Prince Felix Yusupov

He was born in Saint Petersburg on 23rd March, 1886. His family who owned a large number profitable mines and fur trading posts, were extremely rich. In 1909 he moved to Oxford where he studied at University College. He was also a member of

the Bullingdon Club and established the Oxford University Russian Society.

On 22nd February 1914 Yusupov married Irina Romanov, the niece of Tsar Nicholas II , in Anichkov Palace. As the author of Rasputin (2010) has pointed out: "The Yusupov family was allegedly the wealthiest in Russia... He was the sole surviving male heir to the Yusupov family's fortune. His elder brother by five years, Nikolai, had been killed in a duel some years previously."

During the First World War Yusupov converted a wing of his Moika Palace into a hospital for wounded soldiers. As an only son he was able to avoid joining the armed forces. He did enter the Cadet Corps and took an officer's training course, but had no intention of joining a regiment. His behaviour was criticised by other members of the Royal Court. The Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna commented that he was "virtually doing nothing; an utterly unpleasant impression he makes - a man idling in such times."

In 1915 Maurice Paléologue, the French ambassador in Moscow commented: "Prince Feliks Yusupov is twenty-nine and gifted with quick wits and aesthetic tastes; but his dilettantism is rather too prone to perverse imaginings and literary representations of vice and death." Like many members of the Royal Court, Yusupov objected to the influence that GrigoryRasputin had over the Tsar and his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna.

However, Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, suggested in his diary that Yusupov was having a homosexual relationship with Rasputin: "Felix Yusupov laid out the whole story for me. Rasputin had taken a liking to him at once... and soon afterwards came to trust him, to trust him completely. They saw each other almost every other day and talked about everything and Rasputin initiated him into his schemes, not being shy at all about such revelations.... It remains to propose something rather incredible, and that is that (Rasputin) was infatuated with and had a carnal passion for Felix that darkened the strapping peasant and libertine and led him to his grave. Did they realty just talk during their endless conversations. I'm convinced there were physical manifestations of friendship in the form of kisses, mutual touching, and it may be, even something more cynical. Rasputin's sadism is not open to doubt. But just how great Felix's carnal perversions were is still little understood by me, although before his marriage there were rumours in society about his lasciviousness."

In September, 1915, Tsar Nicholas II assumed supreme command of the Russian Army fighting on the Eastern Front. As he spent most of his time at GHQ, Alexandra Fedorovna now took responsibility for domestic policy. Rasputin served as her adviser and over the next few months she dismissed ministers and their deputies in rapid succession. Alexander Kerensky complained that: "The Tsarina's blind faith in Rasputin led her to seek his counsel not only in personal matters but also on questions of state policy. General Alekseyev, held in high esteem by Nicholas II, tried to talk to the Tsarina about Rasputin, but only succeeded in making an implacable enemy of her. General Alexseyev told me later about his profound concern on learning that a secret map of military operations had found its way into the Tsarina's hands. But like many others, he was powerless to take any action."

Rumours began to circulate that Grigory Rasputin and Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna were leaders of a pro-German court group and were seeking a separate peace with the Central Powers in order to help the survival of the autocracy in Russia. Michael Rodzianko, the President of the Duma, told Nicholas II: "I must tell Your Majesty that this cannot continue much longer. No one opens your eyes to the true role which this man (Rasputin) is playing. His presence in Your Majesty's Court undermines confidence in the Supreme Power and may have an evil effect on the fate of the dynasty and turn the hearts of the people from their Emperor". Rasputin was also suspected of financial corruption and right-wing politicians believed that he was undermining the popularity of the regime.

On 21st November 1916, Vladimir Purishkevich, the leader of the monarchists in the Duma, wrote to Yusupov: "I'm terribly busy working on a plan to eliminate Rasputin. That is simply essential now, since otherwise everything will be finished... You too must take part in it. Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov knows all about it and is helping. It will take place in the middle of December, when Dmitri comes back... Not a word to anyone about what I've written." Yusupov replied: "Many thanks for your mad letter. I could not understand half of it, but I can see that you are preparing for some wild action.... My chief objection is that you have decided upon everything without consulting me... I can see by your letter that you are wildly enthusiastic, and ready to climb up walls... Don't you dare do anything without me, or I shall not come at all!"

