three sovereigns. During the reign of Empress Elizabeth he was appointed head of the Imperial Schools. In 1756, he encouraged the Empress to form the first Public Theatre in St. Petersburg. He married Irina Mikhailovna Zinovyeva (1718 – 25 March 1788), daughter of Steward Mikhail Petrovich Zinoviev, in 1734. Besides their only male child, the youngest, she also gave birth to four daughters: Yevdokiya Borisovna Yusupova 5 May (NS: 16 May) 1743, Moscow – 19 July (NS: 8 July) 1780, Saint Petersburg), married on 6 March 1774, Mitava (Mittau) (divorced in 1777 or 1778), as his second wife, to Peter von Biron, the last Duke of Kurland (1769–1795) and the first Duke of Sagan (1786–1795) (15 February 1724, Mitava (Mittau) – 13 January 1800, Schloss Gellenau), without offspring Alexandra Borisovna Yusupova (1744–1791), married to Senator Ivan Mikhailovich Izmailov (30 January 1724 – 10 November 1787) Elisaveta Borisovna Yusupova (27 April 1745 – 29 August 1770), married on 13 February 1764 to General-Major Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Galitzine (15 August 1729 – 23 February 1770), with large offspring Anna Borisovna Yusupova (1749–1772), married in 1771 to Alexander Yakovlevich Protasov (1742 – 27 April 1799), Chamberlain, Senator, Tutor of Alexander I Boris's eldest son, Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (1751–1831), Senator, Minister of State Properties and Director of the Imperial Theatres, was a keen traveller who spoke five languages and was also a patron of the arts. Nicholas served under a series of sovereigns, including Catherine the Great, Paul I and Alexander I as a private councillor and diplomat. As a diplomat, Nikolai travelled throughout Europe, to France and Versailles, where he met Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, to Germany and Prussia, where he met Frederick the Great, to Austria, where he met Emperor Joseph II, and to Italy. During his journey he purchased a large collection of art for the tsar and was later appointed director of the Hermitage and the Kremlin Armoury. In 1804, Nicholas went to Paris and frequently met Napoleon I, who presented him with a gift of three large tapestries. In 1793 Nikolai married Tatiana Vasilievna von Engelhardt (1 January 1769 – 23 May 1841), one of Prince Potemkin's nieces. The couple lived together in Arkhangelskoye Estate, their luxurious summer residence in Moscow. Nicholas built his own porcelain factory there, with much of the workers coming from France. In 1831 Nicholas died at the age of 80 and was