28 January/10 February 1914

What a splendid wedding! Irina was a beautiful bride, and everybody was talking about her lace veil, which once belonged to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. Papa gave her in marriage – he’s probably practising for the four of us.

Irina’s husband is Felix Yussoupov, who Papa says is heir to the largest fortune in Russia. As a wedding gift Papa gave them a bag of diamonds, which seemed strange to me because Felix probably already has all the diamonds he wants.

To my surprise, my cousins behaved like perfect gentlemen. But we left soon after the ceremony, because Mama wasn’t feeling well. The boys may have been up to their usual tricks as soon as we were gone.