Prince Felix Youssoupoff
Born to great riches, master of vast feudal estates and many palaces, Felix Youssoupoff led the life of a grand lord in the days before the Russian Revolution. Married to a 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. Impelled by patriotism and love for the Romanoffs he killed Rasputin in 1916. Yousoupoff and his wife, Irina, settled in Pairs in 1919 and founded the fashion house Irfé.