Eventually, Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich, the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov, Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert and Lieutenant Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, an officer in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, developed a conspiracy to kill Grigory Rasputin. Yusupov later admitted in Lost Splendor (1953) that on 29th December, 1916, Rasputin was invited to his home: "The bell rang, announcing the arrival of Dmitrii Pavlovich Romanov and my other friends. I showed them into the dining room and they stood for a little while, silently examining the spot where Rasputin was to meet his end. I took from the ebony cabinet a box containing the poison and laid it on the table. Dr Lazovert put on rubber gloves and ground the cyanide of potassium crystals to powder. Then, lifting the top of each cake, he sprinkled the inside with a dose of poison, which, according to him, was sufficient to kill several men instantly. There was an impressive silence. We all followed the doctor's movements with emotion. There remained the glasses into which cyanide was to be poured. It was decided to do this at the last moment so that the poison should not evaporate and lose its potency. We had to give the impression of having just finished supper for I had warned Rasputin that when we had guests we took our meals in the basement and that I sometimes stayed there alone to read or work while my friends went upstairs to smoke in my study."

Vladimir Purishkevich supported this story in his book, The Murder of Rusputin (1918): "We sat down at the round tea table and Yusupov invited us to drink a glass of tea and to try the cakes before they had been doctored. The quarter of an hour which we spent at the table seemed like an eternity to me.... Once we finished our tea, we tried to give the table the appearance of having been suddenly left by a large group frightened by the arrival of an unexpected guest. We poured a little tea into each of the cups, left bits of cake and pirozhki on the plates, and scattered some crumbs among several of the crumpled table napkins.... Once we had given the table the necessary appearance, we got to work on the two plates of petits fours. Yusupov gave Dr Lazovert several pieces of the potassium cyanide and he put on the gloves which Yusupov had procured and began to grate poison into a plate with a knife. Then picking out all the cakes with pink cream (there were only two varieties, pink and chocolate), he lifted off the top halves and put a good quantity of poison in each one, and then replaced the tops to make them look right. When the pink cakes were ready, we placed them on the plates with the brown chocolate ones. Then, we cut up two of the pink ones and, making them look as if they had been bitten into, we put these on different plates around the table."

Yusupov added: "It was agreed that when I went to fetch Rasputin, Dmitrii, Purishkevich and Sukhotin would go upstairs and play the gramophone, choosing lively tunes. I wanted to keep Rasputin in a good humour and remove any distrust that might be lurking in his mind." Stanislaus de Lazovert now went to fetch Rasputin in the car. "At midnight the associates of the Prince concealed themselves while I entered the car and drove to the home of the monk. He admitted me in person. Rasputin was in a gay mood. We drove rapidly to the home of the Prince and descended to the library, lighted only by a blazing log in the huge chimney-place. A small table was spread with cakes and rare wines - three kinds of the wine were poisoned and so were the cakes. The monk threw himself into a chair, his humour expanding with the warmth of the room. He told of his successes, his plots, of the imminent success of the German arms and that the Kaiser would soon be seen in Petrograd. At a proper moment he was offered the wine and the cakes. He drank the wine and devoured the cakes. Hours slipped by, but there was no sign that the poison had taken effect. The monk was even merrier than before. We were seized with an insane dread that this man was inviolable, that he was superhuman, that he couldn't be killed. It was a frightful sensation. He glared at us with his black, black eyes as though he read our minds and would fool us."

Vladimir Purishkevich later recalled that Yusupov joined them upstairs and exclaimed: "It is impossible. Just imagine, he drank two glasses filled with poison, ate several pink cakes and, as you can see, nothing has happened, absolutely nothing, and that was at least fifteen minutes ago! I cannot think what we can do... He is now sitting gloomily on the divan and the only effect that I can see of the poison is that he is constantly belching and that he dribbles a bit. Gentlemen, what do you advise that I do?" Eventually it was decided that Yusupov should go down and shoot Rasputin.

According to Yusupov's account: "Rasputin stood before me motionless, his head bent and his eyes on the crucifix. I slowly raised the crucifix. I slowly raised the revolver. Where should I aim, at the temple or at the heart? A shudder swept over me; my arm grew rigid, I aimed at his heart and pulled the trigger. Rasputin gave a wild scream and crumpled up on the bearskin. For a moment I was appalled to discover how easy it was to kill a man. A flick of a finger and what had been a living, breathing man only a second before, now lay on the floor like a broken doll."

Stanislaus de Lazovert agrees with this account except that he was uncertain who fired the shot: "With a frightful scream Rasputin whirled and fell, face down, on the floor. The others came bounding over to him and stood over his prostrate, writhing body. We left the room to let him die alone, and to plan for his removal and obliteration. Suddenly we heard a strange and unearthly sound behind the huge door that led into the library. The door was slowly pushed open, and there was Rasputin on his hands and knees, the bloody froth gushing from his mouth, his terrible eyes bulging from their sockets. With an amazing strength he sprang toward the door that led into the gardens, wrenched it open and passed out." Lazovert added that it was Vladimir Purishkevich who fired the next shot: "As he seemed to be disappearing in the darkness, Purishkevich, who had been standing by, reached over and picked up an American-made automatic revolver and fired two shots swiftly into his retreating figure. We heard him fall with a groan, and later when we approached the body he was very still and cold and - dead."

