Countess Anastasia Mikhailovna de Torby, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, otherwise styled Lady Zia Wernher, was the elder daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, by Countess Sophie of Merenberg.
Background
Like her mother, Anastasia was born of a morganatic marriage, and was ineligible to bear her father"s title or rank. Through her mother, she descended from the renowned Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, as well as from his ancestor Abram Petrovich Gannibal, Peter the Great"s African protégé.
Career
On 20 July 1917 Countess Anastasia de Torby married British Major-General Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Bt (1893–1973) (son of wealthy financier, Sir Julius Wernher, Bt, who had made his fortune in South African diamonds). In the following September, she was accorded the style and precedence of the daughter of an earl by Royal Warrant of George V, and discontinued use of her comital title. Henceforth she was known as Lady Zia Wernher.
Their firstborn, Captain George Michael Alexander Wernher, was born in 1918 and was killed in action in Egypt at the age of twenty-four.
George Michael Alexander Georgina Kennard. Married Lieutenant- Harold Phillips (1909–1980) Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn (born 27 February 1946) Nicholas Harold Phillips (23 August 1947 – 1 March 1991) Fiona Mercedes Phillips (born 30 March 1951) Marita Georgina Phillips (born 28 May 1954) Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster (born 8 May 1959) Myra Alice Wernher.
Married Major Sir David Henry Butter Maralyn Ramsay, Countess of Dalhousie (née Maralyn Butter).