Felix (a common name for illegitimate children) was brought up by Elisabeth Khitrovo (ru), a famous salon-holder who was a daughter of Prince Kutuzov and the mother of Dorothea de Ficquelmont. It has been widely rumored that Felix Elston was the natural son of Khitrovo's eldest daughter, Countess Ekaterina Tiesenhausen (a lady-in-waiting to King Frederick William IV of Prussia's sister, Empress Alexandra of Russia) and Prince Augustus of Prussia.