Several years ago at a rugby match in England, I witnessed the outstanding Obolensky, kicking the ball, immediately changing his decision and catching it with his hands. This is how Vladimir Nabokov described the Russian prince Alexander Obolensky, who became a legend of English rugby.

Alexander Sergeyevich Obolensky was born in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) to the family of the guard rotmistr Prince Sergey Alexandrovich Obolensky and Lyubov Alexandrovna Obolenskaya (née Naryshkina). At the age of three, his family was forced to leave Russia due to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Alexander attended a boys' primary school in Etwall and Trent College in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, and in 1934 entered Brasenose College at Oxford University, graduating in 1938.

He played rugby for the university team as well as for the clubs Leicester Tigers and Rosslyn Park. In January 1936, without British citizenship, he was included in the England rugby team, and he received citizenship in March of that year. Obolensky became famous for the match against the All Blacks in 1936, where the English won 13-0 thanks to his two brilliant tries. This victory was the first in history for England against New Zealand.

With the onset of World War II in 1939, Obolensky joined the 54th Squadron of the Royal Air Force. On March 29, 1940, he died while landing a Hawker Hurricane during a training flight.

On February 18, 2009, a monument was unveiled in Ipswich, where Alexander Obolensky is buried, in his honor. The ceremony was attended by rugby fans from all over England, veterans of the Royal Air Force, and relatives of the prince.