Editing Felix Yusupov (section)

==Assassination of Grigori Rasputin==
Early November 1916, Felix Yusupov approached the lawyer [[Vasily Maklakov]] for advice.<ref>M. Nelipa, pp. 112–115.</ref> Yusopov then asked Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, a [[Preobrazhensky Regiment]] officer recovering from war injuries, who was also a friend of his mother.<ref>M. Nelipa, pp. 130, 134.</ref> Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia|Dmitri]] welcomed Yusupov's suggestion as an indication that killing Rasputin would not be a demonstration against the [Romanov] dynasty.<ref>B. Pares (1939), p. 402.</ref> On 20 November, Felix visited [[Vladimir Purishkevich]], who had delivered an angry anti-Rasputin speech in the Duma on the day before, and who quickly agreed to participate in the assassination.<ref>D. Smith (2016) Rasputin, pp. 569–572</ref>

[[File:Spb 06-2012 Moika various 03.jpg|thumb|left|[[Moika Palace|Yusupov's Palace]] in Saint Petersburg by [[Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe]], bought in 1830 by [[Boris Yusupov]]]]
[[File:GUFizecheskojKulturyLesgafta 29672.jpg|thumb|left|When the Yusupov Palace was renovated at the end of 1916, Felix lived in the palace of [[Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna]] on Moika 106.]]
On the night of 29/30 December ([[New Style|NS]]) 1916, Felix, Dmitri, Vladimir Purishkevich, assistant Stanislas de Lazovert, and Sukhotin killed Rasputin in the Moika Palace under the pretense of a [[housewarming party]]. A major reconstruction of the palace had almost been finished, with a small room in the basement carefully furnished. Perhaps some women were invited but Yusupov did not mention their names; Radzinsky suggested Dimitri's step-sister [[Marianne Pistohlkors]] and film star [[Vera Karalli]].<ref>E. Radzinsky (2000) The Rasputin File. Doubleday, pp. 476–477</ref> Smith came up with [[Princess Olga Paley]] and Anna von Drenteln.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npKqDAAAQBAJ&q=Anna+von+Drenteln&pg=PA17|title=Rasputin: The Biography|first=Douglas|last=Smith|date=2016|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=978-1447245865|via=Google Books}}</ref><!--Both Yusupov and Purishkevich later denied any women were invited.--> Somewhere in the building were a [[major-domo]] and a [[valet]], waiting for orders.<ref>Maria Rasputin (1929), p. 129</ref>

According to both Yusupov and Purishkevich, a [[phonograph|gramophone]] in the study played interminably the [[Yankee Doodle]] when Rasputin came in.<ref>[[#Purishkevich|Purishkevich]], p. 97.</ref> Yusupov mentions in his unreliable memoirs, that he then offered Rasputin <!--, who kept his coat on--> tea and [[petit four]]s laced with a large amount of [[potassium cyanide]]. <!--Yusupov played his guitar and sang a few gypsy ballads at Rasputin's request, who was fond of [[gypsy style|gypsy music]].<ref>[[#Fuhrman|Fuhrmann]], pp. 209–210.</ref>--> According to the diplomat, [[Maurice Paléologue]]—who in later years rewrote his diary—they discussed spirituality and occultism;<ref>[[Maurice Paléologue]] (1925).[http://www.gwpda.org/memoir/FrAmbRus/pal3-05.htm Ch. V. "December 25, 1910 – January 8, 1917"] in ''An Ambassador's Memoirs''. Vol. III. George H. Doran Company, New York.</ref> the antique dealer [[Albert Stopford]] wrote that politics was the issue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/russiandiaryofen00newyrich|title=The Russian diary of an Englishman, Petrograd, 1915–1917|date=21 September 1919|publisher=New York, McBride|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> After an hour or so, Rasputin was fairly drunk. Still waiting for Rasputin to collapse, Yusupov became anxious that Rasputin might live until the morning, leaving the conspirators no time to conceal his body. Yusupov went upstairs <!--to consult the others, and determined to finish the job, he--> came back with a <!--Browning-->revolver.

Rasputin was hit at close range by a bullet that entered his left chest and penetrated the stomach and the liver. The wounds were serious, and Rasputin would have died in 10–20 min, but he succeeded in escaping outside. A second bullet from a distance with a firearm lodged into his spine after penetrating the right kidney.<ref>M. Nelipa, pp. 378, 386</ref> Rasputin fell into the snow-clad courtyard and his body was taken inside. It is not clear whether or not Yusupov beat Rasputin with a sort of [[dumbbell]]. It is also not clear if it was Purishkevich who shot him point-blank into the forehead.<ref>M. Nelipa, pp. 322–324</ref> A curious policeman on duty on the other side of the Moika had heard the shots, rang at the door, and was sent away. Half an hour later, another policeman arrived, and Purishkevich invited him into the palace. Purishkevich told him that he had shot Rasputin and asked him to keep it quiet for the sake of the tsar. The conspirators finally threw the corpse from [[Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge]] into an ice hole in the [[Little Nevka]].

On the empress's orders, a police investigation commenced and traces of blood were discovered on the steps to the back door of the Yusupov Palace. Prince Felix attempted to explain the blood with a story that one of his favorite dogs was shot accidentally by Grand Duke Dmitri. Yusupov and Dmitri were placed under house arrest in the [[Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace|Sergei Palace]]. (The upper levels of the palace were occupied by the British embassy and the [[Anglo-Russian Hospital]].<ref name="Nelipa">M. Nelipa, p. 108.</ref>)

Empress [[Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alexandra]] had refused to meet the two but said that they could explain what had happened in a letter to her. She [[Summary execution|wanted both shot immediately]], but she was persuaded to back off from the idea.<ref name="Nelipa"/> Without a trial,<ref>B. Almasov, p. 214; B. Pares, p. 146.</ref> the tsar ordered the Grand Duke Dmitri to [[active service]] on the [[Persian campaign (World War I)|Persian front]]; Purishkevich was already on his way to the [[Romanian campaign (1916)|Romanian Front]]. The last Tsar also sentenced Yusupov to [[house arrest]] upon his estate<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yusupov.org/rakitnoe.html|title=Род Князей Юсуповых, Дворцовый комплекс Юсуповых в Ракитном|work=yusupov.org|access-date=5 August 2015}}</ref> in [[Rakitnoye, Belgorod Oblast|Rakitnoye]].
Yusupov published several accounts of the night and the events surrounding the murder. Recent historians have cast considerable doubt, however, upon Prince Yusupov's account (see [[Grigori Rasputin#Assassination|Grigori Rasputin]]).

According to Maklakov, Yusupov was not the mastermind.<ref>M. Nelipa, p. 115</ref> Fuhrmann thinks that Yusupov was the man who hatched the plot and who carried it out. "The clumsy way the assassination was carried out shows it was the work of an amateur."<ref>J.T. Fuhrmann, p. 221.</ref> Fuhrmann also thinks Yusupov's "...candid Memoirs were corroborated by the other conspirators."<ref>J.T. Fuhrmann, p. 201.</ref>