#prince felix yousupov

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Irina Alexandrovna Romanova (1895 -1970)

When Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich married Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (sister of the then Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich), he was marrying one of the best matches in Europe: Xenia was the daughter of the Tzar Alexander III and the sister of the future Tzar Nicholas II. She had been in love with "Sandro," her second cousin, since childhood (and he saw no reason to discourage her affections, of course)

Sandro and Xenia had seven children. Irina was their first child and only daughter. This beautiful, quiet, delicate child was the first grandchild of Alexander III (who died the year before she was born) and would be the only biological niece of Tzar Nicholas II.

During the first few years of their respective marriages, the Tzar and Empress Alexandra and Grand Duke Alexander and Grand Duchess Xenia spent a lot of time together, and their daughters Olga and Tatiana, and Irina being very close in age, spent a lot of time together and developed a relationship. Distance would later grow between the couples and the children.

By the time Xenia was pregnant with her seventh child, her marriage to Sandro had gone sour. Sandro had fallen in love with a French/Spanish woman and was having an affair with her. Subsequently, Xenia started an affair of her own. Some sources say that they managed to keep their marital problems from their children; others that their quarrels might have had something to do with Irina's decision to marry Prince Felix Yusupov when he asked.

Felix was handsome, extremely smart, and one of the richest men in Russia, but he had a reputation. Irina accepted him as a bridegroom regardless of her parents' misgivings. Felix had a wild youth which seemed to include affairs with men and women. He enjoyed dressing as a woman and wearing his mother's jewels; apparently, he even caught Edward VII's eye at some point. When the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna talked with him about this behavior before his marriage to Irina, he did not deny it. Still, he said that his wild days were over, and he was very much in love with Irina.

Irina had no qualms about signing away succession rights for their future progeny when she married Felix, who was not royal (their marriage was morganatic.) She married him wearing a veil that had belonged to Marie Antoinette. Both looked beautiful. Their wedding was the last grand happening (1000 guests) before the Great War.

Felix and Irina were out of Russia when WWI started and had difficulty passing through Germany to return to Russia.

The Yusupovs settled in a section of Felix's parents' Moika Palace. Felix and Irina had one daughter (whom they named Irina but called "Bebe") and helped the war effort in Russia by opening two hospitals and a sanatorium in their Crimean state of Koreiz.

Felix would go on to kill Rasputin (he was banished to Koreiz by the Tzar) in a misguided effort to help the dynasty survive. As things in Russia became worse. A group of members of the Imperial Family, including the Dowager Empress, Irina's parents and brothers, and several Grand Dukes and their families, avoided being imprisoned and murdered by seeking shelter in Crimea. The Russians held them, prisoner until the Treaty of Brest-Livtosk was signed. Interestingly enough, the Germans liberated them. They left Russia in a warship sent by England to rescue the Dowager Empress.

They lived in an apartment Felix had in London; they had also smuggled out paintings and jewelry. There was a car they had not used in years waiting in a garage in Paris. The couple was extremely generous to the Russian Community and gave a lot to the exiles in need. They eventually bought a mansion in Paris and opened a couture house in Paris, which was very successful for a few years.

Felix and Irina lead an expensive lifestyle, and their couture business went bankrupt (after significant success.) By 1934, as luck would have it, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a film named "Rasputin and the Empress." Felix sued the company for slandering Irina and won the lawsuit. He also released two books which did very well.

After this, the coupled lived a quiet life (for them), supporting young artists and attending various functions of the Russian emigre community.

Irina remained close to all her relatives and helped them whenever she could. Her father, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, died in her arms.

Felix's and Irina's marriage turned out to be a great success. They were married and lived together, supporting and caring for each other for over fifty years. When Felix died in 1967, Irina was grief-stricken. She died three years later.

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Valentin Serov (1865 - 1911)

I will allow Valentin Serov's entry to this blog for several reasons: He was a genius painter, Russian, a favorite painter of the Romanovs, and also very handsome. Furthermore, he considered his best model ever a little dog owned by Felix Yousupov (and had the honesty to say it; he meant it too.) This dog was not Felix's famous "Punch" but a pug named "Gyugus."

Russian painter Valentin Serov (19 January 1865 – 5 December 1911)

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Princess Irina Alexandrovna and her OTMA Cousins

It makes sense that Olga and Tatiana would be closest to Irina because of their ages. The cousins saw each other and wrote to each other. Irina's parents spent a lot of time out of Russia (in the South of France or traveling through Italy.) I have read that Olga and Tatiana attended Irina's wedding with their parents. Nicholas gave Irina away. After that, I do not know how frequently they saw each other; there are comments here and there regarding them metting at some of their war related volunteer activitities. Olga strongly disapproved of the fact that Felix was not part of the war effort. There are no pictures of Olga or Tatiana with Bebe, who was born on 1915. That seems so strange to me, because OTMA loved children.

My impression is that the cousins were not as close as they could have been, and I don't know how much their parents had to do with that. Xenia's sons were thought to be too wild to play with Alexis who had his very real limitations. Xenia and Sandro were having marital problems and I am sure that the Empress was not interested in her daughters finding out about that mess. And once Yusupov entered the picture, I am sure the distance between the cousins grew.

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I am back!

To my dear, precious mutuals, followers, and visitors...I am back after a few days away; I will start posting again shortly. While I was away, I kept a loved one company in the hospital and had a lot of time to read. I really enjoyed my reading...it helped me deal with the stress. I found the two books I finished very interesting in different ways. In case you are looking for a reading recommendation, here you have two worth considering:

This is one of the better books I have read about Grand Duchess Elizabeth; it is full of well-documented details, and it manages to put her in the context of the society where she was raised as well as of the one where she married and died. It provides a very objective picture of her husband Grand Duke Sergei, frequently called the "Romanov Enigma." It is extremely well-researched. It brings Ella and those around her to life. It was not the easiest of reads but well worth it.

This book was fun, but don't let the word "fun" mislead you. It contains plenty of substantial information. I like how Coryne Hall writes (I have read several of her books; she is imminently readable), and from studying the lists of references she uses, she is an excellent and creative researcher. (I also feel I have an emotional bond with her - entirely one-sided; she does not know about it - since she became interested in the Romanovs after she discovered one of her great-grandmothers had been born in Saint Petersburg and was a contemporary of Tsar Nicholas II; one of my great-grandmothers was born in the Caucasus (Georgia) and was just a few years younger than the Tsar. Following the trail of some of her sources, I learned several things I have wanted to know for a while (trifles, which I thought were lost to history). But more importantly, one of the scenarios that the book proposes for Rasputin's murder is one I was unaware of and found more plausible than the one conventionally accepted.

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Whatever they had going on lasted until they died. Each did the hard work it takes to understand another human being. They took care of each other and seemed to give each other enough latitude to be who they needed to be. I believed they really loved each other. Leaving Rasputin and green eyeshadow aside, Felix was a great humanitarian and gave much of his money away in exile to help other exiles.

Princess Irina and Prince Felix Youssoupoff

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Photographs: 1. Empress Maria Feodorovna holding her great-grandaughter Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe); sitting net to her are her granddaughter Princess Irina Alexandrovna and her daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna; 2. Beautiful photo of Xenia with her grandaughter Bebe; 3. Bebe and her father, Prince Felix Yusupov; 4. Bebe and her paternal grandmother, Princess Zenaida Yusupova; 5. Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe)

Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova (Bebe) (1915 - 1983)

Irina Felixovna (Bebe), was the only daughter of Princess Irina Alexandrovna, niece of Tsar Nicholas II, and Prince Felix Yousupov. She was born on May 21, 1915. She lived with Felix's parents until the age of nine. Later, Felix would say that his daughter was difficult to control because she was raised by nannies, and his mother Zenaida spoilt her. Most people said that Irina Felixovna was difficult to control because she had a personality very similar to that of her father. Bebe was closer to her father than to her mother.

Princess Irina Felixovna married Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetev. They had one daughter, Countess Xenia Nikolaevna Sheremeteva. Bebe died in 1983 in France where she is buried alongside her paternal grandparents and her parents.

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Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich

Dramatic picture of a young man who took his sadness with him wherever he went through his life.

We know less than more about him. Why did he always keep quiet about his role in the murder of Rasputin while Felix Yousupov had no qualms about making money out of his reminiscences?

It would seem the only woman he ever loved was Coco Chanel. But although she liked him well enough she did not love him. His son recounted that years after the affair he was still talking about her.

He married a rich American heiress who left him for another man.

And I had heard a rumor that his true, lifelong love was Marie of Romania, who seduced him when he was barely out of adolescence.

What is true, and what isn’t? One thing is for sure...he was the Grand Duke with the sad eyes. His first loss happened when his mother died the day he was born, and he could never get over it.

Sources:

Hall, C. (2023). In Rasputin’s Killer and his Romanov Princess: Prince Felix Youssoupov and the tsar’s niece Irina (p. 98). Amberley Publishing.:ources:

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I love Serov and have posted some of his work before, but I see his name and get "triggered," so to speak. Below are two wonderful portraits by him....one of the beautiful Princess Zenaida Yousupova and one of her son, Prince Felix Yousupov.

Valentin Serov paints a portrait of Isaac Levitan in his house-workshop, where many famous paintings of the artist were created— "Evening. Golden Reach", "After the Rain. Reach"

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The young Yousupov couple (Irina and Felix) and some of their in-laws.

group photo. Prince Felix, Princess Irina, Princess Zenaida, Grand Duchess Xenia, Grand Duchess Maria, and Prince Felix Senior