The title had formerly been held by his great-grandfather, Mikhail Speransky, Russian statesman and one-time adviser to Tsar Alexander I.

His mother was exiled to Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique) and was buried in Macequece (now called Villa de Manica).

He served with distinction and was wounded in battle in 1914;[2] as commander of the South Russia Cossacks, in 1915 he led 15,000 men in what has been called the last great cavalry charge against a fortified position in military history.

[3] The family left Russia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution; in 1917, they escaped from Petrograd with her jewels sewn into her clothing and fled, via Finland, to the United States.

The couple relocated to Sarasota, Florida, joining the firm founded by her aunt Bertha Palmer.

Aunt and niece travelled throughout Europe to promote interest in the World's Columbian Exposition as well as to collect art.

[5][6] Miss Grant assumed her husband's titles and was styled Julia Dent Cantacuzène Spiransky-Grant.