His father escaped from Russia in 1920, and came to England where Nikolai was born in 1935.

Nikolai and his wife Georgina have four children: Alexandra, Anastasia, Dmitri, and Xenia and live in a 17th century farmhouse overlooking the Berkshire Downs, not far from Oxford.

His amusements are haunting second hand and academic bookshops, walking, tennis, participating in historical battle re-enactments, and drinking in inns. He is a member of Britain's oldest (1735) dining society, the Sublime Society of Beef Steaks, whose motto is Beef and Liberty.

He is Chancellor of the Monarchist League, President of the Association of Bankrupts, a Distinguished Patron of the Orchestra of the World, an honorary member of the Russian Heraldry Society, and a life member of the Royal Stuart Society, the Royal Martyr Church Union, and the Forty Five Association. He is a member of the Society of Authors, the Council for Christians and Jews, the Irish Texts Society, the Roman Society, and the International Arthurian Society.