#yusupov

Felix Yusupov posing for Valentin Serov, 1903

Images from the Tatler, July 15th, 1936 of the Russian Ball held at Claridge’s hotel by Grand Duchess Xenia to raise funds for her Summer camp for Russian children.

Felix and Irina's wedding took place on 9 February (old calender) 1914 in the private chapel of the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg, the residence of the dowager empress. It was the last great royal wedding before the outbreak of World War I. Because Felix was not of royal blood, Irina had to sign an official document re-nouncing for herself and her descendants any claim to the throne; she was so far down the line of succession that this was a mere formality, but the wedding was one of the few officially sanctioned morganatic unions of Nicholas II's reign.

Before the wedding, the tsar approached Felix and asked what he would like as a wedding gift; Nicholas II himself con-sidered offering Felix an official position at court. But Felix in-formed the tsar that the gift he would most appreciate would be unlimited use of the imperial box at the Mariinsky Theatre. With a laugh, the tsar granted this request. But he and his wife also presented the couple with a bag of twenty-nine uncut diamonds, ranging from three to seven carats each.

"Yet another opportunity we had to see the court and the whole family of the Tsar on the closest terms was when the Empress Dowager celebrated Prince Youssoupoff's wedding, in Anitschkoff palace, to her granddaughter Irene, the daughter of Grand Duchess Xenia and Prince Alexander. This time they again in- vited the English ambassadorial couple and us. The wedding took place in a hall, which wasn't much bigger than a normal large living room. Along one wall stood the Tsar with the Empress and the four Grand Duchesses, of whom the two youngest were not yet adults and had some difficulty in being serious. Right opposite Prince and Princess Youssoupoff stood with some of the newly married couple's friends and the English pair, and us, and between us the altar was set up. As always at a large orthodox wedding there were six bridesmaids and pages, who were charged to hold the bridal crowns over the newly married couple. I have never seen a more beautiful newly married couple than they, really like a fairytale, and the six bridesmaids and pages, among whom was Dimitri Paulovitch, all in full-dress uniform, fitted the picture. I remember the youngest of the Tsar's daughters, Anastasia, about whom later there developed the myth that she had es- caped from the murder in Yekaterinburg. In the middle of the wedding the bride dropped her handkerchief, and Anastasia jumped up quickly, picked it up and gave it to her. Strange to think that the two main characters at the wedding,  Youssoupoff and Dmitri Paulovitch, both were to become active participants in the murder of Rasputin. After the wedding the newly married couple accepted congratulations, and we had the opportunity to greet the Empress Dowager, who stood beside them. Each of the guests was presented with a small light blue silk purse with the newly mar- ried couple's initials stamped in silver, with a bouquet of artificial orange flowers affixed, containing French almonds. I have kept it in spite of all the vicissitudes".