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A character in Murder on the Orient Express

Princess Natalia Dragomiroff

The ugly, ancient Russian aristocrat with the German maid and the will to match her name.

What they want

To say what she thinks and be believed, which at her age and rank she usually is.

The book

Murder on the Orient ExpressAgatha Christie, 1934

A snowbound train, a dead American with twelve stab wounds, and a carriage full of strangers who all have an alibi.

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At a glance

In the book
Russian passenger, compartment No. 14, with her maid
Where she appears
Part Two, chapter 6; Part Three

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

The Princess is the coach's grandest passenger and its most direct witness. She admits at once that she knew the Armstrong family, that she was godmother to Daisy's mother, and that she would have liked to see the kidnapper dead. Poirot finds her the most formidable person on the train and says so to her face.

How Princess Natalia Dragomiroff Is Portrayed

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • The faceSmall, yellow and toad-like, the narration says, with eyes that give her a strength the body has lost.
  • The maidHildegarde Schmidt, who reads to her and, on the night of the murder, was called to her compartment.
  • The admissionShe knew the Armstrongs and says so first, before Poirot can ask.
  • The handkerchiefFine cambric, embroidered with an H, found in the dead man's compartment and not explained until Part Three.
Their ending, and the commentary — spoilers aheadHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

The handkerchief was hers. Her first name is Natalia, and in Russian the initial is written like a Latin H. She claims it when Poirot names her, and she was one of the twelve.

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