Yusupov later recalled: "On hearing the shot my friends rushed in. Rasputin lay on his back. His features twitched in nervous spasms; his hands were clenched, his eyes closed. A bloodstain was spreading on his silk blouse. A few minutes later all movement ceased. We bent over his body to examine it. The doctor declared that the bullet had struck him in the region of the heart. There was no possibility of doubt: Rasputin was dead. We turned off the light and went up to my room, after locking the basement door."

The Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov drove the men to Varshavsky Rail Terminal where they burned Rasputin's clothes. "It was very late and the grand duke evidently feared that great speed would attract the suspicion of the police." They also collected weights and chains and returned to Yuspov's home. At 4.50 a.m. Dimitri drove the men and Rasputin's body to Petrovskii Bridge. that crossed towards Krestovsky Island. According to Vladimir Purishkevich: "We dragged Rasputin's corpse into the grand duke's car." Purishkevich claimed he drove very slowly: "It was very late and the grand duke evidently feared that great speed would attract the suspicion of the police." Stanislaus de Lazovert takes up the story when they arrived at Petrovskii: "We bundled him up in a sheet and carried him to the river's edge. Ice had formed, but we broke it and threw him in. The next day search was made for Rasputin, but no trace was found."

Rasputin's body was found on 19th December by a river policeman who was walking on the ice. He noticed a fur coat trapped beneath, approximately 65 metres from the bridge. The ice was cut open and Rasputin's frozen body discovered. The post mortem was held the following day. Major-General Popel carried out the investigation of the murder. By this time Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert and Lieutenant Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin had fled from the city. He did interview Yusupov, Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov and Vladimir Purishkevich, but he decided not to charge them with murder.

Tsar Nicholas II ordered the three men to be expelled from Petrograd. He rejected a petition to allow the conspirators to stay in the city. He replied that "no one had the right to commit murder." Sophie Buxhoeveden later commented: "Though patriotic feeling was supposed to have been the motive of the murder, it was the first indirect blow at the Emperor's authority, the first spark of insurrection. In short, it was the application of lynch law, the taking of law and judgment forcibly into private hands."

Yusupov was distressed by the events of the Russian Revolution. "One day a detachment of soldiers came to occupy my house. I showed them over it, and tried to make them understand that it was more fitted to be a museum than a barracks. They went away without pressing the point, but obviously meaning to come back. A few days later, on leaving my room I stumbled over the bodies of some soldiers sleeping, fully armed, and on the marble floor. An officer came up to me and said that he had been ordered to guard my house. I did not like this at all; it meant that the Bolsheviks considered me a sympathizer, which was a compliment I did not appreciate in the least. I decided to leave immediately for the Crimea."

Felix and his wife Irina Romanov Yusupov managed to escape to France and in 1920 they purchased a house on the Rue Gutenberg in Boulogne-sur-Seine. Later they moved to the United States. In 1927 Yusupov joined forces with Oswald Rayner to translate his book, Rasputin: His Malignant Influence and his Assassination, into English. In the book Yusupov boasted that he had killed Rasputin.

In 1932 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer brought out a film Rasputin and the Empress. In the film, the character, Prince Paul Chegodieff, was clearly based on Yusupov. He became very angry when Chedodieff's wife is shown being seduced by Rasputin. The Yusupovs sued MGM and in 1934, the Yusupovs were awarded £25,000 damages. The disclaimer which now appears at the end of every American film, "The preceding was a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people or events is entirely coincidental" first appeared as a result of the legal precedent set by the Yusupov case.

In his memoirs, Lost Splendor, published in 1953, Yusupov described in detail how he murdered Gregory Rasputin. This resulted in Rasputin's daughter Maria taking Yusupov to a Paris court for damages of $800,000. The French court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over a political killing that took place in Russia.

Felix Yusupov died aged 81 on 27th September 1967 and is buried in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in Paris.

In 2010 Michael Smith, the author of Six: A History of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (2010), argued that Rasputin was assassinated by MI6 and that one of their agents, Oswald Rayner, was the man who killed him. This account is supported by Richard Cullen's book, Rasputin: The Role of Britain's Secret Service in his Torture and Murder (2010), who names Rayner, John Scale and Stephen Alley as being the agents involved in the killing.