Saint Petersburg : 16th trip of the Club des Leaders

In the footsteps of the Czars : from Peter the Great To Nicolas II

 Our five-day trip to Saint Petersburg was a huge success : forty two members of the Club accompanied by the famous historian Cyrille Boulay were able to discover the splendors  of the Imperial capital. According to all our participants it was a unique and unforgettable programme . Our Club might well be one of the very few to offer its members such benefits.

His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke of George Mikhaïlovitch of Russia, son of the head of the Russian Imperial family, was our unofficial guide throughout the trip and Mrs Rebecca Bettarini, head of the Russian Imperial Foundation, was also part of our group.

We arrived by night at Catherine the Great’s Tsarkoi selo Palace to the sound of the Imperial orchestra and followed the Grand Duke up the main avenue to the Palace. It was an incredibly moving occasion as we all remembered that The Palace had been the Imperial family’s last home.

We enjoyed a  tour of the Hermitage and of Peterhof, both palaces having been privatized for the Club. An exclusive visit to Rasputin’s apartment was followed by dinner at the Youssoupoff Palace and a ballet performance in the private theater of Prince Felix Youssoupoff. During our gala dinner at the Vladimir Palace we managed to raise sfr 70’000 for various charities supported by the Imperial Foundation