Evening star., 1922-01-22

~ CSSIA may, many say Will,
- have a new car some day.
i'm Who will he be?
= y, The ultimate answer to that
question may prove startling. There
10 . possibility. have discovered. that
the successor to Nicholas II on the
throne Of Russia may DO no other
than the Monte-Cristo-like young
aristocrat who is already world-re-
nowned as the reputed slayer Of the
monk Rasputin. who frequently has
been lauded in the press as the also
reputed saviour and chosen guardian
Of the Russian refugees Of the old
! regime in. England and throughout
! Europe, and who recently jumped
into the limelight again as the vend-
cr Of two historic Rembrandts that
| were bought by Joseph +. Widener,
the American art collector.
That he may be. in fact, no other
| than Prince Felix Youssoupoff. the
most mysterious. most picturesque
and, one may add. fncomparably the
best advertised, Of all the members
Of Russia's aristocracy living today.
Prince Youssoupon means to be
Eus:ia's next czar. So do three Rus
| sian grand dukes. The latter are the
Grand Duke Cyril. the Grand Duke
Nicholas and the Grand Duke Dmitri.
All of them,. Cyril particularly. have
J better claims to the sue
cession than Prince Youssoupofr. But
while they are content with a policy
of watchful waiting. he Is campaign
ing tirelessly and skillfully, with the
one end and aim of making himself
the man Of destiny In the eyes Of all
Russian monarchists, against the day
reparable smash, the chance for a
re storration Of the monarchy may
arrive.
A Nd he is some" campaigner! A
mild sensation was caused In
Paris recently by the production Of a
big new movie drama which purports
to relate the true story o. the killing
Of Rasputin and the events that led
|! up to it. OF this film Prince Yous-
soupoH is the hero. From beginning
to end it glorifies him, depicting him
as the would be saviour Of his coun-
try and the principal friend in Russia
Of the allies. But not. one hastens to
add, as the slayer Of Rasputin. a dis
tinction that never rightfully belong
ed to Youssoupoff and that, for rea-
sons to be explained. has become
highly inconvenient to him now that
he has both eyes fixed on the car
dom.
The prince had this film made at
cost, 1 am told, Of s175.000.~ He
had to run in debt to that amount to
do it. but as he had previously bor
rowed something like s25o.000. partly
to enable him to live and partly to
finance various other forms of propa-
ganda. . bit more on the wrong side
Of the ledger didn't matter much.
And the prince didn't worry. for. al
though he has had to sell the bulk
Of his splendid jewels, he still has.I
some Of them left, including one OF
the finest black pearl necklaces in
the world. And. besides. he was pretty
sure that he at last had found. in Mr..
Widener, a customer for the two ia
nous Rembrandts that he has been
trying to dispose OF for so long. and
Of getting enough for them to pay
his debts and leave something over.
And he did. He got 100000 for
the two masterpieces Of the Dutch
artist from the American millionaire
and art collector. who desired to add
these two splendid portraits to the
ten examples Of Rembrandts art that !
already form part of his great coll
lection at Elkins Park, near Phtla-
delphia.
The price paid for these two por-
traits was erroneously reported in
Paris as $1.5o0,0o0 ard In London as
$1,250,0o0, and the pleasing state
ment was made in the press of both
capitals that the money thus OBJ
tained by the prince was destined
to relieve the poverty Of the Russian
refugees throughout Europe" 1t is
in this role Of a benefactor whose
muniicence alone has enabled thou
sands Of his impoverished country
men to keep body and soul together
that Youssoupon has all along been
depicted to an admiring world. The
legend has run, and has been repeated
here recently. that the prince saved
some Of the finest OF the Russian
crown Jewels from the wreck OF the
revolution, and that 1t Is by disposing
Of these, in addition to his o~, gems.
that he has been able to come to the
rescue again and again OF his necessl-
tous fellow aristocrats.
WHAT is the real truth about this
w mystery man whom legend has
surrounded with an atmosphere sug-
Eestive Of the Arabian Nights: What
is the real story. among the many
conflicting ones. Of the doing to death
Of Rasputin. well known to have met
his richly merited fate in the once
splendid palace Of tho Youssoupoffs
| in Petrograd? And what are the ac-
! tual facts regarding the sale to Mr..
widener Of the two wonderful Rem
brandts, known respectively as "A
gentleman with high hat and
gloves in his hand" and "A lady with
an ostrich feather fan in her right
hand?
am able to answer these Ques-
tions, thanks to an interview have
lust had with q personal friend OF
the prince. = titled Russian VINO ID
at the very heart Of the royalist
movement. Youssoupoff himself, IT.
appears, is now In Cannes and 10 not
likely to bs in London for some time
to come, 80 my original hope Of get
ting q talk with him through our
mutual acquaintance was not des-
tined to be realised. From personal
knowledge, however. his friend, who
na 80 x,,&ah his name mentioned,