Was Prince Felix a closeted gay man?

Felix really did not seem to be in the closet, from what I have read it was basically known.

Irina must have heard things at some point, and more than likely just accepted it. Why? I have never known, she did stay at his side for what over 40 years?

They had a rather odd relationship but what do I know?

I agree with both of you, 100%..
Besides, he seemed to be pretty happy being the way he was...

Felix was simply Felix --colourful and perhaps narsistisic, showy, vain, childish and in many ways charming ... It's hard to attach late 20th /21st century "gender identities" to people from the turn of the century Russia.

Is it important?

rskkiya

Not at all... at least not to me..

Best Reagards,

Arturo Vega-Llausás

Since sexuality is such an important part of who most (if not all) of us are, I think it is of importance in studying a person's life. But I have difficulty thinking that Felix would be in the closet about anything, at least for very long!    From what I've read, he pretty much did what he pleased. Occasionally he'd become too outrageous, receive a scolding or more severe censure, then subsequently practice a certain modicum of discretion . . . for awhile. A fascinating person, but undoubtedly a headache to his mother, Irina, and others who hoped for some maturity in his personality. I think the combination of war, revolution, exile, comparative poverty, then war again, and of course the trial re: the misrepresentation of Irina in Rasputin and the Empress--plus Felix's love for his daughter and creeping old age--finally accomplished what mere mortals (his parents, tutors, and extended family) could not.

Quite so Janet.  Felix's journey through life was both colourful and complex.  Some of us have difficulty with the fact that he killed Rasputin, but we sort of have to take him at his word when he insists that he was acting for the greater good.
As for his relationship with Irina, as we have said in other threads, no one will ever understand what it was that bound those two together so closely.  It is rumoured that they both had their differing love interests, but even if that is the case, they stayed together and were close, almost to the point that their only child felt slightly excluded.
Janet is right when she says that our sexuality defines who we are; I happen to think that you can't define Felix's nonetheless.  Felix came from a world and lived in an age where almost nothing was forbidden to him (and you could argue murder as well). He fully understood his powers of attraction and he enjoyed them to the full.
Personally I can only think of him as Felix the Incomparable..........

Yes, in that respect--the breaking of rules--Felix would seem to have something in common with Elisabeth of Romania (the eldest daughter of Queen Marie and King Ferdinand) . . . but, despite his capriciousness, I think Felix would be, by far, the better person to know. He did have some nobility of character--coming through for others who had fallen on hard times, giving money to resistance groups during the Nazi occupation, etc.-- whereas Elisabeth seems to have been--from what others have written--completely without redemption.

I agree Janet, After all, whom do you think had a great impact on Poor Old  Uncle Valmont's personality ??
Now you know..

The Return of Uncle Val! Huzzah!  

Having not posted for a while on here...I just couldn't resist this thread.  I think Felix was one of the most fascinating people in Imperial Russia.  He didn't seem to me to be in the closet.  He was open in his books about some of his exploits.  I agree we can never know what attracts two people together and why they may stay in the relationship.  Case in point the recent movie De-lovely about Cole Porter.  He was cultured, good looking, rich and a bad boy at times.....sounds like some of the guys in the press today!!  

I think it was pretty much common knowledge, but he never came right out and said it. I heard that at the time he wrote Lost Splendor, admitting to being gay was punishable in France (where he lived) by being sent to labor camps busting rocks in the Pyrannes mountains! No wonder he didn't say it! But when you read his stories, he always mentions things like 'my secret  life' ,'my double life', 'my scandelous reputation' and he did openly admit to cross dressing

So, if you use common sense... would that be "being in the closet"??....

Dear Friends All'
since i am the one who started this tsunami i should say that,in retrospect,i should have called it 'Was Prince Felix a closeted gay man who was being blackmailed by Rasputin?'AHA! a conspiracy theory! now whom among you can resist a good juicy one?
Rasputin could well have known of Felix's 'double life' and threatened to start spilling the beans to the Press
and so bring down a House that made this Don Trump guy look like a busboy!
I promise!before i post next time anywhere ill review my notes!

thanks for bearing with me

aligertz

And has it ever occured to you that he might have actually been bi-sexual? There is such a thing, you know?

I can confirm this.

Once again, people in the 21st century are attempting to force historical figures into modern perspectives without examing the actual views and perspectives of the times.  At the turn of the 19th to 20th century, there was no such notion of a homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual person.  It was quite common for married couples to have children together and have "discrete liasons" outside of marriage, with persons of either sex. The film "Maurice" shows a rather accurate portrayel for example.

Do some reading on the subject and you will begin to see that there was much greater "fluidity" for lack of a better term, of sexuality at the time.