Author Topic: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures  (Read 180284 times)

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james_h

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #150 on: June 11, 2006, 04:29:59 AM »
Scarcely a month later, Zenaide's son Felix lured Rasputin to the Moika Palace and, with Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich and several other conspirators, cold-bloodedly murdered the peasant. As soon as an investigation revealed his role, the Emperor ordered Felix into internal Russian exile. Accompanied by Irina and their daughter, he left Petrograd for the family estate of Rakitnoye in central Russia; Zenaide and her husband quickly followed them, and the family passed a cold, uncomfortable winter in the isolated house, far removed from the tumultuous events that erupted in Petrograd in February of 1917.

With the February Revolution, and the abdication of Nicholas II, the power that had kept Prince Felix in exile had disappeared, and all of the Yusupovs returned to the capital, once again residing in the Moika Palace. This was a dangerous time, with frequent raids and shootings in the streets, and the experience proved too much for the delicate Zenaide who hastily returned to Koreiz with her family. Although Felix himself made several hasty visits to the Moika Palace to retrieve important paintings and family jewels, no member of the Yusupov Family would ever live within its walls.

In the first months following the Revolution, Zenaide and her husband lived quietly at Koreiz, paying occasional visits to Felix and Irina at her father's neighboring estate of Ai-Todor. There were unpleasant incidents-raids, intrusive surveillance, and thinly veiled threats-but during the tenure of Alexander Kerensky's Provisional Government they felt relatively safe. This changed in October of 1917, when Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks came to power. Although Lenin had little time for the Romanovs imprisoned in various locations, local Soviets took it upon themselves to enforce their own brand of revolutionary justice, and the days of comfort soon came to an end, replaced with frequent deprivation and genuine fear. This uneasy situation was exacerbated in April of 1918 when, following the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Kaiser's army occupied the Ukraine and much of the Crimea. The prisoners now faced a Hobson's choice: accept the offers of protection from representatives of a country still at war with Russia, or face the unknown with an increasingly hostile Sevastopol Soviet. In the end, most opted for the Bolsheviks, only to find that the Germans were too powerful and could easily dictate terms of their captivity.

For fifteen long months, Zenaide and husband lived this uncertain existence; when they went to bed at night, behind the walls of their former palace, they could hear the crunch of footsteps as a constant Bolshevik patrol prowled the estate. Their fear was magnified as tales of the brutal execution of the former Emperor and his family in Ekaterinburg began to drift across the Crimea; for Zenaide, the worst blow came when she learned that her close friend Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna had also been murdered, thrown down an isolated mineshaft in Siberia along with six others with whom she had been imprisoned. There was no guarantee that the prisoners in the Crimea, a group that included Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, her daughters Xenia and Olga and their families, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievich and his wife, and his brother Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievich and his family, would not themselves be awakened one night and lined up against a wall to face a firing squad.

james_h

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #151 on: June 11, 2006, 04:31:04 AM »
Finally, at the beginning of 1919, King George V-after the incessant pleading of his mother Queen Alexandra-dispatched a British warship, HMS Marlborough, to rescue his aunt. The Dowager Empress, however, insisted that she would only board after all of those who also wished to leave had been allowed to do so; after much negotiating, the British naval officials agreed, and so Zenaide and her husband, along with Felix, Irina, and their four-year-old daughter, joined the ragged party of refugees that lined the crowded decks, watching as the Crimean shoreline slowly faded into the distance on their way to an uncertain future in exile.

The warship sailed to Malta, where the Yusupovs were forced to disembark. From here, they made their way to Rome, where Zenaide and her husband moved into a small apartment owned by a family friend. Felix and Irina left for Paris, leaving their daughter in Zenaide's care. For the next few years, as Felix and his wife moved from Paris to London and attempted to sell the few possessions and properties still left to them, Zenaide acted as surrogate mother, supervising young Irina's early education and playing with her in a nearby park. The young girl's parents-neither one particularly paternal-relished the freedom that came with Zenaide's care, and they saw their daughter only rarely. Then, in 1928, Count Felix died. He had been unwell for some time, and his wife had bravely nursed him through his final illness, at the same time caring for her granddaughter.

Her husband's death was a severe blow to Zenaide, and her son later remembered that she seemed to "lose much of her spirit" when confronted with widowhood. She moved to Paris, living in two rooms in a Mews house that her son had previously purchased, and for a time these four-mother, son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter-formed a happy, united family. Following his mother's example, Felix devoted himself to assisting fellow émigrés; he had little financial sense, however, and spent and gave away money as fast as it came in, often leaving the family in precarious situations. When Zenaide suffered a stroke at the beginning of the 1930s, Felix struggled to scrape together the funds to hire a nurse to help look after her.

