Lost Splendor

Born to great riches, master of vast feudal estates and many palaces, Felix Youssoupoff led the life of a grand lord in the days before the Russian Revolution. Married to a niece of Czar Nicholas II, he could observe at close range the rampant corruption and intrigues of the imperial court, which culminated in the rise to power of the sinister monk Rasputin. Finally, impelled by patriotism and his love for the Romanoff dynasty, which he felt was in danger of destroying itself and Russia, he killed Rasputin in 1916 with the help of the Grand Duke Dmitri and others. More than any other single event, the assassination of Rasputin helped to bring about the cataclysmic upheaval that ended in the advent of the Soviet regime. In 1919, the Youssoupoffs left Russia. They sold two Rembrandt paintings (now in the National Gallery in Washington), as well as Princess Irina's jewelry. Contesting their portrayal in an MGM film and a CBS television drama, both dealing with Rasputin, they subsequently won large libel settlements in 1934 and 1965.