The photograph of 1916, a copy of which is displayed at the exhibition, depicts Prince Felix Yusupov Sr. standing by the palace in Rakitnoye village.
The only son of Adjutant General Count Felix and Elena Sumarokov-Elston was born on October 17 (old style — October 5), 1856 in St. Petersburg. He studied in His Majesty’s Page Corps but did not graduate from it, and in 1876, he passed the officer exam at the Chuguyev Infantry Cadet School.
The military career of Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston turned out well. In 1879, he joined the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment of Her Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna and three years later was promoted to lieutenant with enrollment in the Guards Cavalry.
In 1882, the count, just like his father at the time, married advantageously. His wife was Princess Zinaida Yusupova, the only heiress of the family. In June 1885, he was allowed to take the title and surname of his father-in-law, Prince Nikolay Yusupov. Soon, the couple had four boys, but two died in infancy. The elder Nikolay and the younger Felix lived to adulthood.
In 1886 — 1904, Felix Yusupov Sr. served as an aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and in 1915, he received the rank of Lieutenant General and became Adjutant General of the Retinue of Emperor Nicholas II.
In 1896, Felix Yusupov Sr. and Ivan Kharitonenko, a landowner from Krasnaya Yaruga, organized a joint-stock company and built a railway from Sumy to Belgorod. In 1907, a railway was built from Lgov to Likhaya station in Yekaterinoslav governorate. The speed of passenger trains did not exceed 25 kilometers per hour. At all stations of these branches, the original station buildings have been preserved to this day. At the Gotnya station, which is not far from Rakitnoye, a locomotive depot, a water tower, workshops of the tracking service, two two-storied and five one-storied residential buildings have also been preserved.
Since 1912, Felix Yusupov Sr. was chairman of the Council of the Imperial Stroganov Central Art and Industrial College. On May 5, 1915, by order of Nicholas II, he was appointed the superior officer of the Moscow Military District and Moscow commander-in-chief. But soon after the anti-German outrages, Yusupov was dismissed from these posts.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Felix Yusupov Sr. went to Crimea, and on April 13, 1919, together with Empress Maria Feodorovna, he left Russia forever on the British ship “Marlborough”. Felix Yusupov Sr. lived in Italy for the rest of his days. He died on June 10, 1928, and was buried in Rome at the Testaccio Cemetery.
The only son of Adjutant General Count Felix and Elena Sumarokov-Elston was born on October 17 (old style — October 5), 1856 in St. Petersburg. He studied in His Majesty’s Page Corps but did not graduate from it, and in 1876, he passed the officer exam at the Chuguyev Infantry Cadet School.
The military career of Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston turned out well. In 1879, he joined the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment of Her Majesty Empress Maria Feodorovna and three years later was promoted to lieutenant with enrollment in the Guards Cavalry.
In 1882, the count, just like his father at the time, married advantageously. His wife was Princess Zinaida Yusupova, the only heiress of the family. In June 1885, he was allowed to take the title and surname of his father-in-law, Prince Nikolay Yusupov. Soon, the couple had four boys, but two died in infancy. The elder Nikolay and the younger Felix lived to adulthood.
In 1886 — 1904, Felix Yusupov Sr. served as an aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and in 1915, he received the rank of Lieutenant General and became Adjutant General of the Retinue of Emperor Nicholas II.
In 1896, Felix Yusupov Sr. and Ivan Kharitonenko, a landowner from Krasnaya Yaruga, organized a joint-stock company and built a railway from Sumy to Belgorod. In 1907, a railway was built from Lgov to Likhaya station in Yekaterinoslav governorate. The speed of passenger trains did not exceed 25 kilometers per hour. At all stations of these branches, the original station buildings have been preserved to this day. At the Gotnya station, which is not far from Rakitnoye, a locomotive depot, a water tower, workshops of the tracking service, two two-storied and five one-storied residential buildings have also been preserved.
Since 1912, Felix Yusupov Sr. was chairman of the Council of the Imperial Stroganov Central Art and Industrial College. On May 5, 1915, by order of Nicholas II, he was appointed the superior officer of the Moscow Military District and Moscow commander-in-chief. But soon after the anti-German outrages, Yusupov was dismissed from these posts.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Felix Yusupov Sr. went to Crimea, and on April 13, 1919, together with Empress Maria Feodorovna, he left Russia forever on the British ship “Marlborough”. Felix Yusupov Sr. lived in Italy for the rest of his days. He died on June 10, 1928, and was buried in Rome at the Testaccio Cemetery.
