"The fact that Claire is a Catholic and I a member of the Orthodox Church," gloomed handsome young Bridegroom Ivan Obolensky, "was a hurdle to our marriage of which we were both aware." Considering the young people's families, that was understandable enough.
Ivan is not only Yale '47, ex-U.S. Navy and grandson of the late John Jacob Astor; he is also the spiritual heir of a hundred proud Orthodox princes of Muscovy. Ivan's father, Prince Serge Obolensky, renounced his own Czarist title to become a U.S. citizen, eventually became manager of Manhattan's Sherry-Netherland...