Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia - Murder of Grigori Rasputin

Murder of Grigori Rasputin

Both Felix and Irina were aware of the salacious rumors about Rasputin's association with worsening political situation that brought with it more riots, political protests and violence. Yussupov and his co-conspirators, among them Dmitri Pavlovich, decided that Rasputin was destroying the country and must be killed. Felix started paying visits to Rasputin in an attempt to gain the peasant's trust. It has been speculated that Felix told the monk that he needed assistance to overcome his homosexual impulses and enjoy a satisfactory marriage to Irina or, alternatively, that it was Irina who needed Rasputin's "cure."

On 16 December 1916, the night of the murder, Felix invited Rasputin to his residence at the Moika Palace and told him that Irina would be in residence and Rasputin would have an opportunity to meet her. Rasputin had often expressed interest in meeting the beautiful 21-year-old princess. Irina, however, was on a visit to the Crimea at the time. Irina had been aware that Felix had talked about eliminating Rasputin and it may have been originally intended that she participate in the murder. "You too must take part in it," Felix wrote to her before the murder. "Dm(itri) Pavl(ovich) knows all about it and is helping. It will all take place in the middle of December, when Dm(itri) comes back." In late November 1916, Irina wrote to Felix: "Thanks for your insane letter. I didn't understand the half of it. I see that you're planning to do something wild. Please take care and do not get mixed up in any shady business. The dirtiest thing is that you have decided to do it all without me. I don't see how I can take part in it now, since it's all arranged ... In a word, be careful. I see from your letter that you're in a state of wild enthusiasm and ready to climb a wall ... I'll be in Petrograd on the 12th or 13th, so don't dare do anything without me, or else I won't come at all." Felix responded on 27 November 1916: "Your presence by the middle of December is essential. The plan I'm writing you about has been worked out in detail and is three quarters done, and only the finale is left, and for that your arrival is awaited. It (the murder) is the only way of saving a situation that is almost hopeless ... You will serve as the lure ... Of course, not a word to anyone." A frightened Irina suddenly backed out of the plan on 3 December 1916. "I know that if I come, I shall certainly get sick ... You don't know how things are with me. I want to cry all the time. My mood is terrible. I've never had one like it before ... I don't know myself what's happening to me. Don't drag me to Petrograd. Come down here instead. Forgive me, my dear one, for writing such things to you. But I can't go on any more, I don't know what's the matter with me. Neurasthenia, I think. Don't be angry with me, please don't be angry. I love you terribly. I can't live without you. May the Lord protect you." Again, on 9 December 1916, she warned Felix, reporting a foreboding conversation she had had with their 21-month-old daughter: "Something unbelievable's been going on with Baby. A couple of nights ago she didn't sleep well and kept repeating, "War, nanny, war!" The next day she was asked, "War or peace?" And Baby answered, "War!" The next day I said, "Say, 'peace.' " And she looked right at me and answered, "War!" It's very strange."

Irina's pleas were in vain. Her husband and his co-conspirators went forward with the plan without her. Following Rasputin's murder, the Tsar exiled both Yussupov and Dmitri Pavlovich. Felix was exiled to Rakitnoe, a remote Yussupov country estate in the central Russian province of Kursk. Dmitri was exiled to the Persian front with the Army. Sixteen members of the family signed a letter asking the Tsar to reconsider his decision due to Dmitri's weak health, but Nicholas II refused to consider the petition. "Nobody has the right to kill on his own private judgment," wrote Nicholas II. "I know that there are many others besides Dmitri Pavlovich whose consciences give them no rest, because they are compromised. I am astonished that you should have applied to me." Irina's father, "Sandro" visited the couple at Rakitnoe in February 1917 and found their mood "buoyant, but militant." Felix still hoped that the Tsar and the Russian government would respond to Rasputin's death by taking steps to address the increasing political unrest. Felix refused to permit Irina to leave Rakitnoe to join her mother in Petrograd because he felt it was too dangerous. The Tsar abdicated in early March and he and his family were arrested by the Bolshevik Government and were eventually murdered at Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. His decision to exile Felix and Dmitri meant that they were among the few members of the Romanov family to escape execution during the revolution that followed.