Zenaide's last years, though surrounded by her small family, were lonely ones. She missed her husband, and-despite the fact that she had cared little for the wealth her birth had bestowed upon her-found it increasingly difficult to reconcile herself to life in exile. A second stroke left her half-paralyzed and barely able to speak. Unable to properly care for her, Felix reluctantly put his mother in a nursing home for Russian exiles in Sevres. It was here, far from the glittering world of palaces and extraordinary jewelry she had once known, that Princess Zenaide Yusupov finally died on November 24, 1939. She was buried next to her husband in the cemetery of Ste. Genevive des Bois at Essone, outside Paris. "She had been my friend," Felix wrote sadly, "my confidant, and my support for the whole of my life. She lived through extraordinary events, but she never lost that wonderful, infectious spirit of optimism that had charmed so many of her contemporaries. The crowd of those who genuinely mourned at her funeral was the best tribute to this remarkable woman."

Morecambrian

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #152 on: June 11, 2006, 05:46:25 AM »
Sadly there are a number of mistakes in the otherwise excellent and sympathetic biography. Zenaida was not the younger daughter and she was buried in a new grave to which later the remains of her son and grandaughter with their spouses were interned.

Annie

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #153 on: June 11, 2006, 08:03:36 AM »
Quote
Sadly there are a number of mistakes in the otherwise excellent and sympathetic biography. Zenaida was not the younger daughter and she was buried in a new grave to which later the remains of her son and grandaughter with their spouses were interned.

True, she was not buried next to her husband in Italy but in a new grave in Paris where Felix, Irina, Bebe and her husband were later buried. I would like to see a longer more detailed bio written someday.


Here's a picture of the gravestone with the names:



This is the site with all the pictures of the graveyard and various views of the grave:

http://youssoupov.tripod.com/cemetery.html

(it's a great site but beware the popup ads)




« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Annie »

Offline ashanti01

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #154 on: June 15, 2006, 08:14:59 PM »
I have a question about the buriel arrangments. Why wasn't Felix Senior buried with the rest of this family?  
I mean you have Zinaida, Felix Jr, Irina, Babe and her husband buried together but why not include Felix Senior?

I always found it odd, but have never been able to get a straight answer on this. Does anyone know?

Annie

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #155 on: June 15, 2006, 08:43:01 PM »
He died when he and Zenaida and Bebe lived in Italy. After his death and burial there, Zenaida and Bebe moved in with Felix and Irina in Paris. I guess nobody else wanted to be buried there so they started a new family grave in Paris. Also remember Felix was not all that fond of his father, not nearly so much as his mom, so he saw no need to ship her all the way to Italy. He wanted her right there in Paris with him so he could be buried there too. This is my guess but I'd say it's true since they did put her in Paris. I'm sure it broke their hearts not to be buried in Russia.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM by Annie »

Offline ashanti01

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #156 on: June 15, 2006, 10:04:57 PM »
Thanks Annie for the information.

I wonder if Zinaida wanted to be buried next to her husband? Or perhaps they could have moved Felix Senior's body to Paris, but then again that would have been expensive.

I'm sure Zinaida was heartbroken at not being able to be buried in Russia, especially since her son Nicholas was buried there.

ashdean

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #157 on: March 19, 2007, 04:15:37 PM »
A portrait of Zenaida's maternal grandfather Count Alexander de Ribeaupierre (1781-1865)is included in the Russian sale to be held by Sothebys in New York city on April 10th.

Offline Eddie_uk

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #158 on: March 20, 2007, 07:47:32 AM »
Do you think it could have been in Zenaidas possession originally ashdean?? Maybe sold by the soviets??
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ashdean

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #159 on: March 20, 2007, 08:50:56 AM »
The catalogue provenance does not mention the Youssoupoff's but it might have been. Princess Tatiana Alexandrovna had several siblings...two unmarried neices were kadies in waiting to Marie Feodorevna..so there were several  descendants it might have belongd to...

Offline Eddie_uk

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #160 on: March 20, 2007, 11:27:34 AM »
Thank you ashdean! After the revolution it must have been so interesting to have just walked around those empty palaces with all those treasures, which the owners had just abandoned for safety. :)
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Offline Svetabel

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #161 on: March 22, 2007, 04:15:38 PM »
More pictures of Princess Zenaida

Here with her husband



With husband and sons in Arhangelskoye




Offline Svetabel

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #162 on: March 22, 2007, 04:17:42 PM »




Just gorgeous!!!! :o

And this one


ashdean

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #163 on: March 23, 2007, 01:00:38 PM »
WITHOUT A DOUBT...THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA...

Offline ashanti01

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Re: Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures
« Reply #164 on: March 24, 2007, 01:05:11 AM »
OMG!!! :o :o :o

Svetabel, where did you find those wonderful photograph's of Zenaida? Do you know the around what years they were taken? Those are perhaps by far some of the best pictures of her I've seen in some time. Thank you for posting them.