Russian Noble and Princely Families

[Al_bina]

Originally Posted by Russophile

Lost Splendor and Massie have attested that the Yussoppov's wealth was vast and grand. Anybody know just how much they owned and what they lost in the Revolution?

Indeed, the Yusupovs were considered to be the richest family after the Romanovs. Pikul claimed that the famous Belovezhskaya Pushcha belonged to them (see Belovezhskii Forest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The Imperial court, including the Romanovs, was stunned looking at the collection of jewellery Prince Felix presented to his wife, Irina. Actually, the Romanovs were said to be quite satisfied with the above marriage. Furthermore, Pikul portrayed Prince Felix as a well-educated progressive individual with whims.
Technically speaking, Felix is Count Sumarokov-Elston and then Prince Yussopov. However, Princess Zenaida Nikolaievna Yusupova ensured that her sons would be Princes of the Yusupov family. Pikul hinted that Count Felix Nickolaevich Sumarokov-Elston was not exactly thrilled about it.

[Russophile]

Well according to Felix in Lost Splendor, the Yussoppov line was ending with his mother so she asked for a special dispensation for the family name to continue through her. Interesting , that.
Felix wrote that oil was so abundant on their Crimea property the locals picked up dirt that was infused with it to grease their carts axels!
Oh what a life!

[Anna was Franziska]

It took Alexander III so long to grant the request that Zenaida's father died without knowing for sure if his name would continue.

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Fabulous wealth..... Fabulous!

[Al_bina]

Originally Posted by Anna was Franziska

It took Alexander III so long to grant the request that Zenaida's father died without knowing for sure if his name would continue.

Tsar Alexander III was a very conservative man, who did not view daughters as legitimate successors to Princely or any other noble titles. Additionally, Princess Zenaida tended to be overly outspoken about issues in the pre-revolutionary Russia. That often involved criticism of the tsarist regime. Although she was a rich noblewoman, everything, including freedom of expression, had its limits. According Pikul, Okhrana (Okhrana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) somewhat kept Princess Zenaida under surveillance.

The following is information and photos of The Yusupov Palace on the Moika:
Yusupov Palace on the Moika
Yusupov Palace on the Moika, Saint Petersburg, Russia* -* Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

[Russophile]

A was she ever "banished" from the court? I do know in the past that when Tsar's were not happy with their noble subjects and their opinions they banished them to Siberia or other parts. Though with their money, a banishment to Siberia would have been in style and would have hardly been a punishment!

[Al_bina]

If I understood Pikul correctly, Princess Zenaida was privately rebuked for her criticisms by some courtiers, who was said to voice the concerns of the Romanovs, and reminded that it would be better for her not to cast the dirt into the fountain she lived off. At the same time, I got an impression that the Romanovs were keen on catching Prince Felix Yusupov. Thus, they overlooked Princess Zenaida's, as Pikul put it, light-red revolutionary speeches. Princess Zenaida's harsh, but private criticisms of Empress Alexandra Fedorovna were overlooked as well because the last Russian Empress was unpopular among nobles and ordinary people, and because Dowager Empress Marie Fedorovna, who had a great influence in the Romanov family, had a dislike for her daughter-in-law.
I dare to assume ... at that point in time Nicholas II could not banish an immensely rich family such as the Yusupovs from the court.

[Anna was Franziska]

While they were not 'banished', but of Felix's parents lost favor with Nicholas and Alexandra for their open criticism of Rasputin. His father Old Felix lost his job as Governer General of Moscow after speaking out against Rasputin and corruption, and Zenaida, after insisting the speak her mind to Alexandra on the subject of Rasputin, was put off with "I hope to never see you again."

Both stories can be found in this chapter:

http://alexanderpalace.org/lostsplendor/xx.html

Even Ella, a nun and Alix's own sister, was 'thrown out like a dog' for recommending getting rid of Rasputin. The two sisters never spoke again.

[Al_bina]

While it was possible that Rasputin did alleviate Tsarevich Aleksei's medical condition, Alexandra Fedorovna was wrong to castigate each and everybody, who would question Rasputin's closeeness to the Imperial couple. The Yusupovs were really concerned about the French revolution on Russian soil because they had a lot to lose. Similar to many well-educated people, they saw the crisis looming on a horizon and knew that changes in Russia were implanted by brutal force and bloodshed.

[Marengo]

The funeral of Felix Youssoupov:

YouTube - Funerals of Felix Yusupov. Похороны Фéлик� Фéлик�ович Ю�ýпов

[Grace Angel]

Originally Posted by Pixilated

Xenia is the most stunning, exotic woman I've ever seen in pictures! Her aura seemed to be shy but came off as haughty.How could you not call this woman beautiful?!
http://macedonsky.narod.ru/images/cognates/c25.jpg

Isn't that actually Irina on the day she wed Prince Felix Yusupov? I've seen it identified as such elsewhere. Maybe you meant Irina. I think she was lovely too, though she didn't age well. She resembled to a great degree her cousin Tatiana, Nicholas II's daughter, widely renowned as the most beautiful of his daughters.

