Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston

Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston
Count Sumarokov-Elston (1856-1882) Prince Yusupov (1882-1928)
Born	17 October 1856 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	10 June 1928 (age 71) Rome, Italy
Noble family	Yusupov
Spouse(s)	Zinaida Yusupova ​ (m. 1882)​
Issue	Nicholas Yusupov Felix Yusupov Nicholas Elston(illegitimate son) Olivier Elston(illegitimate son) Tatiana Elston (illegitimate daughter)
Father	Felix Sumarokov-Elston
Mother	Elena Sergeievna Sumarokova

Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston (Russian: Граф Фе́ликс Фе́ликсович Сумаро́ков-Эльстон;17 October 1856 – 10 June 1928), later known as Prince Yusupov after his marriage, was a Russian statesman, nobleman and general. From 1915, he was Governor-General of Moscow, a post previously held by Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov.

He was the father of Nicholas and Felix Yusupov.

Early life

Count Felix was born as the third of seven children to Felix and Elena Sumarokov-Elston, and named after his father. His godmother was Dolly de Ficquelmont. His father had been an illegitimate child of questionable birth. A popular theory, repeated by the family itself, was that Felix Elston's father was Frederick William IV, King of Prussia. It was also claimed that the name "Elston" was derived from "elle s'étonne" (she is surprised), a supposed reaction of his birth mother.

Only a month before his birth, Felix' father had obtained special permission to add his father-in-law's surname Sumarokov to his own, as his father-in-law had no sons. Felix was raised with his brothers Sergei (1853–1881) and Paul (1855–1938) in preparation for a military career. He studied at the Page Corps and passed his final exams in 1876. After serving in Odessa for three years, he was promoted to the Chevalier Guard Regiment.

Count Felix and Zinaida, shortly after their wedding

Marriage

In 1882, Count Felix was present at a reception meant to introduce Prince Alexander of Battenberg to Russia's wealthiest and most eligible heiress, Zinaida Yusupova. Zinaida and Felix met and fell in love and married in Saint Petersburg on 4 April 1882 to the disappointment of Zinaida's father, who had hoped for a royal son-in-law.

Only ten months after the wedding, their first son Nicholas was born. Two more sons died in infancy, followed by the birth of Felix in 1887. The pair had over fifty estates and palaces but mostly lived at the Moika Palace, their Crimean Palace and Arkhangelskoye. Like his father before him, Felix was granted the right to bear his wife's name and title and bestow it upon their sons in addition to his own title. Felix was ill-equipped to manage his wife's immense fortune and made many bad investments.

His younger son later wrote in his memoirs: "Our relations with our father were always very distant. They merely consisted of kissing his hand in the morning and evening. He knew nothing of life and neither my brother nor I ever talked frankly with him."

Career

From 1883 to 1885, he worked at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after which he was made adjutant to Grand Duke Sergei, a position he would hold for almost twenty years, until Sergei's assassination in 1905. That year, he was made a major general to Nicholas II. From 1908, he was left in charge of the Imperial Cavalry.

Personal tragedies

Prince Yusupov, with his wife Zinaida and their sons Nicholas and Felix.

Prince Yusupov disapproved of his eldest son Nicholas performing as an amateur actor and poet. Later, he was furious when he found out his younger son had performed in a café in drag. However, the bigger scandals were still to come. Nicholas fell in love with Countess Marina van Heiden, and wished to marry her, but Felix and Zinaida disapproved on account of the girl's reputation and existing engagement. In 1908, Nicholas rekindled his affair with the now-married Marina and her husband, Count Manteuffel, challenged Nicholas to a duel and killed him. Nicholas was only twenty-five and his parents were devastated.

His remaining son Felix married Princess Irina Romanova, Nicholas II's only niece, in 1914, despite his scandalous reputation. But only two years later, he murdered Grigori Rasputin and was banished from the capital. The disgrace affected the entire family, and Prince Yusupov had to retire from the army. He moved to his estate in Rakitnoye. While Zinaida Yusupova approved of her son's actions in murdering the starets, Prince Yusupov's feelings are unknown.

Revolution

After the October Revolution in 1917, he fled to the Crimea with his wife. They stayed there for over a year, until the HMS Malborough evacuated Prince Yusupov, his wife, their son, their daughter-in-law Irina and their granddaughter, along with 39 other Romanov relatives in April 1919. Felix and Zinaida settled in Rome. He had a severe stroke in 1924 and died aged 71 in 1928.

Second family

In 2016, an auction of the possessions of Felix Yusupov (junior) revealed the existence of his father's secret, second family.

Zina, Prince Yusupov's mistress, and their two children in the early 1920s.

After the death of their son Nicholas in 1908, Zinaida and Felix grew apart. Their surviving son wrote: "His nature was so different from my mother's that he never really understood her."

In 1910, he began a romantic relationship with his goddaughter Zinaida Gregorievna (1880–1965), known as "Zina". Zina had been an attendant to his mother Elena until her death in 1901. On 6 October 1914, Zina gave birth to a son, Nicholas, who was named after his elder half-brother, but tragically died after only ten months. On 2 June 1916, Zina gave birth to a second son, also in Saint-Petersburg, named Elefteriy (1916–2004). The unusual name was possibly chosen because of Pope Eleutherius who was mentioned in the Felician Catalogue (sharing Prince Felix' first name). In any case, Elefteriy later changed his name to Olivier Elston.

After the Revolution, Zina accompanied Felix to Alupka, Crimea, where she gave birth to a girl named Tatiana on 5 July 1919.

Felix and his two youngest children

Through forged documents, Prince Yusupov was able to get Zina and their two children to Rome in 1920. From the start of their relationship, he had let Zina use the last name Svetilov, so she could pose as the wife of his private secretary. In Rome, Zina was told by Yusupov to use specific routes when shopping for her children in order to avoid his wife. The family later moved to Venice, and then France.