Galina von Meck (1891-1985) was the daughter of Nikolai Karlovich von Meck and Anna Lvovna Davydova. She was born in her grandmother Nadezhda Filaretovna's house on Prechistinsky (Gogolevsky) Boulevard. In her childhood, Galina studied dance under Litavkina, a ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre. The family spent winter months in Moscow, while summers were spent at the estate of Kopylovo near Kyiv or in Arcachon, France.

Galina was educated at the private girls' school YP Bess (Mage and Bess), which her parents acquired and later gifted to Sofia Karlovna von Meck (Rimskaya-Korsakova, Golitsyna). Thanks to her father's passion for automobiles, Galina became one of the first female drivers in Russia. In 1898, the first family car, a Phaeton (Daimler), was ordered in Germany.

In 1912, during a trip to England, Galina met her future husband William Noel Parrott, who was 11 years her senior. They married on January 11, 1913. Galina accepted British citizenship, but only on the condition that they would move to Russia. On April 19, 1915, they had a daughter, Anna. The family lived in Sobakin Yurino, in Ermishe until 1920. In October 1917, when her husband, as a subject of the British crown, was called to the army, he returned to England.