On February 22, 1914, Princess Irina Alexandrovna, (July 15, 1895, Peterhof – February 26, 1970, Paris) daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna - Nicholas II's sister - was married at the Anichkov Palace (the home of her maternal grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna) to Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston (March 23, 1887, Saint Petersburg – September 27, 1967, Paris). Because family law dictated that only children and male-line grandchildren would be styled Grand Duke or Grand Duchess, Irina was a princess rather than Grand Duchess. And though they were wildly rich, the Yusupov family was princely rather than royal. So the marriage of Irina and Felix wasn't considered dynastic and was therefore a relatively simple affair.
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| Irina's veil was said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, the Cartier tiara was a gift from the bridegroom. |
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| The Cartier diamond and rock crystal tiara. One of the many precious things left behind and lost when the couple and their family fled the revolution in Russia. |
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An unexpected bridegroom
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| Prince Felix Yusupov by Valentin Serov, 1903 |
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| Felix and his French bulldog, Gugusse, posing for the artist at the Yusupov country estate, Arkhangelskoe. |
It took some tough negotiating to get Irina's family to agree to her marrying the already quite scandalous Prince Felix Yusupov. He was bisexual, a sometime cross-dresser, and was quite flamboyant in all he did. Still, the couple seemed very well suited, had a daughter together, and enjoyed what appeared to be a very happy marriage that lasted fifty-three years until his death in 1967.
Two years after their marriage he "masterminded" the event that would make him famous: the murder of Rasputin. His memoirs, Lost Splendour, are quite remarkably frank - and what isn't actually said, is easily imagined.
Such a fascinating story. I remember when we were reading his memoirs, what particular voice he had, and I loved all his observations of his world.
ReplyDeleteHe was a monster, a mere criminal, who murdered in a quite sauvage way the healer Grigori Efimovich Rasputin, the way that was prepared his assassination, with the complicity of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, who was almost forced to participate in this evil act, Felix was blackmailing always Dmitri, as Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna confessed many years later. I don't know if Rasputin is in heaven but I don't have the slightest doubt that Felix Yusupov is in hell, where he belonged since he started his debaucheries.
ReplyDeleteWhat a ghastly thing to say
DeleteTan sólamente eliminó a un brutal engendro de la naturaleza humana.Un agente introducido para destruir el imperio que llegaba a su corrupción. Todo lo que vino después y las atrocidades contra humanas infinitas que se dieron ,ponen a éste personaje del Inferno en el lugar de la historia de aquella nación, más ABOMINABLE. Félix Yusupof fue tan sólo un agente de la providencia para poner fin al estado de cosas que se dieron mediante éste fatal personaje monstruoso.Personaje no al azar surgido para dominar a una emperatriz, de mente enfermiza,transmisora de sus fatalidades mentales a su marido, algo que muy bien descubrió la emperatriz viuda María y que no aconsejó en absoluto aquel matrimonio.Es todo cuanto se debe saber del estaret.
DeleteI thought Irinas veil had belonged to Marie Antoinette de France. Felix's forebare Prince Nicholas has been Catherine the seconds ambassador ,during the revolution , he bought a lot back for himself ,but was under orders from Catherine to buy everything he could when Versailles contents were auctioned off !
ReplyDeleteI've always heard that, too! I don't know why - six years on - I wrote what I wrote... hmm.... I'll modify this. : )
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