His mother Lora is an American with Greek ancestry, from the large famous family of Papayanni. His father, Geoffrey Leo Alexander Galitzine, is a co-founder of a glass recycling company and a former financier in the City of London. Nicholas's grandfather, Edward Ralph Alexander Tier, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by birth, changed his surname to Galitzine on 9 April 1956; Nicholas's traceable paternal ancestors are British, and he has no known relation to the Golitsyn noble family.
