Zenaida Nikolaievna Yusupova

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Princess Zenaida Nikolaievna Yusupova, (Russian: Зинаида Николаевна Юсупова; September 2, 1861, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – November 24, 1939, Paris, France), (variously transliterated from Russian as Yussupov, Yossopov, Iusupov, Youssoupov, Youssoupoff), was a Russian noblewoman best known as the mother of Prince Felix Yussupov, the murderer of Rasputin.

The greatest Russian heiress of her day, and the last of her line at the House of Yusupov, she married Count Felix Nikolaievich Sumarokov-Elston. As a leading figure in pre-Revolutionary Russian society, she was famed for her beauty and the lavishness of her hospitality. In private, she became a severe critic of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. Her eldest son Nicholas was killed in a duel, an event which cast a shadow over the remainder of her life. Following the Revolution she and her husband lived in Rome. After his death she moved to Paris, dying there in 1939.

[edit] References

• Lost Splendor - Yusupov's self-biography until 1919 (online). Printed in 1952, ISBN 1-885586-58-2.