(1887-1967) Russian prince, fashion designer and businessman
The full official name of this man - Prince Yusupov Count Sumarokov-Elston - suggests that he belonged to one of the most well-born Russian families. The roots of the Yusupov family go back to the 14th century, when the Nogai Khan Yusuf entered the service of Tsar Ivan IV. Felix's father was part of the inner circle of Nicholas II, and his mother, Zinaida Yusupova, usually accompanied the Empress on her trips around Russia.
Felix was the second child in the family. As a child, he was sick a lot, so his mother treated him with special tenderness. The family spent the summer months in the Crimea, in the family estate, or went abroad. When the boy was eight years old, he was sent to the Corps of Pages. But the change of scenery took a toll on Felix's health, and a year later he was forced to leave the corps. To complete his education, Yusupov entered the Gurevich Gymnasium in St. Petersburg, where children from aristocratic families studied. After graduating from it, he wanted to continue his education at St. Petersburg University, but after the death of his brother in a duel in 1908, his parents sent Felix to England, to Oxford University. He spent the winter months abroad, visiting his parents in Paris during their visits.
Three years later, having received a diploma, Felix Feliksovich Yusupov returns to Russia. In the winter of 1912, he marries the daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Irina, the niece of the Tsar. Together they take part in the solemn celebration of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty.
At the beginning of the First World War, Felix Yusupov, among other representatives of the Russian aristocracy, undergoes an accelerated military training course and receives an officer rank. His wife becomes a nurse and helps in the hospital. By that time, the Yusupovs had a daughter, Irina.
Felix is included in the inner circle of Nicholas II. It was a period of great influence of Grigory Rasputin on the royal family. A conspiracy against Rasputin is hatching in the Yusupovs' house. Felix and his like-minded people (Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, State Duma member V. Purishkevich) believed that by freeing the tsar from the influence of Rasputin, they would be able to overcome the impact on Russian politics of the pro-German group that had developed in the upper echelons of power.
On December 29, 1916, Felix Feliksovich Yusupov invited Rasputin to his place for dinner. The conspirators tried to poison the "old man", but the attempt failed. Rasputin tried to escape, but was shot dead. His body was secretly taken out of the mansion and thrown into the Moika.
Although Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry were not charged openly, they were under house arrest. It was then that Felix sent part of his capital abroad. His position turned out to be very difficult: the tsar avoided him, the court accused him of murder behind his back, and as a result, by personal order, Yusupov was ordered to go to the Rakitnoye estate. Soon his parents arrived there with his wife and daughter. They stayed there until the end of March 1917, when Alexander Kerensky did not allow Felix to return with his family to Petrograd.
After the arrest of Nicholas II and the expulsion of the royal family to Tobolsk, the Yusupovs, like most aristocratic families, went to the Crimea, where they wanted to wait out troubled times. At the beginning of 1918, the prince made a short trip to Moscow and Petrograd. He managed to take out some paintings and some of the jewelry from the family estates. He returned to the Crimea and began to prepare for his departure from Russia.
After the start of the military intervention, the Yusupov family goes abroad on the English battleship Marlboro. After a short stay in Malta, Felix's parents settle in Rome, while he and his wife stay in Paris in their own house. Since that time, Paris has become the main residence of the younger Yusupovs.
At that time, the prince still believed that he would soon return to Russia. In an effort to help the Russian army, he organized an aid committee, opened several enterprises in England that sewed uniforms for soldiers and officers. Felix Yusupov gave his London house for emigrants to live. But the defeat of the white army destroyed all hopes for a speedy return to their homeland.
The Yusupovs sell a house in London and settle in Paris, where they sell the family mansion in the city center and move to a modest house in the suburbs. The main source of livelihood is the money earned from the sale of family jewelry. The post-war economic depression necessitates a trip to the United States. There, Yusupov manages to profitably sell several paintings and some jewelry. He also organizes several charity events that raised a large amount of money to help the families of Russian emigrants.
Returning to France, Felix Feliksovich Yusupov opens the Irfe Model House (the names Irina and Felix were used in the name). Gradually, it turns into a profitable enterprise, Yusupov's daughter Irina becomes a fashion model, demonstrating at receptions and parties the toilets of famous companies.
The Yusupovs showed a talent for fashion designers. Felix designed several series of toilets, in particular, for the first time introduced into fashion silk translucent dresses with a floral pattern. He also came up with three fragrances for blondes, brunettes and redheads. Irina turned out to be a talented textile artist. The sketches developed by her were acquired by famous French fashion designers. Gradually, the Yusupovs manage to open several tailoring enterprises in the suburbs of Paris, which were mainly employed by immigrants from Russia.
In 1927, at the suggestion of a French publisher, Felix Yusupov published a book of memoirs, The End of Rasputin. In it, he told the story of the conspiracy and the murder of the elder, trying to divert accusations of murder from the conspirators. The film studio "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer" announced the start of filming a film based on Yusupov's book. After the release of the picture, the prince sued the film studio for insulting his dignity and distorting facts. He won the process and received a large amount that allowed him to lead a decent life.
Felix Feliksovich Yusupov again begins to do charity work, helps Russian emigrants. He organizes several exhibitions of Russian jewelry, during which donations are collected in favor of the Russian diaspora.
The peaceful course of life was interrupted by World War II. Felix Yusupov immediately declared his anti-German position and refused any cooperation with the enemy. After the capture of Paris, the German authorities were afraid to arrest Yusupov, but confiscated his accounts and the jewelry that was stored in the bank. Only after the end of the war did the prince achieve the return of what was confiscated.
The rest of the days Felix Yusupov lived in his own house, located in the suburbs of Paris. His daughter married Count N. Sheremetev, and his wife Irina initiated the publication of Yusupov's memoirs about her past.
Georgy Blyumin, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of Cultural Studies, President of the Yusupov-Princely Charitable Foundation (Moscow)
Source of information: The curse of the Yusupov family, Traveler magazine No.3 (23), 2000.
The ancestors of the Yusupovs - from Abubekir, the father-in-law of the prophet, who ruled after Muhammad (about 570-632) of the entire Muslim family. Three centuries after him, his co-namer Abubekir bin Rayok also ruled all the Muslims of the world and bore the title of Emir el-Omr, prince of princes and sultan of sultans, uniting governmental and spiritual power in his person. Prince N. B. Yusupov, Jr. notes: "He was the supreme dignitary of Caliph Radi-Billag, who disappeared in the rapture of bliss and luxury, who gave him all power in the spiritual and secular sense."
In the era of the fall of the caliphate, the direct ancestors of the Russian princes Yusupov were rulers in Damascus, Antioch, Iraq, Persia, Egypt ... Some of them were buried in Mecca, on Mount Hira, where Muhammad opened the text of the Koran; in the Kaaba itself, sacred to Muslims, or near it, these are Baba-Tukles and his two sons, Abbas and Abdurakhman. Sultan Termes, the third son of Baba-Tukles (16th generation from Abubakir ben Rayok), driven by hostile circumstances, moved north of Arabia, to the shores of the Azov and Caspian Seas, dragging with him many tribes of Muslims devoted to him. The Nogai Horde, which appeared as a state between the Volga and the Urals, was the result of the resettlement of the Sultan of Termes.
Now it becomes clear the complete equality of the marriage concluded in 1914 between Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov and Grand Duchess Irina Alexandrovna Romanova, niece of the reigning Emperor Nicholas II: both spouses were of royal origin.
A direct descendant of Termes named Edigey was in close and close friendship with Tamerlane himself, or Timur, the "Iron Lame" and the great conqueror. Edigey was appointed chief commander of Timur. The Mongol hordes of Tokhtamysh burned Moscow and arrogantly moved against Tamerlane. Edigey went out to meet Tokhtamysh and killed him in single combat in front of the army. The Lithuanian prince Vitovt suffered a crushing defeat from Edigey on the Vorskla River in 1339. Tamerlanov's friend imposed a tribute on the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Vasily Dmitrievich. Finally, Edigey conquered the Crimea and founded the Crimean Horde there.
The great-grandson of Edigey was called Musa-Murza (Prince Moses, in Russian) and, as usual, had five wives. The first, beloved, was called Kondaza. Yusuf, the ancestor of the Yusupov family, was born from her. For twenty years, Yusuf-Murza was friends with Ivan the Terrible himself, the Russian Tsar. The descendant of the emirs considered it necessary to make friends and intermarry with Muslim neighbors, "fragments" of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Russia. Four daughters of Yusuf became the wives of the kings of the Crimean, Astrakhan, Kazan and Siberian. The latter was the same Kuchum, whom Yermak Timofeevich conquered at the head of his Don Cossacks.
Here is the second portrait in the gallery of Twelve portraits of the Moscow Yusupov Palace - the beautiful Suyumbeka, the queen of Kazan, the beloved daughter of Yusuf-Murza. She was born in 1520 and at the age of 14 she became the wife of the Tsar of Kazan Enalei. In the same year, Enalei was killed by his subjects, and the citizens of Kazan returned to the kingdom the formerly exiled Crimean king Saf-Girey.
The beauty marries a second time, now to Saf-Girey; soon her only son, Utemish-Giray, was born. Saf Giray introduced executions in Kazan. Kazanians were indignant. Yunus, the son of Yusuf, decided to stand up for Saf Giray and went to Kazan. But Saf Giray deceived Yunus. And then both Yusuf and Yunus took the side of Ivan the Terrible. Saf Giray drank and crashed on the steps of his own palace.
Suyumbeka became a widow and queen of Kazan for the second time. Her two-year-old son Utemish-Girey was proclaimed king by the Kazan people. When the Russian tsar approached the walls of Kazan with an army, the beautiful Suyumbeka put on armor and a helmet, remembering that she was the ruler of Kazan, and became the head of the defenders of the city. At first, she tried to call for help from her father and brother, but they remained faithful to the agreement with John IV.
Suyumbeka led the defense of Kazan so brilliantly that the famous Russian commander Prince Andrei Kurbsky could not take the city by attack, and the matter was decided by a secret digging and blowing up the walls of the city. The Queen of Kazan was honorably taken to Moscow with her son. And in Kazan, repeated in the architecture of the Moscow Kazan railway station, the seven-tier Suyumbekin tower, about 35 sazhens high, adorned the Kazan Kremlin, forever remained.
The story of the beauty does not end there. Ivan the Terrible appointed Shikh-alei as tsar in Kazan. But he was soon forced to flee to Moscow, where he married ... Suyumbek. The daughter of Yusuf-Murza is getting married for the third time. Shikh-alei takes possession of the city of Kasimov (Gorodets) and the title of king of Kasimov. He moves to Kasimov with his beautiful wife.
And Utemish-Girey, the son of Suyumbeki, was baptized in Moscow. Shikh-alei died in Kasimov and was buried in 1567 in the local tomb. The beautiful queen died before him, in 1557, having lived only 37 years. Probably, her grave is also in Kasimov. In any case, her descendant, the Russian prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov Jr., thinks so when he writes in his book: "Scarlet wild rose with milky bird cherry shower the forgotten tomb with flowers!"
In Russia, the charm of the charming image of Suyumbeki lived for a very long time. The Russians called her a sorceress. And Russian poets made her image one of the most poetic in world literature. I would attribute the presence of a six-pointed star in the princely coat of arms of the Yusupovs to the image of the beautiful Suyumbeki.
The poet Kheraskov, the author of the famous "Rossiyada", made the Kazan queen the main character of his poem, one of the best in the Russian XVIII century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the plays by Gruzintsov "The Conquered Kazan" and Glinka's "Sumbeka, or the Fall of Kazan" were performed on the stages of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Finally, in 1832, the stage saw the ballet of Count Kutaisov "Sumbeka, or the Conquest of the Kazan Kingdom." Pushkin was at the play, in which the role of Suyumbeki was performed by the ballerina Istomina, sung by him in Onegin.
The sons of Yusuf-Murza, the brothers Suyumbeki, came to the court of Ivan the Terrible, and since then they and their descendants began to serve the Russian sovereigns, not changing the Muslim faith and receiving awards for their service. So, on the banks of the Volga near Yaroslavl, the whole city of Romanov with a settlement (now the city of Tutaev) was granted to Il-murza by Tsar Fedor Ioannovich. In this beautiful city, which before the revolution bore the name of Romanov-Borisoglebsk, there are an abundance of churches on both banks of the Volga and also the ruins of an ancient mosque. It was in this city that an event took place that dramatically changed the fate and history of the Yusupov family.
It was in the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich. The great-grandson of Yusuf-Murza, named Abdul-Murza, received Patriarch Joachim in Romanov. The historian M.I. Pylyaev recalled: “Once, the brilliant nobleman, Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, was the chamber junker on duty at Catherine the Great’s dinner. A goose was served on the table.
Do you know how, prince, to cut a goose? - Ekaterina asked Yusupov.
Oh, the goose must be very memorable to my surname! - answered the prince. - My ancestor ate one on Good Friday and for that he was deprived of several thousand peasants granted to him.
I would take away all his property from him, because it was given to him on the condition that he did not eat fast on fast days, the empress remarked jokingly about this story.
So, the great-grandfather of Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov treated the patriarch and, out of ignorance of the Orthodox posts, fed him a goose. The patriarch took the goose for a fish, tasted it and praised it, and the owner, take it and say: it’s not a fish, but a goose, and my cook is so skillful that he can cook a goose for fish. The patriarch was angry and upon returning to Moscow told the whole story to Tsar Fedor Alekseevich. The Tsar deprived Abdul-Murza of all awards, and the rich man suddenly became a beggar. He thought hard for three days and decided to be baptized in the Orthodox faith. Abdul-Murza, the son of Seyusha-Murza, was baptized under the name Dmitry and came up with a surname for himself in memory of his ancestor Yusuf: Yusupovo-Knyazhevo. So Prince Dmitry Seyushevich Yusupovo-Knyazhevo appeared in Russia.
But that very night he had a vision. A distinct voice said: "From now on, for betraying the faith, there will not be more than one male heir in each tribe of your family, and if there are more, then all but one will not live longer than 26 years."
Dmitry Seyushevich married Princess Tatyana Fedorovna Korkodinova, and according to the prediction, only one son succeeded his father. It was Grigory Dmitrievich, who served Peter the Great, a lieutenant general, whom Peter ordered to be called simply Prince Yusupov. Grigory Dmitrievich also had only one son who lived to adulthood - Prince Boris Grigoryevich Yusupov, the former governor of Moscow. It is curious that at different times two representatives of a glorious family occupied this post: in addition to Boris Grigoryevich, the Governor-General of Moscow in 1915 was Felix Feliksovich Prince Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston.
The son of B. G. Yusupov is perhaps the most famous of the glorious family. Prince Nikolai Borisovich (1750-1831) is one of the richest nobles in Russia: there was not only a province, but even a district where he did not have a village or estate. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of this remarkable man. Nikolai Borisovich was both the first director of the Hermitage, and the Russian envoy to Italy, and the chief manager of the Kremlin expedition and the Armory, as well as all theaters in Russia. He created the "Versailles near Moscow" - the Arkhangelsk estate, amazing in beauty and wealth, where A. S. Pushkin visited him twice, in 1827 and 1830. A poetic message from the great poet to Prince Yusupov, written in Moscow in 1830, is known:
I will come to you; see this palace
Where is the architect's compass, palette and chisel
Your learned whim was obeyed
And inspired in magic competed.
Pushkin in early childhood lived with his parents in the Moscow palace of the prince, in Bolshoi Kharitonievsky lane. The images of the outlandish oriental garden that surrounded the palace were then reflected in the prologue of Ruslan and Lyudmila. The poet also brings here his beloved heroine Tatyana Larina in the seventh chapter of "Eugene Onegin" - "to Moscow for the bride's fair":
At Kharitonya in the alley
Carriage in front of the house at the gate
Has stopped...
Yes, and the poet simply makes Tatyana related to the princely family of the Yusupovs: after all, they came to visit Tatyana's aunt, Princess Alina, and in the 20s of the last century, Princess Alina, the sister of N. B. Yusupov Alexandra Borisovna, really lived in the Yusupov Palace in Moscow. A number of reflections of the poet's conversations with Prince Yusupov are found in the images of Pushkin's famous Boldino autumn, and when the prince died, the poet wrote in a letter: "My Yusupov died."
However, let us turn to the further links of the genus and the fate that accompanies them. Boris Nikolaevich, chamberlain, son of N. B. Yusupov, lived mainly in St. Petersburg and also left the only heir - Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov Jr. He was a talented musician and writer, vice-director of the St. Petersburg Public Library, married to Duchess Tatiana Alexandrovna de Ribopierre. On Prince Nikolai Borisovich Jr., the male line of the ancient family was cut short.
The only heir - the beautiful and richest bride of Russia Zinaida Nikolaevna Princess Yusupova, whose portraits were painted by the best artists of that time Serov and Makovsky - married the great-great-grandson of M.I. Moscow governor. And Emperor Alexander III, satisfying the request of Prince N. B. Yusupov Jr., so that the famous surname does not stop, allows Count Sumarokov-Elston to also be called Prince Yusupov. This title was to pass to the eldest of the sons.
In a happy marriage, two sons were born and raised, both graduated from Oxford University. The eldest was named Prince Nikolai Feliksovich Yusupov (1883-1908). Parents have already begun to forget about the terrible prediction, when on the eve of his 26th birthday, Nikolai Feliksovich fell in love with a woman whose husband challenged him to a duel and ... killed him. The duel took place in St. Petersburg on Krestovsky Island in June 1908, at the estate of the princes Beloselsky-Belozersky. Nikolai fired into the air both times... "The body was placed in the chapel," writes the younger brother Felix, who inherited the title of Prince Yusupov. Prince Nikolai Feliksovich was buried in Arkhangelsk near Moscow.
Shocked parents, having buried their eldest son, build a temple-tomb in Arkhangelsk where the princes Yusupovs were supposed to find their last shelter. The temple was erected by the famous Moscow architect R.I. Klein until 1916. A revolution broke out, and the temple never accepted a single burial under its vaults. So it still stands today as a monument of a terrible curse to the family of the Yusupov princes, opening the wings of the colonnades towards fate ...
Gratitude
Yusupova Diana 13.01.2006 03:57:11
Hello George. Many thanks for the detailed information about the Yusupov family. I am 21 years old, Yusupova is my father, now I live in Moscow, I want to enter the Architectural Institute. This year, for the first time, I visited the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg on the river. Moika. There was an irresistible desire to learn as much as possible about this mysterious and so close to art kind. I was very interested in your organization "Yusupov-princely charitable foundation", be so kind, do not let a person die of intellectual hunger. Help in any way you can... Internet links, articles, books, libraries, etc. I will be very grateful to you, with respect Diana Tamerlanovna.
The Yusupov family is very ancient. Its history goes back to the Muslim Middle Ages, to the Baghdad Caliphate of the 10th century. This is evidenced not only by family traditions, but also by the ancient family document “The family tree of the Yusupov princes from Abubekir”. The chronicle is dated 1602 and is kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts in Moscow. The text is illegible, with losses. Perhaps that is why many historians called the legendary Abu Bakr (Abubekir) (572–634), the friend and father-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, who was elected the first caliph of the Islamic state after his death, the Yusupov ancestor.
However, in 1866-67. prince N.B. Yusupov Jr. amended this version. In the historical work “On the family of the Yusupov princes”, he wrote that his ancestor was the eponymous father-in-law of Mohammed three centuries later, Abubekir ben Raiok, who also ruled over all Muslims. Caliph ar-Radi bi-l-lah (934-940) gave his supreme commander all power in the spiritual and temporal sense, as well as the right to dispose of the treasury. The governor of Babylonia and the ancestor of the Yusupovs were treacherously killed while sleeping in 942.
Twelve generations of Abu Bakr's descendants lived in the Middle East. They were sultans, emirs, caliphs throughout the space from Egypt to India.
One of them, the third son of Sultan Babatyukles, who ruled in Mecca, is Termes, in the 12th century. went with people devoted to him to the north and settled between the Don and the Volga, and then between the Volga and the Urals.
His descendant, the legendary Edigei (1340s–1419), an ally of Tamerlane and the murderer of Tokhtamysh, founded the city at the beginning of the 15th century. Nogai Horde. The great-great-grandson of Edigey - Khan Yusuf (1480s–1555) lived for 20 years and corresponded with Ivan the Terrible. Under him, the Nogai Horde reached the peak of its power, the "Tsar of All Russia" recognized its sovereignty and regularly bought hardy steppe horses from the Nogais - the main wealth of the nomads. However, having conquered Kazan, Ivan the Terrible captured the queen of the Kazan kingdom Syuyumbeka, the daughter of Khan Yusuf. Angry, the ruler of the Nogai Horde wanted to terminate the peace treaty with Russia. Yusuf's brother, Ishmael, prevented this. He killed the Khan, and Dmitry Seyushevich Yusupov-Knyazhevo (?–1694) (Abdul-Murza), the great-grandson of the Nogai Khan Yusuf, who converted to Orthodoxy in 1681, sent his two sons, Il-Murza and Ibragim-Murza, to Moscow as a guarantee peace.
John IV granted the descendants of Yusuf many villages and villages in the Romanov district (now the Tutaevsky district of the Yaroslavl region). Thus began the service of the Yusupovs in Russia.
The grandson of Il-Murza Abdul-Murza fought for his new homeland with the Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. Under Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, he during 
During the Great Lent, out of ignorance, he fed Patriarch Joachim, who had come to visit, with a goose. The patriarch praised the "fish", after which Abdul-Murza boasted of his cook, who can cook a goose "for fish". Joachim and the king, when they found out about what had happened, were terribly angry. Abdul-Murza thought hard for three days and decided to accept Orthodoxy. During the ceremony, he received the name Dmitry and the title "Prince" instead of the Tatar "Murza", was forgiven and saved from ruin.
On the same night, according to family tradition, the Prophet Muhammad appeared to him in a dream and cursed the Yusupov family for apostasy. According to the curse, from now on, in each generation, only one man had to live to the age of 26 years. And so it happened.
During the Streltsy rebellion of 1682, Dmitry Seyushevich Yusupov led a detachment of warriors and Tatars to the Trinity Lavra to protect the infant tsars John and Peter Alekseevich, for which he was granted estates in the Romanovsky district in hereditary possession.
His son - Grigory Dmitrievich (1676-1730) - one of the closest associates of Peter I. A brave warrior, he fought for his emperor in many battles: 
Azov campaigns, the siege of Narva, the capture of the Nienschanz fortress at the mouth of the Neva, the battle near the village of Lesnoy. Grigory Dmitrievich also participated in civil cases: he led the creation of a rowing flotilla in Nizhny Novgorod, controlled the supply and financial support of the Russian army, and conducted an investigation in the search commissions on abuses. When Peter I died, three people were the first to follow his coffin: His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov, Count F.M. Apraksin and Prince G.D. Yusupov.
Favored the prince and subsequent emperors. Catherine I awarded him the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. The grandson of Peter I - Peter II - granted Grigory Dmitrievich an old Moscow mansion in Bolshoy Kharitonievsky lane, elevated him to lieutenant colonel of the Preobrazhensky regiment and approved him as a senator. Since 1727, Yusupov became a leading member of the Military Collegium, and shortly before his death, he was promoted to General-in-Chief by Empress Anna Ioannovna.
The largest land grants in the history of the family were made to Prince Grigory Dmitrievich. Under various rulers, he received estates in the Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Kaluga, Kursk, Kharkov, Voronezh and Yaroslavl provinces from the possessions of the disgraced princes Koltsov-Masalsky and Menshikov.
His son - Boris Grigorievich (1695–1759) - in 1717 among 20 Russian noblemen 
sons was sent by Peter I to study in France - in the Toulon school of midshipmen. However, he did not inherit his father's warlike nature and preferred civilian service to military service. During the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna, Boris Grigorievich was appointed Moscow Governor-General (1740), and under Elizabeth Petrovna he received the status of a real privy councilor, served as chief director of the Ladoga Canal, president of the Commerce Collegium, director of Russia's first land gentry cadet corps - a privileged educational institution for noble children. In the performance of his service, Boris Grigorievich was noted for his initiative to connect the Ladoga Canal with the Volga and Oka, introduced improvements in the methods of production of Russian cloth at state-owned factories, and also contributed to the theatrical activities of students of the cadet corps. Among the latter then was A.P. Sumarokov - an outstanding playwright in the future. The stage experiences of noble children delighted Elizaveta Petrovna so much that in 1756 she issued a decree on the establishment of the first Russian public theater.
The son of Boris Grigorievich, Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (1751–1831), was especially famous for his disposition to art, a brilliant nobleman of the “Golden Age 
Catherine" and one of her many favorites, and perhaps for some time a lover. In any case, a picture hung in his office, in which he and Catherine II were depicted naked in the form of Apollo and Venus.
"The messenger of a young crowned wife," in Pushkin's words, was friends with Voltaire, Diderot and Beaumarchais. Beaumarchais dedicated an enthusiastic poem to him. In Europe, Yusupov was received by all monarchs: Joseph II in Vienna, Frederick the Great in Berlin, Louis XVI and Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris. The prince amassed a brilliant collection of Western European paintings and sculpture contemporary to him, comparable, according to the art critic and artist Alexander Benois, with similar departments of the Louvre and the Hermitage. He was in correspondence and friendship with the greatest masters of the French and Italian schools: J.-B. Grezom, J.-L. David, J. Vernet, G. Robert. The Russian aristocrat quickly earned a reputation as a "connoisseur of the arts." Catherine II took advantage of the prince's connections and entrusted him with the purchase of paintings for the recently created Hermitage, as well as the study of porcelain in Europe. Yusupov acquired the best works of art for Russia and at the same time for himself. For example, in Italy, he convinced Pope Pius VI to give permission for the complete copying of the famous loggias of Raphael. Later, he moved copies to St. Petersburg.
Returning to Russia, the prince occupies a number of responsible government posts. At various times, he served as director of the Hermitage, imperial theaters, glass and porcelain factories, tapestry manufactory, president of the Manufactory College, minister of appanages, head of the Expedition of the Kremlin buildings and the Armory. Since 1823 N.B. Yusupov is a member of the State Council. The only one in history, he was the supreme marshal at the coronation of three Russian emperors - Paul I, Alexander I and Nicholas I. When this nobleman received all conceivable posts and awards, a precious pearl epaulette was established especially for him.
Having married a relative of the Most Serene Prince Grigory Potemkin, the prince leaves her and the children in St. Petersburg, and he himself moves to Moscow. Not the last role in the trip 
played the famous womanly dignitary. This feature was noted by many contemporaries. In his estate hung 300 portraits of women, whose favor he enjoyed. All of Moscow was full of stories about the love affairs of the elderly prince. In addition to cohabiting with many of his serf actresses, Yusupov had another house opposite the palace in Bolshoi Kharitonevsky, surrounded by a high stone wall, where a seraglio with 15–20 of his most pretty courtyard girls was located. In addition, the prince openly supported the famous dancer Voronina-Ivanova, to whom he presented rare diamonds as a benefit performance.
Having moved to Moscow, Yusupov buys the Arkhangelskoye estate near Moscow from Prince Golitsyn and completes the creation of the “Russian Versailles” begun by the former owner. He transports here his huge collection of works of art, lays out a park, builds new buildings. The life of Nikolai Borisovich in his old age was a typical example of the life of a brilliant nobleman of Catherine's times. “Surrounded by marble, painted and living beauty,” according to Herzen, “the old skeptic and epicurean Yusupov ... magnificently went out for 80 years ...” A fish with golden earrings at the gills swam in the fountains of Arkhangelsk, and a hand-held eagle flew up to the spire after a certain period of time . It was rumored that Prince Yusupov, while in Paris, took the elixir of eternal youth, because he did not seem to age. At the age of 80, Nikolai Borisovich had an 18-year-old mistress from a serf theater troupe. The sybarite nobleman went into debt to maintain his pleasures and died quite suddenly from a cholera epidemic. Prince P.A. Vyazemsky, having visited Arkhangelsk, left the following characterization of Yusupov: “On the street his eternal holiday, in the house an eternal triumph of celebrations ... Everything about him was luminous, deafening, intoxicating.”
His son, Boris Nikolaevich (1794–1849), is the exact opposite of his father. 
He was distinguished by remarkable practical acumen, and showed indifference to the arts. The new owner of Arkhangelsk disbanded the theater troupe, rented out the porcelain factory and buildings, and moved the collection of paintings to St. Petersburg to the newly acquired mansion at 94 Moika Street. Herzen complained that the estate near Moscow was turning from "a beautiful flower into a garden plant." True, a garden plant, for all its non-aesthetics, brings practical benefits, unlike a beautiful flower. The “art connoisseur” Nikolai Borisovich left to his descendants not only “483 paintings and 21 marble statues”, but also almost two and a half million different debts, and the richest of the Yusupov estates were unprofitable by the time of his death. Having entered into inheritance rights, Boris Nikolayevich became the owner of about 250 thousand acres of land and over 40 thousand peasants. A straightforward, sincere, patriotic, religious, active and very practical man, he gave his yard boys to study crafts, not literacy, took care of their religious education, and considered learning dances and music superfluous. Under him, the profitability of Yusupov estates increased sharply.
The wife of Boris Nikolaevich, nee Naryshkina, was a very beautiful lady. 15 years younger than her husband, she led a secular salon life, and after his death she left 
married a young French nobleman, accepted a new citizenship and settled in her own mansion in the middle of the royal park in Boulogne.
The son of Prince Boris - Nikolai, named after the legendary grandfather - is the last representative of the Yusupov family in the male line. Having been educated at the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, he made a good court career - he was promoted to actual state councilors and granted to the chamberlains of the highest court. The prince devoted all his free time to his various hobbies. The artistically gifted and subtle nature of Nikolai Borisovich Jr. combined a passion for collecting, music, history and philosophy. The prince was a member of the Paris Conservatory, the Roman Academy of Music, and the Munich Art Society. In 1866–67 he published a two-volume historical work "On the family of the Yusupov princes." N.B. died. Yusupov Jr. in 1891 abroad, where he spent a considerable part of his life, carrying out diplomatic missions of the court.
The health of the last Yusupov, like the health of his wife, Tatyana Alexandrovna, nee Ribopierre, was rather fragile, in addition, the spouses were brought to each other by cousins. They had two beautiful daughters. The youngest, Tatyana, died of typhus at the age of 22. In the light, it was rumored that from that time on, the Yusupov family curse extended to the female half.
Seven years before his death, N.B. Yusupov Jr. petitioned the highest name for permission to transfer his name, title and coat of arms to his son-in-law - the husband of his eldest daughter. The chosen one of Zinaida Nikolaevna (1861–1939) was Count Felix Feliksovich Sumarokov-Elston, a cornet of the Cavalry Guards Regiment and, according to rumor, a descendant of M.I. Kutuzov and the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The count, a tall, stately brunette with an energetic gait, belonged to the highest military aristocracy: from 1911 he was the general of His Majesty's retinue, in 1914 he was appointed chief of the Moscow military district and governor-general of Moscow. Zinaida Nikolaevna chose him solely at the call of her heart, because at one time representatives of the most noble families of Europe, not excluding the reigning families, for example, two French infantes or the Bulgarian Crown Prince Batenberg, wooed her. At the end of the XIX century. The Yusupovs owned fabulous wealth and one of the largest landed estates in the country. In terms of capital, they occupied one of the first places in the empire; in 1900, the value of their real estate was 21.3 million rubles.
The more significant is the step taken by the Yusupovs in 1900. Zinaida Nikolaevna and Felix Feliksovich bequeathed all the artistic values of the family in the event of its sudden termination in favor of the state. These are extensive collections of art and jewelry, palaces in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Arkhangelsk, as well as a number of estates in Central Russia.
A large role in making this decision belonged to Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna. 
A beauty, a subtle spiritualized woman, she possessed exceptional spiritual qualities, which was recognized by many contemporaries. During her reign, all the Yusupov estates were restored. Arkhangelskoe came back to life again, grand dukes began to visit there, and, as in the old days, famous artists and cultural figures used to visit here. The Moscow Palace in Bolshoi Kharitonevsky underwent artistic restoration and came to life after a long break. In 1912, at the expense of the family, the Roman Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts named after Emperor Alexander III in Moscow (now the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts) was created. The artist Valentin Alexandrovich Serov, who painted only people he liked, created portraits of the Yusupovs and their two sons. He repeatedly visited Arkhangelsk and left the following opinion about Zinaida Nikolaevna: "a glorious princess ... there is something subtle, good in her ... she generally understands."
The fate of her children was dramatic and even tragic. Eldest son - Nikolai - 
versatile gifted young man, as if once again confirming the family
legend of the curse, was killed in a duel over a woman at the age of 25. During a duel with Count Meineifel, Nikolai deliberately fired twice into the air. As a sign of this tragic event, the Yusupovs order the architect Klein, the author of the Museum of Fine Arts on Volkhonka, a tomb church in Arkhangelskoye. The building has 26 pairs of columns - the fateful number of the genus.
The fate of the youngest son - Felix Feliksovich, Prince Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston Jr. (1887-1967) - is full of twists and turns. A handsome man and a master of outrageousness, a reveler and a frivolous rake, he was one of the main scandalous heroes of the secular bohemia of the pre-war years. In 1914, Felix married the fragile princess of imperial blood "with a cameo profile" Irina Alexandrovna. A mansion in St. Petersburg was being completed for the young, and soon a girl was born to them - Princess Irina Feliksovna. Further events are more like an action-packed detective story.
In November 1916, Felix Yusupov organizes the assassination of the royal favorite Grigory 
Rasputin. In addition to him, the Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, the famous politician V. Purishkevich, the front-line lieutenant A. Sukhotin and the military doctor S. Lazovert are participating in the conspiracy. Yusupov, under some pretext, brings the "old man" to the mansion on the Moika, after which he feeds him cakes with potassium cyanide. The murder turned out to be very bloody and difficult, as if marking the near future of the country. Rasputin does not die for a long time - he is repeatedly shot at, beaten, and eventually thrown into the icy river. The Empress is furious - she demands the execution of Felix. But Nicholas II exiles him to the Rakitnoye estate in the Kursk province, where the mother and wife of the young prince immediately arrive. Here they learned about the February Revolution and the abdication of the sovereign.
Until the spring of 1919, the whole family lived in the Crimean estate of the Romanovs, Ai-Todor. Earlier on the peninsula, the Yusupovs owned a palace in Koreiz near Yalta, as well as an estate in Kokkozy. Now the Bolsheviks are in charge there - the time of the "Red Terror" has come. The situation is very unstable and resembles anarchy. Felix visits Petrograd and Moscow several times to hide part of the wealth. Together with the butler Grigory Buzhinsky, he makes several hiding places in the palaces on the Moika and Bolshoi Kharitonevsky. The Yusupovs hope to return. After the Bolsheviks tortured Buzhinsky, and all the treasures were found and expropriated. And in 1919, returning to the Crimea, Felix took out two of the best portraits by Rembrandt from his collection.
In April 1919, the Empress Dowager and her relatives, including the Yusupovs, left Russia. Zinaida Nikolaevna and Felix Feliksovich Sr. settled in Rome. Irina and Felix Yusupov settled first in London, then moved to Paris, buying a small house in Boulogne-sur-Seine.
Felix Feliksovich Sr. died in 1928. His wife moved to his son in Paris. The well-known fashion salon IRFE gathered in Felix's house, here one could meet Kuprin, Bunin, Teffi, Vertinsky and many others. The owner of the salon, a tall, slender man "with an iconic face of Byzantine writing," was known as "the man who killed Rasputin." Rich American women did everything possible to get to know him. The prince himself missed Russia and wrote memoirs that ended up in Hollywood and became the basis for the film.
Since the late 1930s Yusupov repeatedly received Nazi offers of cooperation, which he rejected. They retaliated by not returning the wealth stored in the Berlin banks. After the war, the Yusupovs finally went bankrupt.
In 1967, at the age of 80, Felix Yusupov died in Paris. A few months before his death, he adopted an 18-year-old Mexican, Victor Contreras, who later became a famous sculptor and painter.
The daughter of Felix and Irina, the younger Irina, married Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetev. The newlyweds settled in Rome, where in 1942 their daughter Xenia was born. It was she who, after more than 70 years of emigration, managed to set foot on Russian soil. In the spring of 1991, she stepped over the threshold of the palace on the Moika, where five generations of her ancestors lived. Three years later, Princess Xenia attended a funeral liturgy in a dilapidated family church in the village of Spasskoye near Moscow - five burials of the Yusupovs were preserved here. The same number of graves of an ancient family are located in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in the vicinity of Paris.
In 2000, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Ksenia Nikolaevna Yusupova-Sheremeteva, married to Sfiri, in response to her request, Russian citizenship was granted. In 2004, in the family of Tatyana, the only daughter of the princess, the first-born was born - the girl Marilya. The ancient line continues.
Shortly before the revolution, it was difficult to find a noble family whose founders lived in ancient times. At that time, among the wealthy families, there were mainly people from the merchant class, and this family was a model of respect and reverence for their roots and genealogy. Perhaps it is precisely that unbreakable bond with the ancestors that explains the stamina and endurance of all members of this influential family.
The history of the surname of the Yusupov family dates back to the time of Ivan the Terrible. The ancestor of the future nobles was Yusuf-Murza, the Nogai Khan. He sent his descendants to Moscow so that they would receive the city of Romanov for feeding, be baptized according to the Orthodox model and find a new home. According to official data, the period from the 16th to the 17th centuries can be considered the time from which the history of the family originates.
The descendants of Yusuf were always respected and were close to the royal family. So, the great-grandson of Khan,Grigory Dmitrievichhad merits before Peter the Great. He participated in the Azov campaigns and the Northern War. His sonBoris Grigorievichserved as governor during the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna.his descendant, received from Paul I the title of Minister of the Department of Appanages, and Emperor Alexander I, who replaced him, made Nicholas a member of the State Council.
Look at the photo of the family tree: the history of the Yusupov family is amazing in that they always had only one heir in the male line. There were other sons, but they never lived to adulthood. Therefore, their family tree has no additional lines, it is straight and unbranched. In those days, this was rare, usually well-born families had many relatives and descendants.
There is a legend that a terrible curse has been imposed on the whole family. Allegedly, the tribesmen of Yusuf found out that he converted his descendants to another faith, were angry and killed the khan himself as soon as he crossed the border of his state. They tracked down the steppe sorceress, who doomed the family members to a terrible fate. Of all the children born within a generation, only one survived to the age of 26.
This story was repeated from ancestors to descendants, and not in vain, there were too many confirmations of its veracity. The couple really had only one son, who reached the age of 26 years. Family members were wary of this frightening legend, and all the servants who were in the house, without any doubt, took superstition at face value.
Historians who have conducted research on the noble family of the Yusupovs have a different opinion on this matter. They found that the death of sons at a young age did not begin immediately after the emergence of an eminent family. The legendary “curse of the family” manifested itself only after the death of Boris Grigorievich; before him, there were no such cases of death at a young age. In addition, the curse only applied to men. There were no such problems with girls, they lived to old age much more often. Therefore, the researchers put forward a version that the cause of the tragedy was not a mythical curse at all, but a genetic disease transmitted through the male line.
Since there was only one son and heir in the family, the family of the Yusupov princes was on the verge of extinction for many years. However, this had a positive effect on the well-being of the family. Unlike other eminent families with many descendants, the funds were not distributed among the heirs, they were not wasted by numerous relatives. The wealth of the family has always remained in the house and concentrated in the hands of one owner.We will tell you about the most prominent representativesdynasties. Storiestheir lives are fascinating, full of mysteries and amazing events.
The wife of Boris Nikolaevich came from an influential and noble Naryshkin family. She was married at the age of fifteen, while her chosen one was already thirty. Boris was a widower at that time. Having met the young lady-in-waiting Zinaida Ivanovna at the coronation celebrations, the prince was fascinated by her beauty. It was not easy to achieve the location of the bride's parents, so Boris Ivanovich was forced to woo several times. The history of the Yusupov family says that the wedding was postponed several times.
Finally, on January 19, 1827, the wedding took place in Moscow. The ceremony was extremely unsuccessful: the groom was forced to return home, because he forgot to receive a blessing from his father, the bride dropped her wedding ring and lost it, so she had to take another one. The family life of the spouses from the very beginning did not work out. The young and energetic Zinaida was unhappy in the company of her gloomy and thoughtful husband, in letters to her father she noted that she was bored in St. Petersburg. Soon a tragedy occurred that finally destroyed the already fragile family ties. After the appearance of her son Nikolai, Zinaida gave birth to a daughter, but she died in childbirth. Having learned about the birth curse, the princess flatly refused to give birth to more children and allowed her husband to have connections on the side and have mistresses. Their marriage has since become a formality.
The princess was young and very pretty. Historians who have studied the Yusupov dynasty note that, according to contemporaries, she was slender and tall, had a thin waist and beautiful dark eyes. The thirst for entertainment pushed her to numerous novels. The whole high society was aware of her adventures and reputation, but many influential families continued to respect Zinaida Ivanovna because of her friendly disposition and noble family.
After the death of her husband in 1849, the princess left the Russian Empire and met a young Frenchman. Their age difference was 20 years. They got married in 1861 in the homeland of Zinaida Ivanovna. The nobility reacted negatively to the unequal marriage, so the princess acquired for her husband the title of Count Chauveau and Marquis de Serres, and she herself became known as the Countess de Chauveau. So she broke all ties with the damned, in her opinion, the family of the Yusupov princes and began a new life in France.
The only son of Zinaida Ivanovna, who went to France, Nikolai Borisovich. In fact, the history of the Yusupov surname is interrupted on him, since he was the last descendant in the male line.
Nikolai was a passionate collector, collected musical instruments, works of art, jewelry. One of the greatest values, which was then passed down from generation to generation in the family, is the pearl of Pelegrin. With her, Zinaida, the daughter of Nikolai Borisovich, poses in almost all of her portraits.
Nicholas was very sensitive to art. He collected himself a unique collection of paintings, however, his gallery was always closed to visitors. Also, following the example of his ancestors, from an early age he took part in charity, for which he received the respect of his contemporaries.
The family life of the prince was also not without difficulties. He was in love with his half-cousin, Tatyana Alexandrovna Ribopierre. From the point of view of Orthodoxy, such a marriage was unacceptable, so the young had to get married in secret. A case was opened against this union in the Synod, but Emperor Alexander II himself ordered the spouses to be left alone.
Three children were born in the marriage: son Boris and daughters Tatyana and Zinaida. The boy died at an early age from an illness, and Tatiana died at the age of 22. According to the official version, the cause of death was typhus, the epidemics of which at that time happened quite often. And again, in the biography of the Yusupov family, a moment arises when only one descendant of the prince remains alive. This time, not the heir, but the heiress of a multimillion-dollar fortune, Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna, became the only legal owner of the family wealth.
Contemporaries spoke of the princess as a woman of extraordinary intelligence and beauty. She received an excellent education, knew several languages, and the most noble suitors, including the most august persons, sought her hands. Her father admitted that he would like to see his daughter on the throne, but she was not ambitious and refused everyone, wanting to find a chosen one to her liking. It turned out to be Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston, whom Zinaida Nikolaevna married in 1882. Their marriage was happy, despite the difference in views and interests of the spouses. Felix was a military man and did not really like the noble circles in which his wife preferred to be. However, the secular receptions that the spouses held on their estates were famous throughout the empire. They were invited not only Russian, but also Western aristocrats.
Zinaida Ivanovna was passionate about dancing, she knew how to perform both ballroom and Russian folk dances. During the costume ball in the Winter Palace, the princess danced so excellently that the guests applauded and called her five times. Also, the owner of the state of the noble family of the Yusupovs was famous for her generosity and conducted charitable activities.
In marriage, the couple had two sons. The first-born, Nikolai, did not live to see his 26th birthday for only six months and was killed in a duel with Count Arvid Manteuffel. Their youngest son Felix Feliksovich survived - the last descendant in the history of the Yusupov family.
For those who are interested in the biography and history of the Yusupov family, it will be very interesting to read Felix's memoirs. In them, he fascinatingly talks about his youth, relationships with family members, about his brilliant mother and brother Nikolai. Married to Irina Alexandrovna Romanova, who was related to the reigning emperor of the Russian Empire.
During their honeymoon, World War I broke out. The couple were detained as prisoners of war in Germany until the end of the war. Prince Felix's father attracted the Spanish ambassador to the cause. Thanks to his diplomatic actions, the young people managed to escape to Russia, where they began to deal with the arrangement of military hospitals.
Felix and Irina had a daughter, whose godparents were Emperor Nicholas himself and his wife.Felix Feliksovich was involved in the murder of Rasputin, as he considered him the culprit of all the misfortunes that were happening at that time in the country. The prince participated in the organization of the murder of Rasputin. He stated that he must be removed by any means and his influence on the sovereign and empress must be stopped, even at the cost of murder.
After the October Revolution, the Yusupov family moved abroad. At first they lived in London, and then, having sold several family jewels, they acquired estates in France.To improve their financial situation, the couple opened a fashion house, but it did not bring significant profit. Felix's biggest success was the court case he won with Hollywood. One of the studios made the film "Rasputin and the Empress", in which it was shown that Felix Feliksovich's wife was the emperor's mistress. The indignant prince sued for slander and received a large monetary compensation. It is believed that after this incident, all Hollywood films began to warn about the fiction of the plot and characters.
The couple adopted Mexican Victor Manuel Contreras for adoption. In the future, the adopted son became a sculptor and artist, his works of art. His work can be found in various European countries, as well as in Mexico and the United States.
Prince Felix Feliksovich died in 1967, and his wife died three years later. The couple is buried in Paris. This ends the history of the noble family of the Yusupovs.
Describing the history of our region (Rakityansky district of the Belgorod region), it is impossible to ignore the story of one of the influential princely families - the Yusupovs, who left an indelible mark on the history of Russia.
In the book of Prince Felix Feliksovich Yusupov "Before the exile 1887-1917" a brief biography of the Yusupov family is given:
“The family archive presents us the founder of the Yusupov family, Abubekir bin Rayok, who lived in the 6th century and was a descendant of the prophet Ali, the nephew of Mohammed. He was the supreme ruler and received the name of Emir al Omr - the prince of princes, the sultan of sultans and khans. His descendants also held prominent positions: they were kings in Egypt, Damascus, Antioch and Constantinople. Some of them ruled Mecca...
... Khan Yusuf among the murzas / murza - Tatar prince / was the most powerful and most educated "
Khan Yusuf was the ruler of the Nogai Horde.
“... Tsar Ivan the Terrible, to whom Khan Yusuf was devoted for twenty years, considered the Nogai Horde a sovereign state and addressed its head as an equal, calling his ally: “My friend. My brother."
Yusuf had eight sons and one daughter - Sumbeku, who became the queen of Kazan. The princess became famous for her beauty, intelligence, ardor and courage ...
Sumbeka ruled her kingdom with the world for several years. Soon she had a feud with Ivan the Terrible. The besieged Kazan capitulated to the more powerful Russian army, and Queen Sumbeka became a prisoner...
Sumbeka died as a captive at the thirty-seventh year of her life. But the memories did not let her name sink into eternity ...
... After the death of Yusuf, his descendants fought each other without a break until the end of the 17th century. His great-grandson Abdul-Murza converted to Orthodoxy, was named Dmitry, and under Tsar Fedor received the surname and title of Prince Yusupov ... ”Dmitry was married to the Russian princess Tatyana Fedorovna Korkodinova. Newly appeared Russian princes married representatives of the noblest families.
“... The son of Prince Dmitry Grigory Dmitrievich was one of the associates of Peter the Great. He participated in the creation of the fleet and took an active part in the battles, as well as in the government reforms of the great king. His mind and his character earned him the respect and friendship of the Sovereign ... "
Lieutenant-General Prince Grigory Dmitrievich Yusupov /1676-1730/ was a hero of the Battle of Poltava.
Under Peter II / reigned from 1727 to 1730, / the princes Yusupov were given large grants in the Kursk province, including the Rakitnaya settlement; the same emperor favors Grigory Dmitrievich in Moscow with the current Yusupov Palace.
“... The son of Grigory Yusupov Boris /1695-1759/ continued the work of his ancestors ... In the reign of Empress Anna, Prince Boris Grigoryevich received the rank of Governor-General of Moscow, and under Empress Elizabeth he was the director of the Shlyakhetsky Cadet Corps. He was very popular with his students, and they saw him as more of a friend than a boss. He chose the most gifted of them to create an amateur troupe of actors. They played classical plays, as well as works by their peers ... Empress Elizabeth heard the rumor about a troupe consisting exclusively of Russians, which was a novelty for that time. They were invited to the Winter Palace to give a performance. This made an impression on the empress, and subsequently she even found some charm in dressing the actors herself; she provided her best clothes and her jewelry to young people who played female roles. This prompted Prince Boris to ensure that Empress Elizabeth signed in 1756 an order to create the first public theater in St. Petersburg. The artistic activity of the prince did not distract him from state affairs ...
Prince Boris had two sons and four daughters…”
His daughters married Izmailov, Protasov, Golitsyn, Duke of Courland. Of all the children of Boris Grigoryevich Yusupov, the most significant person was his son Nikolai / 1751-1831 /.
Felix Feliksovich Yusupov writes about him like this: “Prince Nikolai is one of the most remarkable figures in our family. He lived the life of an intellectual and an original: a great traveler, an erudite who knew five languages, was a very famous person for his era. Nikolai Borisovich showed himself as a patron of science and art and was also an adviser and friend of Empress Catherine; lived in the reign of Paul I, Alexander I, Nicholas I ...
Prince Nicholas was proud of his friendship with King Frederick the Great of Prussia and Emperor Joseph II of Austria. He knew Diderot, D'Alembert and Beaumarchais. The latter composed poems for him wishing him happiness. Voltaire, after the first meeting with the prince, wrote to Catherine II that he thanked her for the pleasure of meeting a very interesting person ... "
Nikolai Borisovich was also a relative and interlocutor of A.S. Pushkin. Among the highest awards of the empire, titles, stars and estates, the highest is the message to him by A.S. Pushkin, consisting of 106 poetic lines.
“In 1793, Prince Nikolai married Tatyana Vasilievna Engelhardt / 1767-1841 /, five years before that, the former wife of Prince Potemkin / we are talking about General Potemkin M.S. - a relative of His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Potemkin / ...
After the death of Prince Nikolai Borisovich, all the estates passed to his son Boris Nikolaevich Yusupov / 1794-1849 /. He did not share his father's worldview. An independent nature, directness and frankness provided him with more enemies than friends. When he was elected leader of the St. Petersburg nobility, it was not his rank and status that played a decisive role, but kindness and decency ... "
Prince Boris was married twice. First, on Princess Praskovya Pavlovna Shcherbatova, who died of childbirth when she was 24 years old. Then on Zinaida Ivanovna Naryshkina /later Countess de Chevo/, from whom the son Nikolai Borisovich, the youngest, was born.
Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, Jr. /1827-1891/, writer, musician, philosopher-theologian, vice-director of the Imperial Library. The author of the two-volume edition "On the family of the Yusupov princes ...", 1866-67. From his marriage to Countess Tatiana Alexandrovna de Ribopierre /1828-1879/ he had three children. Unfortunately, son Boris died very early, daughter Tatyana - at 22. Thus, Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna remained the heiress of a huge fortune. As a result of the fact that Nikolai Borisovich had no male heirs, it was on Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova that the direct lineage of the Nogai Murzas was stopped.
The elite magazine "Our Heritage" /5th issue, 1990/ published a portrait of her as a child, painted by an unknown artist. Even then, the girl promised to become a beauty and became her to the delight of her mother. L.N. Tolstoy in his “Autobiographical Notes” writes: “Zinaida Nikolaevna remains for all those who knew her the perfect type of a charming secular woman. It seemed that she set out to charm and charm everyone, and everyone who approached her involuntarily fell under her charm. A very pleasant face with charming light gray eyes, which she now squinted, then somehow especially opened, smiling at the same time with a charming little mouth. A slender figure and early graying hair later gave her the appearance of a powdered doll ... "
In 1887, Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova married Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston. His father - Felix Nikolaevich Sumarokov -Elston / 1828-1877 / was the illegitimate son of the Hungarian countess Josephine Forgach and the Prussian king Frederick William IV. / Other authors call the father of Felix Nikolayevich Baron Karl Hugel or “one Viennese banker” / (Note of the site keeper: in the Yusupov family tradition, the mother of Felix Nikolayevich is recognized as Countess Katharina von Tizenhausen, granddaughter of His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov-Smolensky). As a seven-year-old boy in 1827, for unknown reasons, he was transported to Russia by Countess Tizenhausen, nee Kutuzova. He was given the surname Elston - after the name of the hero of an English novel. Felix Nikolaevich Elston married in 1856 Countess Sumarokova and received the title of count.
And now, years later, his son Felix Feliksovich Sumarokov - Elston, thanks to his marriage to Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova, was elevated to princely dignity with the condition that only his eldest son would inherit the princely title. The eldest son of Zinaida Nikolaevna and Felix Feliksovich was Nikolai, but since at the age of 26 he was shot in a duel, the title, with the special permission of Nicholas II, passed to his younger brother Felix.
So, the last name of Prince Yusupov reads: Prince Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston.
The last bearer of these high-profile titles is Felix Feliksovich Yusupov /1887-1967/, who graduated from Oxford University, major general of the retinue (Note from the site keeper: here the author of the article confused Prince Felix with his father Felix Yusupov Sr., it was he who was the adjutant general. His son did not have a general rank.), who married the Grand Duchess Irina Alexandrovna Romanova / niece of Tsar Nicholas II /, was most remembered by the Rakityan residents.
The Yusupov family inspired great works and great artists. One of these artists was the remarkable Russian painter Valentin Serov. His brush belongs to many paintings written from members of this family; portrait of Z.N. Yusupova, 1900-1902; portrait of F.F. Sumarokova-Elston, 1903; portrait of F.F. Yusupov, 1903, etc.
Felix Feliksovich Yusupov, due to his high birth, without making the slightest effort, was the heir to fabulous wealth, which, like from a cornucopia, rained down on him. He had weight in secular society, an impeccable reputation, high connections, in short, everything to live carefree.
Constantly traveling the world, Felix Yusupov did not forget to visit his family estates. Here is what he writes in the book Before the Exile.
“... Before leaving for the Crimea, where we spent the autumn, we stopped for hunting in Rakitnoye, in the Kursk province. This one of our most extensive estates included a sugar factory, numerous sawmills, brick and wool factories, and many cattle farms. The house of the manager and his subordinates was in the center of ownership. Each division - stables, kennels, sheepfolds, chicken coops, etc. - had a separate management. Horses from our factories won more than one victory at the hippodromes of St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Horses were my favorite sport, and at one time I was exclusively interested in dog hunting. I liked to gallop through the fields and forests, holding the greyhounds on a leash. Often the dogs noticed the game in front and made such jumps that I could hardly keep in the saddle. The rider held the reins on a belt over his shoulder, and squeezed the other end in his right hand: it was enough to open his hand to let the dogs go, but if he did not have a keen eye and a quick reaction, then he risked being knocked out of the saddle.
My interest in hunting was short-lived. The cries of the hare, whom I wounded with a gun, were so painful that from that day on I refused to participate in a cruel game.
Our life in Rakitnoye did not leave me particularly pleasant memories. Ever since I've lost my taste for hunting, I've only seen it as a disgusting sight. Once I gave away all my weapons and refused to go with my parents to Rakitnoye ... "
But still, Felix Yusupov still had to visit his estate in Rakitnoe. After the assassination of Grigory Rasputin, initiated by the prince, he was exiled here ...
Tsar Nicholas II punishes the organizers and perpetrators of the murder: Purishkevich goes to the front, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich goes to Persia, and Prince Felix Yusupov is assigned an estate in the Kursk province - Rakitnoye - as a place of exile.
From the book of F.F. Yusupov "Before the exile 1887-1917":
“... The journey was slow and without entertainment, but upon arrival I was glad to see my parents and Irina, who, warned by my father-in-law, immediately left the Crimea to me in Rakitnoe, leaving our little daughter with a nurse in Ai-Todor.
My arrival in Rakitnoye did not go unnoticed, but the curious came across orders not to let anyone in.
Our life in Rakitny flowed rather monotonously. Sleigh rides were the main entertainment. The winter was cold but wonderful. The sun was shining, and not the slightest breath of wind; we went out in an open sleigh at 30 degrees below zero and did not freeze. In the evening - read aloud ... "
The last years of Yusupov's life were spent in Paris. At the age of 60, he looked dashing, dressed just as elegantly, just as in his youth / before and after marriage /, lightly painted his lips and cheeks, liked to take relaxed poses, while a long-learned ambiguous smile reigned on his face. All the decades separating him from the night of December 18, 1916, when he committed his most significant act, Felix Yusupov lived as the murderer of Rasputin and no longer embarked on any political adventures. In Parisian, London, New York drawing rooms, they whispered at his appearance, looked at him with exciting curiosity, and he took such signs of attention for granted.
By killing Rasputin, Yusupov probably dreamed of becoming the idol of all of Russia.
The first years of emigration, the Yusupovs did not live in poverty. Some part of the state ended up with them abroad. But the habit of luxury soon undermined this base.
In the Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve de Bois near Paris, buried under a Russian Orthodox cross: Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova, her son Felix Felixovich Yusupov and daughter-in-law Princess Irina Alexandrovna, nee Grand Duchess Romanova (Note from the site keeper: Irina Alexandrovna did not have the title of Grand Duchess, but , being the great-granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I by her father and the granddaughter of Emperor Alexander III by her mother, she had the title of Princess of Imperial Blood), the daughter of Felix and Irina - Countess Irina Feliksovna Sheremeteva and her husband Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Sheremetev.
The Count and Countess Sheremetevs had a daughter, Xenia, in 1942. In 1965, in Athens, she married the Greek Ilia Sfiri, and in 1968 their daughter Tatyana, the great-granddaughter of Felix and Irina Yusupov, was born.
After the revolution, Ksenia and her daughter Tatyana, the only ones from the Yusupov family, visited Russia, the homeland of their ancestors.
Such is the history of the kind of former owners and organizers of the Rakityan land.
