Known as the "mad monk," Grigori Rasputin was an outlandish figure in the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoe, his conduct there got him into so much trouble that he disappeared into the Russian wilderness.
He wandered over all Russia, made two pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and roamed both in the Balkans and in Mesopotamia until he came back to Russian in 1903, when he arrived at the religious Academy of St. Petersburg, where he was welcomed as a penitent. He became highly popular in religious and mystical circles. The Grand Duchess Militsia, a leader in Russian mystical circles, introduced him to the Tsar in 1905, when Rasputin stopped Prince Alexis' hemophilia by laying on of hands. He quickly became a fixture in the royal household and a particular confidante to the Empress.
Rasputin spoke for the Russian peasantry to the Tsar. He abhorred Russian nobility and declared that class to be of another race, not Russian. Wild-eyed and unkempt, he was strangely charismatic and his personal magnetism was legendary; at the same time his bouts of drinking, womanizing, and wild behavior created a scandal in Russian society. He was a hit in the salons and reveled in luxury and extravagance. He made a point of humiliating the high and mighty of both sexes. Too clever to sell himself to anyone, he was courted with gifts from followers and those hopeful of getting into his good graces. On many occasions he took from the rich and gave to the poor.
He was finally killed in 1916 by a cabal of aristocrats led by Felix Yusopov, who feared Rasputin's influence had grown too great. Rasputin's death became the stuff of legend: assassins fed him poisoned cakes and wine, and when the poison failed to kill Rasputin they shot him and beat him. Still Rasputin didn't die, until finally the men bound him and tossed him into the Neva River, where he drowned: 30 December under the modern calendar.
Felix Yusupov
It is interesting to note that, aside from a memoir penned by his own hand (if you can trust the objectivity of such a work), exceedingly little is to be found on the subject of Prince Felix Yusupov.
A review of Prince Yusupov's published memoirs, Lost Splendor: The fascinating first-person account of the cross-dressing prince who poisoned Rasputin with rose cream cakes laced with cyanide and spiked Madeira is now back in print. Originally published in France in 1952, during the years of Prince Youssoupoff's exile from Russia, Lost Splendor has all the excitement of a thriller.
Born to great riches, lord of vast feudal estates and many palaces, Felix Youssoupoff led the life of a grand seigneur in the days before the Russian Revolution. Married to the 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 Dimitri and others. More than any other single event, this deed helped to bring about the cataclysmic upheaval that ended in the advent of the Soviet regime.
The author describes the luxury and glamour of his upbringing, fantastic episodes at nightclubs and with the gypsies in St. Petersburg, grand tours of Europe, dabbling in spiritualism and occultism, and an occasional conscience-stricken attempt to alleviate the lot of the poor.~Prince Youssoupoff was an aristocrat of character. When the moment for action came, when the monk's evil influence over the czar and czarina became unbearable, he and his friends decided that they must get rid of the monster. He tells how Rasputin courted him and tried to hypnotize him, and how finally they decoyed him to the basement of the prince's palace. Prince Youssoupoff...is perfectly objective, remarkably modern and as accurate as human fallibility allows. His book is therefore readable, of historical value and intimately tragic. It is as if Count Fersen had written a detailed account of the last years of Marie Antoinette. --Harold Nicholson, on the first English edition, 1955.
Excerpt from a news article about a Mexican artist who was a favorite of Yusupov during his exile:
"In Paris, Contreras met the Countess Ksenia Sheremetyeva, a descendant of the famous Russian aristocratic family. She invited him to lunch with her grandparents, the Prince and Princess Yusupov. "I had no idea who they were at the time," Contreras said, laughing. "I was served like royalty, and there was this beautiful old gentleman sitting across from me." The artist's voice took on a special intensity when he recounted the instant connection he felt with the prince, then in his 70s. "He was a very great soul," Contreras said, "a mystic, who could heal with the hands."
Indeed, the prince -- not unlike Rasputin -- had a reputation as a faith healer. He also claimed to have glimpses into the future. Contreras used to accompany the prince on visits to sick members of the Russian emigre community. Yusupov would place his hand on the patient's forehead and pray, and "the person would come back to life, back from death," Contreras said.
The young artist was invited to live at the Yusupovs' home in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, and he spent the next five years there. He described his relationship with the prince as that of an adopted son and his father. The family used to introduce him to friends as "the son who fell to us from heaven."
One forbidden topic was the prince's role in Rasputin's murder, which remained a source of shame for the family.
According to generally accepted history and Yusupov's own memoir, "Lost Splendor," the prince led the group of conspirators that assassinated Rasputin in 1916. The so-called "mad monk" had scandalized St. Petersburg with his controversial lifestyle and immense influence over the royal family. Yusupov, together with a group of nobles and army officers, decided to kill Rasputin in an attempt to save the Romanov dynasty from self-destruction.
On Dec. 29, 1916, Rasputin accepted Yusupov's invitation to dine at his Moika Palace, where the conspirators served him wine laced with cyanide. When the poison left him mysteriously unaffected, the conspirators shot him four times, clubbed him and tied him up before dumping the body in the Neva River. Three days later, the body was found in the frozen river, arms freed in an upright position, as if he had tried to claw his way out from under the ice.
The murder was never discussed at the Yusupovs' home in Paris, Contreras said, until one afternoon when the old prince "confessed everything."
It was during the artist's last year in Paris, not long before Yusupov's death at 80. One by one, the princess, her daughter and the governess left the lunch table, leaving only the prince and his "spiritual son." Yusupov wanted him to know the whole truth, never before divulged to anyone, Contreras said.
Yusupov told him about his first meeting with Rasputin, at the Peterhof Palace outside St. Petersburg. The two established a mystic link, the prince recalled. "The prince told me Rasputin looked him in the eyes, and he fell down under his gaze," Contreras said. "He felt the soles of the feet tingling, saw through the eyes of Rasputin. When the prince managed to stand, Rasputin stumbled in turn and cried out, 'Felix, together we could own the world!'"
The artist described Yusupov as the antidote to Rasputin. "The same powers that man had, he had in good," Contreras said. "He vanquished him!" But the artist was unwilling to say anything about Rasputin's murder in the interview. He said he was preserving the prince's private papers, entrusted to him by the family, to publish along with the revelation of Yusupov's testimony."
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