Nathalie Kechko was born in Florence, in the mid-XNUMXth century, to an officer of the Russian Imperial Army and a Romanian princess.
Following her marriage to Milan Obrenovich, she becomes Queen of Serbia. But she is repudiated by her royal husband and deprived of her only son Alexander, with the support of the Orthodox Church!
She took refuge in Biarritz near her sister Ghika who spent the winters on the Basque Coast like many Russians.
Thanks to her personal fortune, she acquired the “Castel Biarritz” estate in the town of Bidart, in the shadow of the Château d'Ilbarritz.
She had her house built there, baptized “Sacchino”, the nickname of her son who would stay there occasionally.
Having frequented the famous Abbot Gaston Larre and his cousin Abbé Soulange-Bodin, she converted to Catholicism in 1902, since the Orthodox Church had disappointed her.
As a souvenir, she offers the church of Bidart its oriental-style baptismal font.
She is the godmother of children from Bidart baptized Alexandre or Nathalie.
In 1903, his son was assassinated in Belgrade.
She left these comforting shores in 1914 to end her days (in 1944) at the convent of ND de Sion in Paris.
The villa "Sacchino" or "Royal Pavilion" served as a military hospital after the First World War then became a restaurant and tea room with games during the Roaring Twenties.
