ok uve been reblogging a lot of (russian) history stuff and now im interested,,,,, first of all who's felix yusupov is what i wanna know
jsbzsbzjns okay SO im not like a historian or anything and i just got into reading about him myself (which required a quick revision of the entire royal Romanov line as well lmao), BUT Felix Yusupov.
a portrait of Felix Yusupov by Valentin Serov. there’s like half a chapter in Felix’s memoir dedicated to his beloved pug i stg
in the family of tsar’s advisors, gifted diplomats and collectors, he’s easily the most famous Yusupov. he was unbearably handsome, fiercely bisexual and passionately patriotic.
Felix at a masquerade in London while he was attending the Oxford University. he had a custom Russian costume made specifically to amaze his friends. everyone fell in love with him. and the costume.
Felix (right) with his older brother, Nikolai, the latter had been fatally shot at a duel.
and, well, he was also the one to plot and execute the assassination of Grigory Rasputin. it’s impossible to talk about Felix without mentioning this man, tsaritsa’s protégé and all around mysterious and extremely powerful figure: the royal family believed Rasputin to be a saint and saviour, some said he was just a talented hypnotist and a fraud, few were convinced he was the devil himself, but what we do know for sure is that he was positively the most influential person in court at the time. he was a peasant, and not a good man in his nature (you can read a bit about how he came to be such a big thing here). some wanted him dead, jealous of his power, others were genuinely concerned about the royal family’s well-being and safety (and, well, the state of the Russian empire under what essentially have become the Rasputin’s rule). Felix belonged to the latter group.
Felix with his dearly beloved wife, Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia
initially i became interested in his person after i visited his estate in St. Petersburg (“the house on Moika”, Yusupov Palace, “Russian Versailles”. breathtakingly beautiful house like no other). i’ve been there before, but i’ve never been to the actual room where the killing had been carried out, not until this time (Rasputin was killed in Yusupov’s guest room by the host himself, shot in the heart after a failed cyanide poisoning). and you know what. there’s so much messy information on what had actually happened that night. also, due to our infamous love for the “saints” and relative close-mindness, many people i know and have spoken to tend to believe Rasputin to have been the messenger of the god’s good will on earth, and Felix a lost cause, a “sinner” and a traitor. as soon as i learned that Felix had a history of cross dressing for fun to sing at the local theatre and was pretty outspoken about his attraction to men, i realised that might be what turns Russian people away from even trying to dig deeper. even those who do seem to overlook the important details and implications, but! whatever. his memoir is worth reading. it is, among other things, an excellent account of the life of Russian aristocracy and royal family in the end of 19th-beginning of 20th century. he was an educated man, loved his family and his monarchs dearly.
Yusupov Palace. i can’t even begin to describe it to you, please just ask google to show you the absolute and heavenly beauty of this place.
i can’t say Felix Yusupov was either an outstanding man, or extraordinary in any way. he was lucky to have been born into a wealthiest (second only after the tsar himself in the 19th century) and rightfully respected family, and was also smart enough to use his privileges in his advantage. i can’t say if he was absolutely right about Rasputin, but he surely wanted best for his tsar and his country. he wasn’t without his demons and faults, like, he wasn’t a saint or even close to being one, and he certainly was peculiar in many ways.
Felix in his apartment in Paris, 1960s
but in the end, i just wanted to know a) what lead Felix to commit a crime against the crown, despite him being committed to the royal family and b) how the communist revolution affected a devoted monarchist like him. i’m now reading his memoir, and next i think i’ll get to the book he wrote before that, “The Death of Rasputin”, which is obviously pretty detailed.
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