This is the last of our Princess Irina series! If you want to see the older posts, here’s a link to the first one. 

The tsar’s decision to exile Felix allowed he, Irina, and their little daughter to escape Russia with their lives. Many Romanovs were executed by the Bolsheviks. Before fleeing Russia, the Yusupovs went to Moika Palace to retrieve some valuables, including two Rembrandt paintings and many of the jewels given to them at their wedding. But it was a tiny fraction of their wealth.

Their servants carefully wrapped and hid valuables in specially equipped hiding places. Some of them have been found and some are still missing. Searchers have since recovered jewels, 70 chests of silverware, a collection of ancient musical instruments and manuscripts, and other treasures. Many items, like the unique pearl of “La Pelegrina” are still missing.

Portrait of Zinaida Yusupova wearing La Pelegrina pearl. Wikimedia

The Yusupovs were able to board a British warship in Crimea that took them to Malta. Felix was elated at what he had done and bragged about killing Rasputin. Irina was shy and quiet. When she did speak, she shocked others on the ship with her perfect command of the English language.

Irena at Corsica

The family continued to move west going first to Italy, then to Paris. After a few days, they went to London where they remained a few years. During this time, their daughter went to live with her paternal grandparents. It’s not clear why they did this.

In 1920, they bought a house on the Rue Gutenberg in Boulogne-sur-Seine, where they settled permanently. Felix decided to try his hand at fashion and, using the proceeds from the sale of a particularly valuable diamond, the couple founded a brand called Irfé, a combination of their first names. Irina modeled his dresses. She reminds me a little of Daisy Fellowes, at least in appearance. The fashion house did not last long.

The Yusupovs were known for their generosity and their excessive spending. They soon ran through all the money they had taken when they fled Russia.

Their daughter Irina was returned to them by her grandparents when she was nine years old. Felix and Irina were awkward parents. Felix said his daughter’s unstable upbringing and poor education had altered her personality and made her capricious. He seemed to think it was strange that the little girl’s personality changed between the ages of 2 and 9 while living away from her parents. Little Irena loved her father very much, but she was never close to her mother.

A still from the movie From cinemaclock.com

In 1932, MGM released the pre-code movie, Rasputin and the Empress. The movie is the only time, John, Ethel, and Lionel Barrymore starred in a film together. In one scene, Rasputin seduces the tsar’s niece, “Princess Natasha.”

Irina sued MGM for defamation. As the tsar’s only niece, she believed the Natasha character was supposed to represent her.  The court agreed and in 1934, she won a large judgement. She and Felix lived on that money for the rest of their lives.

An undated photo of the princess

Felix also unsuccessfully sued CBS in 1965 for televising a play based upon the Rasputin killing.  Different accounts report Felix was proud of killing Rasputin and that it tormented him. I would guess, based on his bragging, that it was the former.

In 1967, Felix and Irina were interviewed by a French journalist about Rasputin’s murder. She was 72 at the time, but looks older. Felix, who is inexplicably wearing sunglasses indoors, tells the journalist he would make the same decision to kill Rasputin if he had to do it all over again. The prince died a few months later. The interview is in French, but even if you don’t speak the language, you can still hear what their voices sounded like.

After the death of Felix, Irina was stricken by grief. She passed away on February 26, 1970 in Paris. She is buried in the Cimetière de Liers in the town of Sainte Genevieve des Bois.

The couple’s daughter, Irina Yusupova, lived in France until her death in 1983.

I wonder if Felix and Irina were ever tormented by the idea their actions may have played a significant role in the collapse of the Romanov empire and the murder of Irina’s aunt and uncle and cousins.  I’m sure they learned sometime later, after they fled from Russia, about Rasputin’s treatments to help Alexei. I don’t believe either of them knew at the time of the murder how many times the scandalous monk had saved the boy’s life. It was too late to change anything, but that information could have changed the way they viewed everything. Irina was so reserved it’s difficult to know what she might have thought.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts about them!