Princess Tatiana Yusupova, younger sister of Zenaida Yusupova

[ashanti01]

ok...sorry about the delay but I couldn't find the pictures of the grave until I remembered I had listed them under my Arkhangleskoie file...

Tatiana Yusupova was buried near the church on the estate.


This is her grave

[paola]

Thanks ashanti01. It would be really interesting to find out more about Tatiana. Her life and death seems a mystery.

[ashanti01]

Tatiana died at the age of 22 and although there have been rumors of suicide, I believe she actually died of typhus or some other common illness in those days. Tatiana was believed for some time to have been the oldest Yusupov daughter, however it was recently clarified that she was actually the younger daughter. It's believed she was named after her mother, Princess Tatiana.

There really isn't very much information on this 'missing' princess, for even some genealogy sites don't name Tatiana in the Yusupov genealogy chart. Its believed that Tatiana, like her mother Tatiana, had delicate health. People of that time seemed to have written only of Zenaida but not of Tatiana, which personally I found very odd. Oddly enough Tatiana died at 22 when you would have believed a girl of her beauty and position would have been married already, yet she died without having married or had children. Another odd factor is the lack of photographs or paintings of Tatiana. There is only two paintings that I know of, however I have yet to come accross any photographs of Tatiana.




Tatiana as a child. This was posted some time ago by i believe Svetavel

there is a set of pictures which was posted some time ago by Alexander64 which I believe may have Tatiana, Zenaida, and their father, along with Nicholas jr....its just a hunch but since it appears to be a family photo, wouldn't know who else it could it be if its not Tatiana standing next to Nicholas Sr.

[lizkrasnykh]

Just some additional information on Princess Tatiana Yussupoff:

Spending several years in Russian archives, working on Felix's documenatl biography, I was surprised to see how little information is available on his aunt Tatiana, who died in 1886. Her destiny was not a subject of my research, but since I began my research from the wedding of Zinaida Yusupoff to Felix Sumarokoff-Elston, I had to read some correspondence of Zinaida related to her youth.

It was very interesting to see that in all family archives there were only 3 pictures of Tatiana, whose family nick name was "Tanyok" or "Aunt Tanyok" (Танек or тетя Танек). One was a portrat of Tatiana in her teen years (published on this forum yearlier) that Zinaida kept all her life in her study in Arkhangelskoe, one picture of Tatiana with her sister and nepfew Nikolai and another one was a photo of Zinaida (8-9 yers old) with her sister in Vienna.

Then one day, in Russian Historical archive I met a historian-amateur, who was trying to find out the reason of such mistery around Tatianas's name. As all girls of her epoch she kept an everyday diary and the strange thing was to see that in her last diary-book there were missing (ripped off) all pages with the notes on the last weeks of her life. That pushed this historian to read her previous diaries during the 1885-1886.
His research only confirmed the idea that Yussupoff's family was surrounded by a mystery.

Apparently Tatiana was madly in love with a young man called Paul, who was living in the nearby estate... (Well, could have it been be handsome Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich?)

Then, everyone in Arkhangelskoe village, who knew the whitnesses of her grave opening by the bolsheviks, said that when the grave was opened there were found not only a woman's body but also a body of a baby (Who could have it been? Her baby brother Boris...or her own child??)   

The other old-timers of Arkhangelskoe claimed that locals insisted that the young princess drowned in the river...

The only thing I could add from what I read myself from the Yussupoff archives, that whatever was a real reason of Tatiana's death, the day of her death Zinaida always comemmorated by spending whole day in the church.   

[ashanti01]

Very intresting information. Thank you so much for posting on this thread.

I never heard of her grave being opened by the bolsheviks. Why would they open her grave? (Did they remove her body, or is she still buried in Arkhangelskoe?) Still it's very odd that there would have been a body of a child in the grave with her, this sheds even more mystery on Tatiana.

Personally, I have always found the lack of information and photographs of Tatiana very odd. The fact that there are missing (ripped) pages from her diaries during the last weeks of her life, make me believe there was something the family was trying very hard to hide. The cause of death has always been debated between death from illness to her killing herself. The drowing theory I read before but cannot recall where.

Now I'm even more curious about this princess. Who was this 'Paul' she was in love with? What exactly happened in the weeks leading up to her death?

 

[rudy3]

If the information on the grave (born Febr 14th 1868, died June 15th 1888) is right, then Ashanti01's "Tatiana died at the age of 22" and Lizkrasnykh's "died in 1886" are not correct.

[lizkrasnykh]

If the information on the grave (born Febr 14th 1868, died June 15th 1888) is right, then Ashanti01's "Tatiana died at the age of 22" and Lizkrasnykh's "died in 1886" are not correct.

Thanks Rudy for pointing it out. True, I messed up years. She did die in 1888.

To answer the previous questions about the grave opening, it's a usual practice during all revolutions... (Russian, French). Poor crowd of all times hoped to find the jewels and gold in the coffins. As for Tatiana, the old village residents claim that both her and Nikolai's bodies were thrown to the nearby river which is going through estate.

Sad, but it was also a common symbol of all revolutions of all times. 

[ashanti01]

I had always read her birthyear as being 1866, Tatiana being five years younger than Zenaide. However Rudy, you are correct the grave does appear to say 1868.

How sad for the bodies to have been lost. And all for the possibility of finding gold/jewels in their graves. One would hope the family did not hear of this, it would have been difficult to deal with for any person.

[ashanti01]

I found some images of Tatiana's tomb before it was "opened" by the bolsheviks. I must say it was a very beautiful piece.






Does anyone know if the statue on the grave is the same one currently in the Moika palace, or if it's a replica?

[ashanti01]

Tatiana ( could be Zenaida's & Tatiana's mother, but I'm leaning towards the younger Tatiana)

[ashdean]

If the information on the grave (born Febr 14th 1868, died June 15th 1888) is right, then Ashanti01's "Tatiana died at the age of 22" and Lizkrasnykh's "died in 1886" are not correct.

Personally I think the gravestone reads 1866.

[ashanti01]

I also think it reads 1866 but I can see how it kinda looks like 1868.

[katmaxoz]

Zenaida with a painting of her deceased sister Tatiana in the background

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Tatiana had a different hair color than her sister Zinaida, Tatiana's was lighter

[ashanti01]

In the color version I have seen of Tatiana's portrait, her hair is lighter. Dark blond to light brown. Shame we don't have more photographs of her, for she was really a pretty girl.