Irina on Corsica

Princess Irina Yusupova, only niece of the last tsar, and her husband, the notorious Prince Felix Yusupov, fared better than most after having fled revolutionary Russia in 1919. They hadn't a shadow of their former wealth, but they had a home in Paris and sufficient capital to afford them a quite comfortable lifestyle and allow them to be very generous with those emigrés who were less fortunate. They also had a rather ramshackle house at Calvi on the island of Corsica.* In her second memoir, "A Princess in Exile", Irina's cousin, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who visited with them there, describes it as a "ridiculous half-tumbledown building" and a "shack", and said that there was little to eat, no proper water supply, and "appalling" sanitary conditions. She also mentions that they all managed to have a very good time.

With an unidentified companion at left.

With her brother, Prince Feodor Alexandrovich.

With Feodor and two other gentlemen.

With an unidentified companion.

***

* Since I found most of these images uncaptioned, I can't promise that they were all taken on Corsica. In some cases I'm making an educated guess. At any rate, they were taken someplace warm and sunny and at least a bit rustic, someplace that decidedly isn't Paris.