
Nicholas’ paternal grandmother was Mary Betty Boult (the daughter of Leonard Arthur Boult and Florence Gertrude Eaton). Mary was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. Leonard was the son of Robert Boult and Kate Bullard. Florence was the daughter of Richard Eaton, whose mother was French; and of Harriett Nightingale.
Nicholas’ maternal grandfather was Nicholas/Nicolas A. Papayanni/Papayannis (the son of Alexander Papayannis and Maria Maganari). Nicholas was born in Brăila, Romania, where there is a Greek community, and later lived in Athens, Greece.
Sources: The London Gazette notation on Nicholas’s family’s name change, 1956 – https://books.google.ca
Speculative family histories of Nicholas Galitzine – https://www.hollywoodancestry.com
https://www.hollywoodancestry.com
https://www.teenvogue.com
Marriage records of Nicholas’s paternal grandparents, Edward Ralph Alexander Tier and Mary Betty Boult – https://www.familysearch.org
https://www.familysearch.org
Birth record of Nicholas’s paternal grandfather, Edward Ralph Alexander Tier – https://www.familysearch.org
Baptismal record of Nicholas’s paternal grandfather, Edward Ralph Alexander Tier – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage record of Nicholas’s paternal great-grandparents, Leonard Edward Tier and Nellie German – https://www.familysearch.org
Nicholas’s paternal great-grandparents, Leonard Edward Tier and Nellie German, on the 1911 England and Wales Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Baptismal record of Nicholas’s paternal great-grandfather, Leonard Edward Tier – https://www.familysearch.org
Nicholas’s paternal great-grandfather, Leonard Edward Tier, on the 1881 England and Wales Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Leonard Edward Tier on the 1891 England and Wales Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage record of Nicholas’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Edward Tier and Charlotte Caught – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage record of Nicholas’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Alexander George German and Ellen Jane Burwood – https://www.familysearch.org
Was his maternal grandfather of Vlach/Aromanian background?
There are many ethnic Greeks in eastern Romania near the Black sea coast, so I’d assume he might actually just be Greek.
Thanks for the feedback
Yes, Nicholas Papayanni was his grandfather. Interestingly, Nicholas Galitzine’s parents’ marriage announcement and later one related to his birth, overall, list him, his father, and his grandfather as “pr” – Prince. So he may be a titled Prince even outside of Cinderella.
However, I can’t find anything on his grandfather Alexander Galitzine, who may have been born around 1913. It doesn’t look like his father was born in England.
His mother may have been born in Greece, or at least raised there, though I don’t know who her mother was or whether she was Greek. Her father died in the U.S. and hung around the U.S. at least in the 1950s.
I think his maternal grandfather might be Nicholas A. Papayannis (1923-2005).
This guy is gorgeous, especially with his bee stung lips. Thought he was ethnically English, but his surname says otherwise. I would’ve guessed Ashkenazi Jewish.
Nicholas is the son of Geoffrey Leo Alexander Galitzine and Lora Maria Konstantina Papayanni.