INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I My Tartar ancestors - Khan Yussuf - Souinbeca - The first Yussupoff princes. CHAPTER II Prince Nicholas Borissovich - His journeys abroad - His marriage - Arkhangelskoye - Prince Boris Nicholaievich. CHAPTER III My birth - My mother's disappointment - The Berlin zoo - My great-grandmother - My grandparents - My parents - My brother Nicholas. CHAPTER IV The Coronation of the Emperor Nicholas II - The receptions given at Arkhangelskoye and our House in Moscow - Marie, Crown Princess of Rumania - Prince Gritzko. CHAPTER V My childhood - Our playmates - The Argentinian - The 1900 Exposition in Paris - General Bernov - Gugusse - Travel gives experience to the young. CHAPTER VI The Russo-Japanese War - The Montenegrins - The Reval conferences. CHAPTER VII Our various residences - St. Petersburg - The Moika, its servants and guests - A supper at The Bear restaurant. CHAPTER VIII Moscow - Our life at Arkhangelskoye - Serov the painter - A supernatural adventure - Our neighbors in the country - Spaskoye-Selo. CHAPTER IX Growing pains - The gypsies - A royal conquest - My first appearance on the music-hall stage - Fancy-dress balls - A stormy conversation with my father. CHAPTER X Tsarskoe-Selo - The Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich - Rakitnoe. CHAPTER XI The Crimea-Koreiz - My father's strange fantasies - Our Neighbors - AiTodor - My first meeting with Princess Irina - Kokoz - How I won the favor of the Emir of Boukhara. CHAPTER XII A change of residence - Spiritualism and theosophy - The Viasemkaya Lavra - My last journey abroad with my brother - His duel and death. CHAPTER XIII The Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna - Her good influence - My work with her at Moscow - Plans for the future. CHAPTER XIV Departure for the Crimea and return to Moscow - Winter at Tsarskoe Selo - Father John of Kronstadt - I visit our estates Return to the Crimea - I leave to go abroad. CHAPTER XV My first trip to England - I return to Russia - I meet Rasputin - Departure for Oxford - Anna Pavlova - Life at the University - London society, fancy-dress balls, etc. - Farewell to Oxford Last few days in London - The English at home. CHAPTER XVI I return to Russia - The centenary of Borodino - My engagement. CHAPTER XVII I go abroad - The Solovetz Monastery - Paris - The Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. CHAPTER XVIII Our engagement is made public - A threatened break - The Dowager Empress - Preparing our apartments on the Moika - Our marriage. CHAPTER XIX Our honeymoon: Paris - Egypt - Easter festivities in Jerusalem - Our journey across Italy - Our stay in London. CHAPTER XX Our tribulations in Germany - We return to Russia via Copenhagen and Finland - The birth of my daughter - My father's mission abroad - He is appointed Governor General of Moscow - The situation grows worse - Rasputin. CHAPTER XXI Rasputin the man - The reasons for his influence and its consequences. CHAPTER XXII In search of a plan - The conspiracy - Rasputin's hypnotic powers - The starets becomes confidential - He accepts my invitation to the Moika. CHAPTER XXIII The Moika basement - The night of December 29. CHAPTER XXIV I am questioned by the police - At the Grand Duke Dmitri's palace - Disillusionment. CHAPTER XXV In exile at Rakitnoe - The first phase of the Revolution - The Emperor's abdication - He bids farewell to his mother - My return to St. Petersburg - A singular proposal. CHAPTER XXVI General exodus to the Crimea - Ai-Todor is searched - Irina has an interview with Kerensky - St. Petersburg during the Revolution - The Imperial family is taken to Siberia - My last visit to the Grand Duchess Elisabeth - Mysterious guardian angels Scenes from the Revolution in the Crimea - My family-in-law is imprisoned at Dulber-Zadoroiny - Deliverance in extremis - A short period of happiness - Rumors of the Imperial family's assassination - The prophecies of the nun from Yalta. CHAPTER XXVII The last days of the Emperor and his family - The assassination of the Grand Dukes in Siberia and St. Petersburg - The Grand Duke Alexander vainly approaches the Allied Governments - Exile. Go to the Alexander Palace Time Machine

Left: Count Felix Yussupov with his wife, Irina Alexandrovna, in 1914.

This is the history of my family, set against a background of oriental savagery and magnificence, starting with the Golden Horde of the Tartars, through the Grand Duchy of Moscow to the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg, and ending in exile in a foreign land.

The family records disappeared during the Revolution, and as no other documents were available I was obliged to refer almost exclusively to a work written by my grandfather in 1886 for all data concerning the origin and history of my ancestors.

I have written very frankly about my own life, telling alike of joys and sorrows, of days of glory and days of tribulation, without keeping back any of my experiences.

I would have preferred to avoid politics, but as I have lived in a troubled period I cannot write my recollections without alluding to the dramatic events in which I took part.

This first volume deals with our carefree life before the first World War and the Revolution of 1917; a second will tell the story of our exile in foreign lands.

An abyss separates these two periods, and it is only because of a deep trust in the Almighty that we have never questioned His justice. Absolute faith in Him has alone made it possible for us to live through these years of trial without ever losing hope.