Nicholas Tchkotoua

His Illustrious Highness Prince Nicholas Tchkotoua
Born	(1909-09-24)September 24, 1909 Batumi, Georgia
Died	13 May 1984(1984-05-13)(aged 74) Lausanne, Switzerland
Nationality	Georgian / US-American
Occupation(s)	Author and Ambassador of the Order of Malta
Spouse	Carol Carpenter Marmon
Children	Tamara, Zourab, Nina, Charles, Marina, Dimitri
Website	www.tchkotoua.com

His Serene Highness PrinceNicholas Tchkotoua(1909-1984) was aGeorgianwriter and a prominent member of theOrder of Malta.He fled his homeland after the takeover by theBolsheviksin 1921.

Early life and ancestry

Tchkotoua Family Coat of Arms

Born into theHouse of Tchkhotua,an oldGeorgian noble family,which later became also part of theRussian nobility,as the son of Prince ChalvaCharlesTchkhotua (1873-1931) and his wife and cousin, Princess Pelagia Platonovna Tchkhotua (1883-1943). He had one brother, Prince Zourab.

United States

Tchkotoua was educated in France and Switzerland and settled in the US in 1933, where he met and married Carol Marmon, only daughter ofHoward Carpenter Marmon(creator of the Marmon Wasp)whilst at theMarmon Motor Car Company).

In 1949, Tchkotoua published a novel he wrote in English, claimed as the first-ever internationally published novel written by a Georgian.In the novel, set inTbilisi,LausanneandParisbefore theFirst World War,Georgian Prince Shota's love for his Taya, a Russian princess, remains faithful even when outside forces manipulate their emotions, prise them apart and Shota ends up betrothed to an American. But it is the emotion, rather than the betrothal, that concerns the author. A new, re-edited version of the novel was published in 2008 to some acclaim.

Death-wish

The family grave in 2024.

Tchkotoua and his family later moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where he died in 1984.He found his final resting place next to his wife, who had already died in 1966, at the cemetery of Compesières inBardonnex,a municipality in the Swisscanton of Geneva,where theCompesières Commandryof the Order of Malta is located. One of their sons - the car racing driver Zourab (1937-2019) - was buried in the family grave as well.

Tchkotoua had asked that after his death his heart be buried in Georgia. In 1988 his family smuggled it back to the cemetery in Vera,Tbilisi,where it lies to this day.