We pick up our story where we left off, with Felix Yusupov’s plot to murder Rasputin. He and his co-conspirators, Purishkevich, Pavlovich, Lazovert, and Sukhotin knew the dreadful Siberian monk was under the protection of the tsar. The murder would have to be done in secret if they were to escape with their lives. They opted for poison as the ideal method to do away with him, and the one least likely to result in their being caught.

Felix wanted to involve his wife in the murder. Perhaps it was for practical reasons. Rasputin might let his guard down for a chance to meet the beautiful 21-year-old princess. Irina seemed to have no moral qualms about ending the monk’s life. It’s likely she felt he was making a fool of her aunt and uncle and diminishing the Romanovs’ power and prestige. Would she or Felix have gone forward with this scheme, had they known Rasputin’s cures were keeping Alexei alive? I think Felix would have but I don’t know about Irina. As we know, something spooked her and she was no longer willing to participate.

From Alchetron.com

Felix visited Rasputin several times. He told the monk his marriage to Irina was unsatisfactory, owing to his own homosexual urges or possibly because Irina was cold to him. He pleaded for Rasputin’s help to save his marriage. He was sure the monk would see such a request as an opening to meet and seduce Irina.

Rasputin seemed unsuspicious of Felix but he had an awful premonition of his impending doom.  The monk became certain he would never live to see 1917. In early December, he penned a prophetic letter to warn the Romanovs of what was to come:

I write and leave behind me this letter at St. Petersburg. I feel that I shall leave life before January 1st. I wish to make known to the Russian people, to Papa, to the Russian Mother, and to the children to the land of Russia what they must understand.

If I am killed by common assassins and especially by my brothers the Russian peasants, you Tsar of Russia, have nothing to fear. Remain on your throne and govern and you, Russian Tsar, will have nothing to fear for your children. They will reign for hundreds of years in Russia.

But if I am murdered by boyars, nobles and if they shed my blood, their hands will remain soiled with my blood for twenty-five years. They will not wash their hands from my blood. They will leave Russia. Brothers will kill brothers, and they will kill each other and hate each other, and for twenty-five years there will be no peace in the country.

The Tsar of the land of Russia, if you hear the sound of the bell which will tell you that Grigori has been killed, you must know this: if it was your relations who have wrought my death, then none of your children will remain alive for more than two years. And if they do, they will beg for death as they will see the defeat of Russia, see the Antichrist coming, plague, poverty, destroyed churches, and desecrated sanctuaries where everyone is dead.

The Russian Tsar, you will be killed by the Russian people and the people will be cursed and will serve as the devil’s weapon, killing each other everywhere. Three times for 25 years they will destroy the Russian people and the orthodox faith and the Russian land will die.

I shall be killed. I am no longer among the living. Pray, pray, be strong, and think of your blessed family.

Rasputin’s signature from an earlier letter to the tsar

The letter struck terror into the hearts of Nicholas and Alexandra. The threat of violence was a constant concern. Nicholas’ grandfather, Tsar Alexander II, had been assassinated in the streets. Talk of revolution was sweeping Russia but all attempts at uprisings had been thus far crushed. Yet life in the palace grew increasingly tense as the war continued to go badly and famine ravaged the country.

The tsarina didn’t believe anyone would dare harm a holy man under her protection. She was unwilling to grapple with the possibility Rasputin might die. He was the only person on earth who could prolong the life of her beloved Alexei. As to the horrific scene Rasputin described of their family’s future, it was too awful to contemplate.

On December 30, the tsar and his wife must have felt reason for optimism. Whatever dreadful end their dear friend had foreseen was only a nightmare. Rasputin—Alexei—the Romanovs, all of them would survive and go on. But even as they comforted themselves with these thoughts, Prince Felix Yusupov was making his way to Rasputin’s apartment to bring him to Moika Palace.

It was the appointed night of the murder. Irina was still in Crimea, but Rasputin didn’t know that.

Irina, the woman Rasputin would die to meet

That evening, the prince pleaded with his intended victim to come to Moika Palace to meet his wife. Irina was entertaining guests, he said, but she’d agreed to come downstairs to Felix’s “bachelor room” after they left.

Rasputin agreed and followed Felix downstairs, where a chauffeured car was waiting.

Go to the next part!