In 2004, Belgorod commemorated the first governor Yuri Trubetskoy by naming a street after him. In 2012, a monument was erected at the intersection of Narodny Boulevard and Prince Trubetskoy Street, created by Olga Trofimenko, Maxim Khromov, and Anatoly Shishkov. The monument depicts the prince holding the coat of arms of the Belgorod province.

Trubetskoy came from an ancient noble family, tracing its origins to Dmitry Olgerdovich, the prince of Bryansk, Starodub, and Olchevsk, who participated in the Battle of Kulikovo and died in 1399.

Yuri Trubetskoy was born in 1668. His father, a Russian boyar and Kiev voivode Yuri Trubetskoy, was a native of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Having lost everything, he started life anew. In childhood, Yuri lost his ancestral lands, and his uncle took him to Russia. At 14, he converted to Orthodoxy, and at 17, he began serving as a chamberlain to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

After 13 years of service, the tsar granted him the rank of boyar. Trubetskoy married the sister of Prince Vasily Golitsyn and held the scepter at the coronation of Tsar Fyodor Alexeyevich. His sons also served the tsar, and he became a chamberlain to Fyodor Alexeyevich and Peter I, later becoming a military officer.

In 1700, Yuri Trubetskoy went to Prussia for diplomatic negotiations and to assist Peter I in the war against Sweden. He distinguished himself during the capture of Derbent and participated in the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the Trubetskoy Bastion is named in his honor.

In 1720, Trubetskoy became the president of the Magistrate, overseeing the distribution of the treasury, tax collection, police work, and courts.

In 1727, the Belgorod province was established, and Trubetskoy became its governor. He actively developed the economy by introducing crop rotation in agriculture, significantly increasing rye yields in the region.

In 1730, Yuri Trubetskoy approved the coat of arms of the Belgorod province, which is still used today: a blue shield with a yellow lion and a single-headed eagle. The province had 35 districts, including Kursk, Bryansk, and Oryol, now centers of the respective regions. After the ascension of Anna Ioannovna, Trubetskoy was recalled to Petersburg, where he became a senator and served for 9 years.

Yuri Trubetskoy passed away in 1739 and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, next to the relics of Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky.