Family of princes Yusupov. Yusupovs Origin of the Yusupovs

Princes Yusupov
Vladimir Polushko

In terms of nobility they were not inferior to the Romanovs, and in terms of wealth they were significantly superior to them. The Yusupov family began in 1563, when two sons of the ruling prince of the Nogai Horde, Il-Murza and Ibrahim-Murza, arrived in Moscow.

Tsar Ivan IV received them favorably and endowed them with rich estates “according to the nobility of the family.” The line of descendants of Ibrahim Murza ended early. The younger brother Il-Murza died in 1611, bequeathing his five sons to faithfully serve Russia. His grandson and heir Abdullah converted to Orthodoxy in 1631 and was named Dmitry Yusupov. Instead of the Tatar name “Murza”, he received the title of prince and royal charters for hereditary ownership of new estates. The first prince Yusupov was granted the title of steward and was appointed to voivodeship and ambassadorial positions. He significantly increased the family wealth by marrying the rich widow Katerina Yakovlevna Sumarokova, the daughter of the devious Khomutov, who was close to the royal court.

The heir to most of this wealth was their son Grigory Dmitrievich Yusupov (1676 - 1730). He was a companion of Peter I's youth games, and in adult life he became one of the closest associates of the reformer Tsar. Prince Gregory participated in the implementation of all, as we would now say, “projects” of Peter I and, of course, hastened with him to the banks of the Neva to open a “window to Europe.” So the history of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yusupov family began simultaneously with the history of our city. Prince Gregory was the organizer of the Russian galley fleet, a member of the State Military Collegium. At the burial of Peter the Great, only the three state dignitaries closest to him followed immediately behind the coffin. These were A.D. Menshikov, F.M. Apraksin and G.D. Yusupov.

The heir of Grigory Yusupov, his son Boris Grigorievich (1695 - 1759), can also be considered a “chick of Petrov’s nest”. Among a group of young noble offspring, he was sent by Peter to study in France, and successfully graduated from the Toulon School of Midshipmen. During the reign of “Petrova’s daughter” Elizabeth, he held a number of high government positions: he was director of the Ladoga Canal, president of the Commerce Collegium.

Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (1750 – 1831) achieved even more noticeable success in public service. He was a member of the State Council, a diplomat of the highest rank, communicated with kings and emperors, met with Voltaire, Diderot, Beaumarchais. As the Supreme Marshal of the Coronation, he led the crowning ceremony of three Russian emperors: Paul I, Alexander I and Nicholas I. On the instructions of Catherine II, Nikolai Borisovich collected artistic works from the best masters throughout Europe for the imperial collection. At the same time, he began to collect his own collection, which over time became one of the best private collections of works of art not only in Russia, but throughout Europe. According to contemporaries, Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov was one of the most truly noble and cultured people of his time, without the slightest hint of stupid arrogance. It was to him that A.S. Pushkin dedicated the poem “To the Nobleman.”

The grandson of the “enlightened nobleman,” named after the legendary grandfather Nikolai Borisovich Jr. (1827 – 1891), at the age of 28 he was the commander-in-chief of the coronation ceremony of Alexander II. But in addition to honorary duties and high titles, he inherited from his grandfather a creative nature, a subtle artistic taste, and a passion for collecting and philanthropy. Nikolai Borisovich himself was no stranger to communicating with muses. He was fond of playing music and studied composition. His sonatas, nocturnes and romances were performed not only in St. Petersburg halls, but also in music salons in other European cities. He also paid tribute to literary creativity: he wrote novels and religious and philosophical treatises. N.B. Yusupov's books are stored in the former Imperial Public Library, of which he was vice-director for four years.

N.B. Yusupov Jr. became the last representative of an ancient family in the direct male line - he died without leaving any male heirs. Several years before his death, he received the highest permission to transfer the surname, title and coat of arms to the husband of his eldest daughter Zinaida, Count F.F. Sumarokov-Elston, and then to their descendants. To the credit of the Yusupovs, it should be noted that back in 1900 (that is, long before the coming catastrophic upheavals), a will was drawn up, according to which, in the event of the termination of the family, all artistic values become the property of the state and remain in Russia.

Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova (1861 – 1939) completes the series of spiritually beautiful women who have graced the Yusupov family for centuries. We can judge their beauty by ancient portraits created by the best artists. The portrait of Zinaida Nikolaevna was painted by the great Valentin Serov, who managed to convey to us his admiration for the spiritual and physical beauty of this woman. Next to this portrait in the Russian Museum hangs a portrait of her son Felix, created in the same 1903.

Prince Felix Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston (1887 - 1967) became the most famous of the Yusupov family, although he did not perform any feats of arms and did not distinguish himself in public service. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he was the idol of St. Petersburg's golden youth, had the nickname Russian Dorian Gray, and remained an admirer of Oscar Wilde throughout his life. In 1914, Felix married Grand Duchess Irina (Note from the site keeper: Irina Alexandrovna wore the title of Princess of the Imperial Blood), the Tsar’s niece. The Yusupovs became related to the Romanovs three years before the collapse of the dynasty. In December 1916, Felix became the organizer of a monarchist conspiracy, as a result of which Grigory Rasputin was killed in the family mansion on the Moika. The conspirators were sure that they were acting to save the Russian Empire. In fact, the murder of Rasputin only accelerated the inevitable collapse of the three-hundred-year-old dynasty and the subsequent revolutionary upheavals.

In emigration, the Yusupovs learned for the first time in the centuries-old history of their family what it meant to make a living. Felix worked as an artist, wrote and published memoirs. His wife opened a sewing workshop and a fashion salon. During the Great Patriotic War, Felix Yusupov showed real courage and patriotism, decisively rejecting all offers of cooperation from the fascists.

The Yusupovs left Russia in 1919 on board the English dreadnought Marlborough, which was sent for the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna by her august nephew King George V. The exile lasted for many decades. Only Felix Feliksovich's granddaughter Ksenia, born in France in 1942, waited to return. In 1991, she first crossed the threshold of the family mansion on the Moika, where the Leningrad Teacher's House was located.
On January 7, 1994, on the landing of the main staircase of the Yusupov Palace, Ksenia Nikolaevna Yusupova-Sfiri met the guests of the Christmas ball, which opened the “St. Petersburg Seasons”. The author of these lines was among those invited. And I remember very well that, despite the proletarian skepticism towards the noble-monarchical traditions (brought up by many years of experience in Soviet journalism), I experienced something similar to sacred awe. It was one of those rare moments when you visibly feel the cyclical nature of history and the fact that it moves, if not in a circle, then in a spiral.

Rock of the Yusupov family

There are several versions of legends about the Yusupov family curse. Even within the family, this story was told in different ways. Zinaida Nikolaevna herself adhered to the version of her grandmother - Zinaida Ivanovna Naryshkina-Yusupova-de Chavaud-de-Serre.

The founder of the clan was considered to be the Khan of the Nogai Horde, Yusuf-Murza. Wanting to make peace with Moscow against the will of his fellow tribesmen and fearing for the lives of his sons, he sent them to the court of Ivan the Terrible. The Russian chronicle says: “The sons of Yusuf, having arrived in Moscow, were granted many villages and hamlets in the Romanov district, and the service Tatars and Cossacks settled there were subordinate to them. From that time on, Russia became the fatherland for the descendants of Yusuf.” The old khan calculated everything correctly: before his sons had time to reach Moscow, his brother dealt harshly with him. When the news reached the Horde that the sons of Murza had abandoned the Muslim faith and accepted Orthodoxy, one of the sorceresses placed a curse on them, according to which, out of the total number of Yusupovs born in one generation, only one would live to be twenty-six years old, and so it would continue up to the complete destruction of the dynasty. Why this curse sounded so confusing is not easy to say, but it came true with amazing accuracy. No matter how many children the Yusupovs had, only one man was destined to live to the age of twenty-six.

At the same time, this terrible fate did not affect the financial prosperity of the family in any way. By 1917, the Yusupovs were in second place in wealth after the Romanovs themselves. They owned a huge amount of land, sugar, brick, sawmills, as well as factories and mines. Their annual income was no less than fifteen million gold rubles. And there were legends about the luxurious Yusupov palaces. Even the greatest princes were jealous of the stunning decoration of their houses and salons. For example, Zinaida Nikolaevna’s rooms in Arkhangelskoye and in the palace in St. Petersburg were furnished with designs from the executed French queen Marie Antoinette. The art gallery could compete with the Hermitage in terms of the number of greatest and authentic works by recognized artists. And Zinaida Nikolaevna’s countless jewels were treasures that in the past belonged to almost all the royal courts of Europe. She especially treasured the magnificent pearl “Pelegrina”. She rarely parted with it and is even depicted wearing it in all portraits. It once belonged to Philip II and was considered the main decoration of the Spanish Crown. However, Zinaida Nikolaevna did not measure happiness by wealth, and the curse of the Tatar sorceress made the Yusupovs unhappy.

Of all the Yusupovs, probably only Zinaida Nikolaevna’s grandmother, Countess de Chavo, was able to avoid great suffering due to the untimely death of her children. Born Naryshkina, Zinaida Ivanovna was married to Boris Nikolaevich Yusupov while still a very young girl. Soon she gave birth to a son, and then a daughter who died during childbirth. Only after these events did she learn about the family curse. Being a sensible woman, she told her husband that she would no longer “give birth to dead people.” In response to his objections, she stated that if he still had not had his fill, then he was allowed to “belly the courtyard girls,” and that she was not going to object. This was the case until 1849, when the old prince died.

Zinaida Ivanovna was not even forty years old when she plunged headlong into the maelstrom of new novels and relationships. There were gossip and legends about her beau, but the young Narodnaya Volya received the most attention. When he was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress, the princess abandoned social life, followed him and, unknown how, she achieved that he was released to her at night. Many people knew about this story and gossiped about it, but, surprisingly, Zinaida Ivanovna was not condemned. On the contrary, secular society recognized the right of the stately princess to all sorts of extravagances a la de Balzac. But then it all ended; for some time she was a recluse at Liteiny. Then she married a bankrupt but well-born Frenchman and left Russia, abandoning the title of Princess Yusupova. In France, she was called Countess de Chaveau, Marquise de Serres. The story associated with the young Narodnaya Volya member was recalled by Yusupov after the revolution. One of the emigrant newspapers published a report that, in search of Yusupov’s treasures, the Bolsheviks destroyed all the walls of the palace on Liteiny Prospekt. To their chagrin, they did not find any jewelry, but they did find a secret room adjacent to the bedroom, in which there was a coffin with the body of an embalmed man. This was probably the Narodnaya Volya member sentenced to death, whose body Zinaida Ivanovna bought and brought to St. Petersburg.

However, for all the drama of the life of Zinaida Naryshkina-Yusupova-de Chavaud-de-Serre, her family considered her happy. All her husbands died before reaching old age, and she lost her daughter during childbirth, when she had not yet had time to get used to her. She fell in love many times, did not deny herself anything, and she died surrounded by her family. For the rest of the dynasty, despite their mind-boggling wealth, life was much more prosaic. Family rock spared no one.

Zinaida Nikolaevna's eldest son Nikolenka grew up as a silent and withdrawn boy. No matter how hard Princess Yusupova tried to bring him closer to her, nothing worked for her. All her life she had imagined the horror that gripped her when, at Christmas 1887, when asked to her son what gift he would like to receive, Zinaida Nikolaevna listened to a completely unchildish and icy answer: “I don’t want you to have other children.” "

Then the princess was confused, but it soon became clear that one nanny assigned to the young prince told the boy about the Nogai curse. She was immediately fired, but Zinaida Nikolaevna waited for the expected baby with a feeling of absorbing and acute fear. Even at first, the fears were not in vain. Nikolenka did not hide his dislike for Felix, and only ten years later, between the matured brothers, a feeling arose that was more like friendship than the love of two relatives. Family rock made its presence known in 1908. Then the ill-fated duel took place.

In the memoirs of Felix Yusupov, it is easy to see that throughout his life he was jealous of his mother for Nikolai, who, although outwardly resembled his father rather than Zinaida Nikolaevna, was incredibly similar to her in his inner world. He was also fond of theater, loved music, drew and painted beautifully. He published his stories under the pseudonym Rokov. Even Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, who was stingy with flattering reviews, noted the author’s undoubted talent.

After graduating from St. Petersburg University, he received a law degree. The family was planning the upcoming marriage of the young prince. But the romantic Nicholas, unexpectedly for himself and for everyone, fell in love with Maria Heyden, who at that time was already engaged to Count Arvid Manteuffel, and soon this wedding took place. The young couple went on a trip to Europe, and Nikolai Yusupov did not fail to follow them - a duel was inevitable. And it happened.

On June 22, 1908, on the estate of Prince Beloselsky on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg, Count Manteuffel’s hand did not waver and he did not miss. Nikolai Yusupov would have turned twenty-six years old in six months.

“Rending screams were heard from my father’s room,” Felix Yusupov recalled some time later. “I walked in and saw him, very pale, in front of the stretcher where Nikolai’s body was stretched out. His mother, kneeling before him, seemed to have lost her mind. With great difficulty we tore her away from our son’s body and put her to bed. Having calmed down a little, she called me, but when she saw me, she mistook me for her brother. It was an unbearable scene. Then my mother fell into prostration, and when she came to her senses, she did not let me go for a second.”

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Georgy Blyumin, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of Cultural Studies, President of the Yusupovo-Princely Charitable Foundation (Moscow)

Source of information: The Curse of the Yusupov Family, Traveler magazine No.3(23), 2000.

The ancestors of the Yusupovs are from Abubekir, the father-in-law of the prophet, who ruled after Muhammad (about 570-632) over the entire Muslim family. Three centuries after him, his namesake Abubekir ben 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 in his person governmental and spiritual power. Prince N.B. Yusupov Jr. notes: “This was the supreme dignitary of the Caliph Radi-Billag, who disappeared in the ecstasy of bliss and luxury, who granted him all power in spiritual and secular meaning.”

During 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 discovered 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 Abdurahman. Sultan Termes, the third son of Baba-Tukles (16th tribe from Abubekir ben Rayok), driven by hostile circumstances, moved north from Arabia, to the shores of the Azov and Caspian Seas, dragging with him many tribes of Muslims loyal to him. The Nogai Horde, which emerged as a state between the Volga and the Urals, was a consequence of the resettlement of the Sultan of Termes.

Now it becomes clear the complete equality of the marriage concluded in 1914 between Prince Felix Feliksovich 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 Edigei was in closest and close friendship with Tamerlane himself, or Timur, the “Iron Lame” and the great conqueror. Edigei was appointed Timur's chief commander. The Mongol hordes of Tokhtamysh burned Moscow and arrogantly moved towards Tamerlane. Edigei went out to meet Tokhtamysh and killed him in single combat in front of the army. The Lithuanian prince Vytautas suffered a crushing defeat from Edigei on the Vorskla River in 1339. Tamerlan's friend imposed a tribute on the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Vasily Dmitrievich. Finally, Edigei conquered Crimea and founded the Crimean Horde there.

Edigei's great-grandson was called Musa-Murza (Prince Moses, in Russian) and, according to custom, had five wives. The first, beloved, was called Kondaza. From her Yusuf was born - the founder of the Yusupov family. 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 become related to their Muslim neighbors, “splinters” of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'. Yusuf's four daughters became the wives of the kings of Crimea, Astrakhan, Kazan and Siberia. The latter was the same Kuchum whom Ermak 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 Suyumbek, Queen of Kazan, beloved daughter of Yusuf Murza. She was born in 1520 and at the age of 14 became the wife of the Tsar of Kazan, Enalei. In the same year, Enalei was killed by his subjects and the Kazan people returned the formerly exiled Crimean king Saf-Girey to the kingdom.

Best of the day

The beauty marries a second time, this time to Saf-Girey; soon her only son, Utemish-Girey, was born. Saf-Girey introduced executions in Kazan. The Kazan people were indignant. Yunus, the son of Yusuf, decided to stand up for Saf-Girey and went to Kazan. But Saf-Girey deceived Yunus. And then both Yusuf and Yunus took the side of Ivan the Terrible. Saf-Girey started drinking and fell to his death on the steps of his own palace.

Suyumbek 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 his army, the beautiful Suyumbek put on armor and a helmet, remembering that she was the ruler of Kazan, and became the head of the city’s defenders. At first she tried to call her father and brother for help, but they remained faithful to the agreement with John IV.

Suyumbek led the defense of Kazan so brilliantly that the famous Russian commander Prince Andrei Kurbsky was unable to take the city by storm, and the matter was decided by a secret undermining and explosion of the city walls. The Queen of Kazan was taken with honor to Moscow along with her son. And in Kazan, repeated in the architecture of the Moscow Kazan Station, the seven-tier Suyumbekin Tower, about 35 fathoms high, has remained forever, adorning the Kazan Kremlin.

The beauty's story does not end there. Ivan the Terrible installed Shikh-alley as king 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 Tsar 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 located in Kasimov. In any case, her descendant, the Russian prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov Jr., thinks so when he writes in his book: “Scarlet rose hips and milk cherry trees shower the forgotten tomb with flowers!”

In Rus', the charm of Suyumbeki’s charming image lived on 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-rayed 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 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, plays by Gruzintsov “The Conquered Kazan” and Glinka “Sumbek, or the Fall of Kazan” were performed on stages in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Finally, in 1832, the stage saw Count Kutaisov's ballet "Sumbek, or the Conquest of the Kazan Kingdom." Pushkin was at a performance in which the role of Suyumbeki was performed by the ballerina Istomina, whom he praised in Onegin.

The sons of Yusuf Murza, the Suyumbek brothers, came to the court of Ivan the Terrible, and from then on they and their descendants began to serve the Russian sovereigns, without betraying the Muslim faith and receiving awards for their service. Thus, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich Il-Murza was granted the entire city of Romanov with a settlement on the banks of the Volga near Yaroslavl (now the city of Tutaev). In this beautiful city, which before the revolution bore the name 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 occurred that radically changed the fate and history of the Yusupov family.

It was during the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich. The great-grandson of Yusuf-Murza, named Abdul-Murza, received Patriarch Joachim in Romanov. Historian M.I. Pylyaev recalled: “Once upon a time, the brilliant nobleman Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov was the chamber cadet on duty during dinner at Catherine the Great’s. A goose was served on the table.

Do you, prince, know how to cut a goose? - Ekaterina asked Yusupov.

Oh, the goose must be very mindful of my last name! - 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 have taken away his entire estate, because it was given to him on the condition that he would not eat fast food on fasting days,” the empress remarked jokingly about this story.”

So, the great-grandfather of Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov treated the patriarch and, out of ignorance of Orthodox fasts, fed him a goose. The Patriarch mistook the goose for fish, tasted it and praised it, and the owner said: this is not a fish, but a goose, and my cook is so skilled that he can cook a goose like a fish. The Patriarch was angry and upon returning to Moscow he told the whole story to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. The Tsar deprived Abdul-Murza of all his 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 Seyush-Murza, was baptized under the name Dmitry and came up with a surname in memory of his ancestor Yusuf: Yusupovo-Knyazhevo. This is how Prince Dmitry Seyushevich Yusupovo-Knyazhevo appeared in Rus'.

Dmitry Seyushevich married Princess Tatiana Fedorovna Korkodinova, and according to the prediction, only one son succeeded his father. This was Grigory Dmitrievich, who served Peter the Great, a lieutenant general, whom Peter ordered to be simply called Prince Yusupov. Grigory Dmitrievich also had only one son who lived to adulthood - Prince Boris Grigorievich Yusupov, who was the governor of Moscow. It is curious that at different times two representatives of the illustrious family held this post: in addition to Boris Grigorievich, 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 of 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 wonderful man. Nikolai Borisovich was the first director of the Hermitage, and the Russian envoy to Italy, and the chief manager of the Kremlin expedition and the Armory Chamber, as well as all theaters in Russia. He created the “Versailles near Moscow” - the Arkhangelskoye estate, amazing in its beauty and wealth, where A. S. Pushkin visited him twice, in 1827 and 1830. The poetic message of the great poet to Prince Yusupov, written in Moscow in 1830, is known:

I will appear to you; I'll see this palace

Where is the architect's compass, palette and chisel?

Your learned whim was obeyed

And the inspired ones competed in magic.

In his early childhood, Pushkin lived with his parents in the prince’s Moscow palace, on Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Lane. Images of the outlandish oriental garden surrounding the palace were later reflected in the prologue of “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. The poet also brings his beloved heroine Tatyana Larina here in the seventh chapter of “Eugene Onegin” - “to Moscow for the brides’ fair”:

At Kharitonya's alley

Cart in front of the house at the gate

Has stopped...

And the poet simply connects Tatyana with 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, N.B. Yusupov’s sister Alexandra Borisovna, actually lived in Moscow in the Yusupov Palace. We find a number of reflections of the poet’s conversations with Prince Yusupov 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 further links of the family and the fate that accompanies them. Boris Nikolaevich, chamberlain, son of N.B. Yusupov, lived mainly in St. Petersburg and also left his 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 Tatyana Alexandrovna de Ribopierre. Prince Nikolai Borisovich Jr. ended the male line of the ancient family.

The only heiress - the beauty 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. Kutuzov and the grandson of the Prussian king, Russian Count Felix Feliksovich Sumarokov-Elston, lieutenant general and Governor of Moscow. And Emperor Alexander III, satisfying the request of Prince N.B. Yusupov Jr., so that the famous surname would not be suppressed, allows Count Sumarokov-Elston to also be called Prince Yusupov. This title was supposed 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 called Prince Nikolai Feliksovich Yusupov (1883-1908). Parents had 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, on the estate of the Beloselsky-Belozersky princes. Nikolai fired into the air both times... “The body was placed in the chapel,” writes the younger brother Felix, to whom the title of Prince Yusupov passed. Prince Nikolai Feliksovich was buried in Arkhangelskoye near Moscow.

Shocked parents, having buried their eldest son, built a temple-tomb in Arkhangelsk where the Yusupov princes were supposed to find their final refuge. The temple was erected by the famous Moscow architect R.I. Klein until 1916. The revolution broke out, and the temple never accepted a single burial under its vaults. And so it stands to this day as a monument to a terrible curse on the family of the Yusupov princes, opening the wings of the colonnades towards fate...

Gratitude
Yusupova Diana 13.01.2006 03:57:11

Hello Georgy. Thank you very much for the detailed information about the Yusupov family. I am 21 years old, Yusupova on my father’s side, now I live in Moscow, I want to enter the Institute of Architecture. This year I visited the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg on the river for the first time. Moika. An irresistible desire arose to learn as much as possible about this mysterious family that is so close to art. I am very interested in your organization “Yusupov-Princely Charitable Foundation”, be so kind as to 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.

History of the Yusupov family.

“The ancestors of the Yusupovs are from Abubekir, the father-in-law of the prophet, who ruled after Muhammad (about 570-632) over the entire Muslim family. Three centuries after him, his namesake Abubekir ben 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 in his person governmental and spiritual power.
During the era of the fall of the caliphate, the direct ancestors of the Russian princes Yusupov were rulers in Damascus, Antioch, Iraq, Persia, and Egypt. A direct descendant named Edigei was in the closest and closest friendship with Tamerlane himself, or Timur, the “Iron Lame” and the great conqueror. Edigei conquered Crimea and founded the Crimean Horde there.
Edigei's great-grandson was called Musa-Murza (Prince Moses, in Russian) and, according to custom, had five wives. The first, beloved, was called Kondaza. From her Yusuf was born - the founder of the Yusupov family. 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 become related to their Muslim neighbors, “splinters” of the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'.
Beautiful Suyumbek, Queen of Kazan, 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.
Suyumbek, remaining a widow, brilliantly led the defense of Kazan, so that the famous Russian commander Prince Andrei Kurbsky could not take the city by storm, and the matter was decided by a secret undermining and explosion of the city walls. The Queen of Kazan was taken with honor to Moscow along with her son.
The sons of Yusuf Murza, the Suyumbek brothers, came to the court of Ivan the Terrible, and from then on they and their descendants began to serve the Russian sovereigns, without betraying the Muslim faith and receiving awards for their service. Thus, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich Il-Murza was granted the entire city of Romanov with a settlement on the banks of the Volga near Yaroslavl (now the city of Tutaev). In this beautiful city, which before the revolution bore the name Romanov-Borisoglebsk, an event occurred that radically changed the fate and history of the Yusupov family.

It was during the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich. The great-grandson of Yusuf-Murza named Abdul-Murza, who is also the great-grandfather of Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, received Patriarch Joachim in Romanov and, out of ignorance of Orthodox fasts, fed him a goose. The Patriarch mistook the goose for fish, tasted it and praised it, and the owner said: this is not a fish, but a goose, and my cook is so skilled that he can cook a goose like a fish. The Patriarch was angry and upon returning to Moscow he told the whole story to Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. The king deprived Abdul-Murza of all his grants, 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 Seyush-Murza, was baptized under the name Dmitry and came up with a surname in memory of his ancestor Yusuf: Yusupovo-Knyazhevo. This is how Prince Dmitry Seyushevich Yusupovo-Knyazhevo appeared in Rus'.

Family coat of arms of the Yusupovs

But that same night he had a vision. A clear voice said: “From now on, for betrayal of faith, there will not be more than one male heir in your family in each generation, and if there are more, then all but one will not live longer than 26 years.”
Dmitry Seyushevich married Princess Tatiana Fedorovna Korkodinova, and according to the prediction, only one son succeeded his father. This was Grigory Dmitrievich, who served Peter the Great, a lieutenant general, whom Peter ordered to be simply called Prince Yusupov. Grigory Dmitrievich also had only one son who lived to adulthood - Prince Boris Grigorievich Yusupov, who was the governor of Moscow.

It is difficult to say why the curse sounded so ornate, but it came true without fail. No matter how many children the Yusupovs had, only one lived to be twenty-six.
At the same time, such instability of the clan did not affect the well-being of the family. By 1917, the Yusupovs were second in wealth after the Romanovs. They owned 250 thousand acres of land, they were the owners of sugar, brick, sawmills, factories and mines, the annual income from which was more than 15 million gold rubles. And the luxury of the Yusupov palaces could be the envy of the great princes. For example, Zinaida Nikolaevna’s rooms in Arkhangelskoye and in the palace in St. Petersburg were furnished with furniture from the executed French queen Marie Antoinette. The art gallery rivaled the Hermitage in its selection. And Zinaida Nikolaevna’s jewelry included treasures that previously belonged to almost all the royal courts of Europe. Thus, the magnificent pearl “Pelegrina,” which the princess never parted with and is depicted in all portraits, once belonged to Philip II and was considered the main decoration of the Spanish Crown.
However, Zinaida Nikolaevna did not consider wealth happiness, and the curse of the Tatar sorceress made the Yusupovs unhappy.

Grandmother de Chaveau
Of all the Yusupovs, perhaps only Zinaida Nikolaevna’s grandmother, Countess de Chavo, managed to avoid great suffering due to the untimely death of her children.
Born Naryshkina, Zinaida Ivanovna married Boris Nikolaevich Yusupov when she was still a very young girl, bore him a son, then a daughter who died during childbirth, and only after that did she learn about the family curse.

Being a sensible woman, she told her husband that she was not going to “give birth to dead men” in the future, but if he hadn’t had enough, “let him give birth to the courtyard girls,” and she would not object. This continued until 1849, when the old prince died.
Zinaida Ivanovna was not forty, and she, as they would say now, went into all serious troubles. There were legends about her dizzying novels, but the greatest noise was caused by her passion for the young Narodnaya Volya member. When he was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress, the princess refused social entertainment, followed him and through bribery and promises achieved that he was released to her at night.
This story was well known, they gossiped about it, but strangely enough, Zinaida Ivanovna was not condemned, recognizing the right of the stately princess to extravagances a la de Balzak.
Then suddenly it all ended, for some time she lived as a recluse on Liteiny, but then, having married a ruined but well-born Frenchman, she left Russia, renounced the title of Princess Yusupova and began to be called Countess de Chaveau, Marquise de Serres.
The story of the young Narodnaya Volya member Yusupov was recalled after the revolution. One of the emigrant newspapers published a message that, trying to find Yusupov’s treasures, the Bolsheviks knocked all the walls of the palace on Liteiny Prospekt. No jewelry was found, but they discovered a secret room adjacent to the bedroom in which stood a coffin with an embalmed man. Most likely, this was the Narodnaya Volya member sentenced to death, whose body was bought by his grandmother and transported to St. Petersburg.

Miracles of the Holy Elder
However, despite all the drama in the life of Zinaida Naryshkina-Yusupova-de Chavaux-de-Serre, her family considered her happy. All husbands died of old age, she lost her daughter during childbirth, when she had not yet had time to get used to her, she loved a lot, did not deny herself anything, and she died surrounded by her relatives. For the rest, despite their untold wealth, life was much more dramatic.

Nikolay Yusupov

Zinaida Ivanovna's son, Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov, had three children - son Boris and daughters Zinaida and Tatyana. Boris died in infancy from scarlet fever, but his daughters grew up not only very beautiful, but most importantly, healthy girls. The parents were happy until a misfortune happened to Zinaida in 1878.
The family spent the autumn of that year in Arkhangelskoye. Prince Nikolai Borisovich, honorary guardian, chamberlain of the court, being busy at work, came rarely and briefly. The princess introduced her daughters to her Moscow relatives and organized musical evenings. In her free time, Tatyana read, and the eldest Zinaida went horseback riding. During one of them, the girl injured her leg. At first, the wound seemed insignificant, but soon the temperature rose, and Doctor Botkin, called to the estate, made a hopeless diagnosis - blood poisoning. Soon the girl fell into unconsciousness, and the family prepared for the worst.
Then Zinaida Nikolaevna said that while unconscious, she dreamed of Father John of Kronstadt, who was familiar with their family. Having come to her senses, she asked to call him, and after the elder who arrived prayed for her, she began to recover. At the same time, the princess always added that she had not heard about the family tradition at that time and did not know that with her recovery she was dooming her younger sister to death.
Tanya died of typhus at twenty-two.

Lightning strike
There is little left of the once rich Yusupov archives in Russia. “The drunken sailor,” as Felix Yusupov described her in his memoirs, looked, first of all, for jewelry, and burned the incomprehensible papers that she came across. Thus, the priceless library and archive of Alexander Blok perished, and the archives of almost all noble families of Russia burned in fires. Now it is necessary to restore family chronicles using acts preserved in state archives.
The Yusupovs are no exception. Felix Yusupov’s memoirs published abroad cannot be completely trusted - he embellishes his role in the murder of Rasputin and presents revolutionary events rather subjectively. But due to the proximity to the imperial family, the Yusupov family chronicle is not difficult to restore.
After the illness of his eldest daughter, Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov became especially persistent in the matter of her marriage. As Zinaida Nikolaevna later recalled, the prince, who was ill a lot, was afraid that he would not see his grandchildren.
And soon the princess, who did not want to upset her father, agreed to meet the next contender for her hand - a relative of the emperor, the Bulgarian prince Battenberg. The contender for the Bulgarian throne was accompanied by a modest officer, Felix Elston, whose duty was to introduce the prince to the future bride and take his leave. Zinaida Nikolaevna refused the future monarch and accepted Felix’s proposal, which he made to her the day after they met. It was love at first sight, and for Zinaida Nikolaevna, which everyone noted, the first and only.
Nikolai Borisovich, no matter how embarrassed his daughter’s decision was, did not contradict her, and in the spring of 1882 Felix Elston and Zinaida Yusupova got married. A year later, the young couple had their first child, Nikolai, named after his grandfather.

Yusupovs in a straight line
The boy grew up silent and withdrawn, and no matter how hard Zinaida Nikolaevna tried to bring him closer, she failed. All her life she remembered the horror that gripped her when, at Christmas 1887, when asked by her son what gift he would like, she received an unchildish and icy answer: “I don’t want you to have other children.”
Then Zinaida Nikolaevna was confused, but it soon became clear that one of the mothers assigned to the young prince told the boy about the Nagai curse. She was fired, but the princess began to wait for the expected child with a feeling of persecution and acute fear.
And at first the fears turned out to be unfounded. Nikolai did not hide his dislike for Felix, and only when he was ten years old did a feeling emerge between them that was more like friendship than the love of two relatives.
Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov died in 1891. Shortly before his death, he asked for the highest mercy to preserve the illustrious family name, and after mourning, Zinaida Nikolaevna’s husband, Count Sumarokov-Elston, was given permission to be called Prince Yusupov.
Family rock made its presence known in 1908.

Felix Yusupov
Fatal duel In the memoirs of Felix Yusupov, it is easy to see that all his life he was jealous of his mother and his older brother. He, although outwardly more like his father than Zinaida Nikolaevna, was unusually similar to her in his inner world. He was interested in theater, playing music, and painting. His stories were published under the pseudonym Rokov, and even Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, who was stingy with praise, once noted the author’s undoubted talent.
After graduating from St. Petersburg University, he received a law degree. The family started talking about the upcoming marriage, but Nikolai unexpectedly fell in love with Maria Heyden, who was already engaged to Count Arvid Manteuffel, and soon this wedding took place.
The young couple went on a trip to Europe, Nikolai Yusupov followed them, a duel could not be avoided. And it happened
On June 22, 1908, at the estate of Prince Beloselsky on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg, Count Manteuffel did not miss. Nikolai Yusupov would have turned twenty-six years old in six months.
“Rending screams were heard from my father’s room,” Felix Yusupov recalled years later. “I walked in and saw him, very pale, in front of the stretcher where Nikolai’s body was stretched out. His mother, kneeling before him, seemed to have lost her mind. With great difficulty we tore her away from our son’s body and put her to bed. Having calmed down a little, she called me, but when she saw me, she mistook me for her brother. It was an unbearable scene. Then my mother fell into prostration, and when she came to her senses, she did not let me go for a second.”

Vicious Cherub
When Nikolai died in a duel, Zinaida Nikolaevna was nearly fifty. Now all her hopes were connected with her youngest son.
Outwardly, Felix resembled his mother extraordinarily - regular facial features, large eyes, a thin nose, puffy lips, an elegant figure. But, if contemporaries called Zinaida Nikolaevna’s features angelic, then no one compared her youngest son other than with a fallen angel. There was a certain depravity in his whole cherubic appearance.
He was not, like his older brother or mother, inclined towards the arts. He had no interest in military and public service, like his father or maternal relatives. A playmaker, a golden boy, an eligible bachelor. But with marriage everything was not so simple.

Zinaida Yusupova

Zinaida Nikolaevna tried to influence her son, wrote to him: “Don’t play cards, limit your fun time, use your brain!” But Felix Yusupov, although he adored his mother, was unable to overcome himself. Only Zinaida Nikolaevna’s crafty statement that she was sick, but did not want to die until she saw her grandchildren, prompted him to agree to marriage and promise to settle down. Opportunity presented itself quite quickly.

Yusupov Palace

In 1913, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich came to Arkhangelskoye for December evenings. He himself started a conversation about the marriage of his daughter Irina and Felix, and the Yusupovs happily responded. Irina Alexandrovna was not only one of the most enviable brides in the country, but also stunningly beautiful. By the way, at the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia there were three recognized beauties: Empress Maria Feodorovna, Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova and Irina Alexandrovna Romanova.
The wedding took place in February 1914 in the church of the Anichkov Palace. Since the Yusupovs were now related to the reigning dynasty, the entire imperial family arrived to congratulate the newlyweds. A year later their daughter Irina was born.

Killer's mother
Almost everything is known about the role of Felix Yusupov in the murder of Rasputin. They lured the voluptuous old man under the pretext of meeting with Irina Alexandrovna to the palace on the Moika. First they poisoned him, then they shot him and, in the end, they drowned Rasputin in the river.
In his memoirs, Yusupov assures that in this way he tried to free Russia from “the dark force leading it to the abyss.” Several times he refers to his mother, who quarreled with the empress because of her dislike for Rasputin. But is it really worthy to lure a victim under the pretext of intimacy with one’s own wife? And Grigory Rasputin would hardly have believed such behavior of the noble prince.
Even then, contemporaries suspected some slyness in Yusupov’s explanations and assumed that Rasputin agreed to come to settle the quarrel between the spouses caused by Felix’s homosexual inclinations.
The Empress insisted that the conspirators be shot, but since Grand Duke Dmitry Romanov was among them, the punishment was limited to exile. Felix was exiled to the Kursk estate of Rakitnoye.
Having learned about the events in St. Petersburg, Zinaida Nikolaevna, who was in Crimea, paid a visit to the Dowager Empress.
“You and I have always understood each other,” Maria Feodorovna said slowly, slightly drawing out her words. “But I'm afraid our prayers were answered too late.” The Lord punished my son long ago by depriving him of his head. Gather your family. If we have time, it’s not much.”

Damned wealth
At the beginning of the war, almost all of the country's wealthy families transferred their foreign savings to Russia. The Yusupovs were no exception. This was caused not only and not so much by patriotism, but by the desire to preserve property - no one doubted Russia’s victory.
When the revolution broke out, Felix tried to save the family jewels by moving them to Moscow. But it was not possible to take them from there, and the jewelry was accidentally found eight years later.
When the Yusupovs sailed from Crimea on the destroyer Marlboro on April 13, 1919, they remained in Russia: 4 palaces and 6 apartment buildings in St. Petersburg, a palace and 8 apartment buildings in Moscow, 30 estates and estates throughout the country, the Rakityan sugar factory, Milyatinsky meat plant, Dolzhansky anthracite mines, several brick factories and much more.
But even in emigration, the Yusupovs were not among the poor. Although we have already mentioned that foreign savings were transferred to Russia at the beginning of the war, real estate remained abroad, and the princesses constantly carried the most valuable jewelry with them and took them into exile.
After Felix bought passports and visas for several diamonds, the Yusupovs settled in Paris. They bought a house in the Bois de Boulogne, where they lived for many years.
The old prince died in 1928, Zinaida Nikolaevna in 1939.
She was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery near Paris.
Felix Yusupov did not give up his idle life, and, in the end, all the property exported and owned abroad was wasted. He, his wife and daughter Irina were buried in his mother’s grave. There was no money for another place in the cemetery.

The Yusupov family was one of the most famous noble dynasties of Tsarist Russia. This family included military men, officials, administrators, senators, collectors and philanthropists. The biography of each Yusupov is a fascinating story about the life of an aristocrat against the backdrop of his era.

Origin

The founder of the Yusupov princely family was considered the Nogai Khan Yusuf-Murza. In 1565 he sent his sons to Moscow. As major military leaders and Tatar nobles, the descendants of Yusuf received the Volga city of Romanov, not far from Yaroslavl, as their feeding. Under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich they were baptized. Thus, the origin of the Yusupov family can be dated back to the 16th-17th centuries.

Grigory Dmitrievich

In the history of this aristocratic family, it is noteworthy that the Yusupov family tree for several centuries did not acquire many additional lines and branches. A high-ranking family always consisted of a father and his only son, to whom all parental property passed. This state of affairs was unusual for the Russian nobility, among whom a large number of heirs was commonplace.

Yusuf's great-great-grandson Grigory Dmitrievich Yusupov (1676-1730) received the rank of steward granted to him by Tsar Feodor III in infancy. Being the same age as Peter I, he spent his childhood with him, becoming one of the faithful comrades of the autocrat's youth. Gregory served in a dragoon regiment and in its ranks participated in the next Russian-Turkish war. The culmination of that campaign was the Azov campaigns, in which Peter wanted to gain access to the southern seas. After the victory over the Turks, Yusupov solemnly entered Moscow in the royal retinue.

Closer to Peter I

Soon the Northern War began. The history of the Yusupov family is the history of aristocrats who faithfully repaid their debt to the country from generation to generation. Grigory Dmitrievich set an example for his descendants in his service. He took part in the battle of Narva and the battle of Lesnaya, where he was wounded twice. In 1707, the military man received the rank of major in the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

Despite his injuries, Yusupov was with the troops during the Battle of Poltava and during the capture of Vyborg. He also took part in the unsuccessful Prut campaign. Georgy Dmitrievich was brought to work on the case of Tsarevich Alexei, who fled from his father abroad and was then put on trial. Yusupov, along with other close associates of the monarch, signed the verdict.

Under Catherine I, the aristocrat received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and became a commander in the Ukrainian Landmilitary Corps. Peter II made him one of the members of the Military Collegium, and Anna Ioannovna made him general-in-chief. Grigory Dmitrievich died in 1730. He was buried in the Moscow Epiphany Monastery.

Boris Grigorievich

The further history of the Yusupov family continued with the vivid biography of Grigory Dmitrievich’s son, Boris Grigorievich Yusupov (1695-1759). Peter I sent him, along with several other noble young men, to study at the French military school in Toulon. In 1730 he became chamberlain, and at the age of 40 he entered the Senate.

Under Boris Grigorievich, the noble family of the Yusupovs achieved paramount importance. For two years (1738-1740), the head of the family was the Moscow vice-governor and manager of the provincial chancellery. The official initiated local reforms, the draft of which was adopted by the Senate. In particular, Yusupov advocated conducting a census of suburban and streltsy lands, as well as the creation of the post of Moscow commandant.

In 1740, Boris Grigorievich received the rank of Privy Councilor. Then he was briefly appointed Moscow governor. The official was removed from office already in 1741, when Elizaveta Petrovna came to power. The history of the Yusupov family knew many important appointments. Having resigned his gubernatorial powers, Boris Grigorievich received a new space for activity - the Empress made him president of the Commerce Collegium, which was responsible for the state of domestic trade. He was also appointed director of the Ladoga Canal.

In 1749, the nobleman served as Governor-General of St. Petersburg. He soon left this post, moving to the government Senate and beginning to manage the Land Noble Corps. Under him, deductions for the maintenance of cadets increased, and an educational printing house appeared. In 1754, Boris Grigorievich acquired a cloth factory in the Chernigov village of Ryashki. This enterprise began to supply almost the entire Russian army with fabrics. The factory used Dutch raw materials and employed foreign specialists. In 1759, Boris Grigorievich became seriously ill, resigned and died a few days later. The story of the Yusupov family, however, did not end.

Nikolay Borisovich

The continuation of the dynasty was the son of Boris Grigorievich, Nikolai Borisovich (1750-1831). He became one of the main art collectors of his era. Boris Grigorievich received a high-quality education abroad. In 1774-1777 he studied at Leiden University. There, the young man developed an interest in European art and culture. He managed to visit almost all countries of the Old World and communicate with the great enlighteners Voltaire and Diderot. The princely family of the Yusupovs was always proud of these acquaintances of their ancestor.

In Leiden, the aristocrat began collecting rare editions of books, in particular the works of Cicero. The German artist Jacob Hackert became his advisor on painting issues. Some paintings by this master turned out to be the first exhibits in the collection of the Russian prince. In 1781-1782 he accompanied the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, on a European tour.

Subsequently, Yusupov became the main link between the authorities and foreign artists. Thanks to his connection with the imperial family, the nobleman was able to establish contacts with the main artists of that time: Angelika Kaufman, Pompeo Batoni, Claude Vernet, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Jean-Antoine Houdon, etc.

At the coronation of Paul I, which took place in 1796, Yusupov served as the supreme coronation marshal (he then acted in the same capacity at the coronations of the next two autocrats: Alexander I and Nicholas I). The prince was the director of the Imperial theaters, the Hermitage and palace factories for the production of glass and porcelain. In 1794 he was elected as an honorary amateur of the Academy of Arts of St. Petersburg. Under Yusupov, the Hermitage for the first time carried out an inventory of the entire wide collection of exhibits. These lists were used throughout the 19th century.

In 1810, the prince bought Arkhangelskoye, an estate near Moscow, which he turned into a unique palace and park ensemble. By the end of his life, the nobleman’s collection included more than 600 valuable paintings, thousands of unique books, as well as works of applied art, sculptures, and porcelain. All these unique exhibits were placed in Arkhangelsk.

Numerous high-ranking guests visited Yusupov’s Moscow house on Bolshoi Kharitonyevsky Lane. For some time, the Pushkins lived in this palace (including the still child Alexander Pushkin). Shortly before his death, Nikolai Borisovich attended a festive dinner at the apartment of a newly married poet and writer. The prince died in 1831 during a cholera epidemic that swept through the central provinces of the country.

Boris Nikolaevich

Nikolai Borisovich's heir, Boris Nikolaevich (1794-1849), continued the Yusupov family. The 19th century became for the princely family a continuation of its brilliant aristocratic history. Young Boris went to get an education at the capital's pedagogical institute. In 1815 he began working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Soon he was made chamberlain.

Like all young aristocrats, he conducted the traditional familiarization tour of Europe, which took a full year and a half. In 1826, he participated in the coronation of Nicholas I. At the same time, he went to work at the Ministry of Finance. Service in the previous diplomatic department did not work out, since Boris Nikolaevich constantly conflicted with colleagues, allowed himself to behave freely with his superiors, etc. As a representative of an influential and wealthy family, he did not cling to the service and always adhered to an independent line of behavior.

In 1839, Yusupov became the district leader of the St. Petersburg nobility. Soon he received the court title of chamberlain. In his youth, the prince was distinguished by his lifestyle as a reveler. After the death of his father, he received a gigantic inheritance and over time learned to handle money prudently. At the same time, Boris Nikolaevich allowed himself to do things unusual for a business executive. In particular, all his serfs were freed.

In high society, Boris Yusupov was best known as the organizer of luxurious balls, which became the main social events of the capital. The prince himself was a moneylender and, through financial transactions involving the purchase of enterprises, increased his family fortune several times. The nobleman had estates in 17 provinces of the country. During epidemics, he was not afraid to inspect his own estates, and during seasons of famine, he fed the gigantic servants at his own expense. The aristocrat donated significant sums to public charity institutions. He died in 1849 at the age of 55.

Nikolai Borisovich (junior)

The deceased prince had an only son, Nikolai Borisovich (1827-1891). Relatives, so as not to confuse him with his grandfather, called him “junior”. The newborn was baptized by Tsar Nicholas I himself. The boy was taught music (piano and violin), as well as drawing, to which he became extremely addicted from a very early age. The Paris Conservatory and the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna made the prince an honorary member.

In 1849, the young man inherited his father's fortune. A few months later he graduated from St. Petersburg University, where he studied at the Faculty of Law. Having received his education, the college secretary began working in the imperial office. In 1852 he was transferred to the Caucasus and then to Riga. The reason for the rotation was the displeasure of Emperor Nicholas I. In Riga, Yusupov received leave and went on a European trip. There he took up music, visited artists' workshops and the best art galleries.

In 1856, the prince attended the coronation of Alexander I. Then he served for a short time in the Russian embassy in Paris. The aristocrat spent most of his time abroad. His family fortune allowed him not to worry about service, but simply to do what he loved.

Nikolai Borisovich continued to expand the Yusupov collection of works of art. He owned rare snuff boxes, rock crystal, pearls and other valuables. The prince always had a wallet with him filled with rare stones. His collection also included musical instruments: grand pianos, harps, upright pianos, organs, etc. The crowning glory of the collection were Stradivarius violins. Some of Yusupov's music collections are now kept in the Russian National Library. In 1858, a nobleman brought one of the first cameras to his homeland. Like his father, he was involved in charity work. During the Crimean campaign, Nikolai Borisovich financed the organization of two infantry battalions, and during the next war with Turkey he gave money for the creation of a sanitary train. Yusupov died in Baden-Baden in 1891 at the age of 63.

Zinaida Nikolaevna

Nikolai Borisovich had an only daughter - Zinaida Yusupova (1861-1939). Having no male heirs, the prince asked permission for the princely dignity to be passed on to his grandchildren through the female line, although this was contrary to custom. In 1882 the girl got married. Her chosen one was Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston, which is why Zinaida became known as Princess Yusupova, Countess Sumarokov-Elston.

The only heir to a huge fortune and a woman of rare beauty, the daughter of Nikolai Borisovich was the most enviable bride in Russia before her marriage. Not only Russian aristocrats, but even representatives of foreign monarchical families sought her hand.

The last of the Yusupov family lived in grand style. She organized regular high-profile balls. The life of the capital's elite was in full swing in its palaces. The woman danced beautifully. In 1903, she took part in a costume ball held in the Winter Palace and which became one of the most famous events of this kind in the history of Imperial Russia.

The husband, whom Zinaida Yusupova loved very much, was a military man and was not interested in art. Partly because of this, the woman sacrificed her hobbies. Nevertheless, she was involved in charity work with renewed energy. The aristocrat patronized and maintained gymnasiums, hospitals, orphanages, churches and other institutions. They were located not only in the capital, but throughout the country. After the start of the war with Japan, Zinaida Nikolaevna became the chief of the front-line sanitary echelon. Hospitals for the wounded were created on Yusupov's estates. No other women of the Yusupov family were as active and famous as Zinaida Nikolaevna.

After the revolution, the princess moved to Crimea, and from there abroad. Together with her husband she settled in Rome. Unlike many other nobles, the Yusupovs were able to send part of their fortune and jewelry abroad, thanks to which they lived in abundance. Zinaida Nikolaevna continued to do charity work. She helped Russian emigrants in need. After the death of her husband, the woman moved to Paris. There she died in 1939.

Felix Feliksovich

The last of the Yusupov princes was Zinaida's son Felix Feliksovich Yusupov (1887-1967). As a child, he was educated at the Gurevich gymnasium and was a prominent figure of the golden youth of St. Petersburg in the last years of Tsarist Russia. At the age of 25 he graduated from Oxford University. At home, he became the head of the First Russian Automobile Club.

In 1914, Felix Feliksovich Yusupov married Irina Alexandrovna Romanova, the maternal niece of Nicholas II. The emperor himself gave permission for the marriage. During their honeymoon, the newlyweds learned about the outbreak of the First World War. The Yusupovs were in Germany, and Wilhelm II even ordered their arrest. Diplomats were brought in to resolve the sensitive situation. As a result, Felix and his wife managed to leave Germany shortly before Wilhelm issued a second order for their detention.

As the only son in the family, the prince was not subject to conscription into the army. Returning home, he began organizing the work of hospitals. In 1915, Felix had a daughter, Irina, from whom the modern descendants of the Yusupov family descend.

The aristocrat is best known for his own participation in the murder of Grigory Rasputin in December 1916. Felix was very close to the imperial family. He knew Rasputin and, like many, believed that the strange old man was a bad influence on Nicholas II and his prestige. The prince dealt with the royal friend along with his brother-in-law, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, and State Duma deputy Vladimir Purishkevich. The Emperor, having learned about the death of Rasputin, ordered Yusupov to move away from the capital to his own Kursk estate Rakitnoye.

There was no further accountability for the murder. Soon the revolution broke out, and Felix Feliksovich emigrated. The prince settled in Paris and lived from the sale of family treasures. During World War II, he did not support the Nazis, and after their defeat he refused to return to Russia, as many emigrants did (all of them were eventually repressed in their homeland). Prince Felix Yusupov died in 1967. His surname was dropped, although descendants from his daughter Irina continue to live abroad.

Possessions

As one of the richest families in Russia, the Yusupovs had many residences and properties in different parts of the country. A significant part of these buildings are today protected by the state as monuments of architectural and cultural heritage. The St. Petersburg Yusupov Palace, located on the banks of the Moika River, still bears their name, which has become a household name for the townspeople. It was built back in 1770.

The second Yusupov Palace (also in St. Petersburg) is located on Sadovaya Street. Built at the end of the 18th century, today it is the property of the University of Railways. Being an estate, this residence was one of the most spectacular and rich in the capital. The palace project belonged to the famous Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi.

The Arkhangelskoye estate, which became the storage place for Yusupov's collection of antiques and works of art, was the favorite princely home outside St. Petersburg. The palace and park complex is located in the Krasnogorsk district of the Moscow region. Shortly before the revolution, the Yusupovs built their own Miskhor Palace in Crimea. In the Belgorod region, the main house of the princely estate of Rakitnoye, around which a whole village has grown, is still preserved. Today it houses a local history museum.