[Alberto2244]

André Baranoff was born in París in 1936, he´s the son of count Ciril Baranoff and princess María Obolensky.
In the 1950s he moved to Argentina and he had not kept in touch with his family which considered him dead.
But thanks to Internet his sister, who lives in Germany, found him alive and well.

El Día de Gualeguaychú - Edición digital 24 horas de información al instante - Un reencuentro emotivo, después de 55 años

[Next Star]

Now I see why he was concered dead no offense but not keeping in touch will his family for so many years had people assume he was dead.
But through today's high technology made it were his sister was able to find him which is great.

[Odette]

This is fascinating. I cannot read Portuguese. Can someone translate why he stayed away all those years and why no one from his family make any serious efforts to locate him before now?

[Warren]

Prince Piotr Galitzine and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria
Courtesy of member cachecache...

TMK IPSCO chairman revealed as a prince of a man -- chicagotribune.com
13 Sept 2009
excerpts...

When TMK IPSCO of Downers Grove announced a new chairman last year, it omitted everything interesting about Piotr Galitzine.

 And so for an entire year the Chicago business community hasn't known that there is a Russian prince living downtown with his wife, Archduchess Maria Anna, a granddaughter of Karl I, the last emperor of Austria.

 In Russia, Galitzine's name is instantly recognizable. In Chicago, well, he doesn't get out much. Galitzine arrived here in September 2008, soon after TMK, Russia's largest producer of oil and gas piping, bought the American assets of IPSCO.

Galitzine's royal title traces back 675 years. That's when an ancestor, a Lithuanian prince, married into a royal family in Russia. The Russians permitted the title to be passed on to his descendants. 

After relocations forced by the Communist Revolution and World War II, Galitzine's parents moved to Peru, where he was born in 1955, then to New York. A mutual friend introduced Galitzine to his future wife at a bar on New York's Upper East Side. They married in 1981.

in 1992 he joined Mannesman AG, the German engineering giant, running its Russian operations.

 "I was finally able to return to Russia with my wife and six children," Galitzine said. "But the first time I went back, it was frightening. My friend told me to report everything I had of value at customs. I listed 'wedding ring, gold' and 'cross, gold.' Although it was 1991, Russia hadn't changed much. The customs agent said, 'Surely stolen from the people.' I went ballistic."

[MAfan]

In which way was Archduchess Xenia of Austria (née Countess Xenia Sergueievna Tchernychev-Bezobrazov, 1929-1968, first wife of Archduke Rudolph, the son of Emperor Karl I and Empress Zita) related to Princess Irina Bagration (née Countess Irina Tchernychev-Bezobrazov, born in 1926, wife of the late Prince Theimouraz Bagration, himself the son of Princess Tatiana Constantinovna of Russia)?

[persian85033]

Originally Posted by Grace Angel

Isn't that actually Irina on the day she wed Prince Felix Yusupov? I've seen it identified as such elsewhere. Maybe you meant Irina. I think she was lovely too, though she didn't age well. She resembled to a great degree her cousin Tatiana, Nicholas II's daughter, widely renowned as the most beautiful of his daughters.

That does look more like Irina. She's one of my favorites. It's such a pitty it's a bit difficult to find pics and info about her. So that was Marie Antoinette's veil?

[Vasillisos Markos]

The Yussoupovs were rich beyond belief and Felix's mother used to keep bowls filled with jewels so her guests could scoop them up and let them run between their fingers for the pure sensuality of doing it. I believed they owned several pieces of jewelry, as well as clothing, which were once owned by Marie Antoinette.

[Warren]

The discussion of jewels has been moved to the Romanov and Russian Jewellery thread in theRoyal Jewels forum.

[charlottestreasures]

"The Russian Album" by Michael Ignatieff - Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

I have just read this book and thought it would be interesting for others as well.
from the book
"My father's past is Russian. My grandfather Count Paul Ignatieff was Minister of Education in the last Cabinet of Tsar Nicholas II. His father Nicholas was the diplomat who in 1860 negotiated the Amur-Ussuri boundary treaty...1878 the treaty bringing the Russo-Turkish War to a conclusion.....

My grandmother was born Princess Natasha Mestchersky ..."

What an interesting read of these two families joined together and living
in and fleeing from the revolution. Very poignant where he discribes his
grandfather's last meeting with the Tsar Nicholas and pleading with him
to make changes.

A different look at Russia and its history through this man's families diaries and research and how they survived in exile and ended up in Canada.