Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

Royalty

• Born: June 18, 1901
• Place of Birth: Petrodvorets, Russia
• Died: July 16, 1918
• Place of Death: Yekaterinburg, Russia

Significance: Grand Duchess Anastasia was the youngest daughter of the last of the imperial Romanov rulers of Russia. In July of 1918, when she was just seventeen, Anastasia and her family were assassinated by revolutionaries. After her death, rumors persisted that Anastasia had survived. These rumors inspired dozens of books, movies, and even a musical.

Background

Anastasia was born on June 18, 1901, to Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, a German princess. The couple had four daughters: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, the youngest. The family lived in a society in which males inherited power, so having only daughters caused the parents stress. Nicholas and Alexandra finally had a son, named Alexei, after Anastasia was born. However, Alexei was born with hemophilia, a condition in which blood does not clot properly. Because of this, it was uncertain if the young royal would live to adulthood.

Due to her brother's condition and shifting feelings regarding Romanov rule, the family remained out of the public eye for much of Anastasia's life. Anastasia was smart, but she was not a great student for her Swiss tutor. Instead, she enjoyed playing practical jokes, climbing trees, and mimicking other people in family plays. Anastasia was even an amateur photographer. In 2013, a picture she had taken of herself in a mirror in 1913 surfaced.

While life was mostly peaceful during her early childhood, circumstances changed drastically during World War I (1914–1918). Czar Nicholas was growing increasingly unpopular with the Russian public. Revolution loomed on the horizon. By 1917, Russian soldiers had started a mutiny, which forced Nicholas to promise he would abdicate. Following this, Anastasia and her family were imprisoned in the Ural Mountains.

Soon, Russian revolutionaries, led by Vladmir Lenin, had started a civil war. They were intent on replacing the imperial rule of the Romanov empire with a Communist government. On the night of July 16, 1918, Anastasia, her parents, her siblings, and several servants were led to the basement. While the guards assured them they would be safer there, they had walked into a trap. The guards executed the family, and the Romanov line ended that night.

A Grand Mystery

Although many people assumed that all the Romanovs had died, no one knew where they were buried. Perhaps because of this, rumors began to swirl. Some claimed that one of the daughters had escaped the massacre, while others claimed that a daughter and the son had made it out alive. Still, there was no proof to back up these claims.

Two years after Anastasia's death, a young woman tried to kill herself in Berlin, Germany. She was taken to a mental institution, where she did not speak for six months. When she did, she spoke with a Russian accent. One of the other patients commented on how much the woman looked like Tatiana, one of the older Romanov daughters. Soon, investigators were attempting to uncover the woman's identity. She claimed to be Anastasia but now went by the name Anna Anderson.

Anderson had her share of supporters, but members of the Romanov family and Anastasia's tutor believed she was an imposter. Some investigators even claim she was a missing factory worker from Poland named Fraziska Schanzkowska. Still, Anderson held firm in her claim to be the grand duchess. Anderson moved around often, staying at the homes of royal and wealthy supporters. Eventually, her case went to court. Her court battle to prove she was Anastasia and the heir to the Romanov fortune lasted for more than three decades. In 1970, a German court ruled that Anderson had not proven she was Anastasia, but the other side had not proven she was not, either. Anderson eventually moved to the United States, married, and died in 1984.

Mystery Solved?

Other women eventually came forward claiming to be Anastasia or one of her sisters. Several men also claimed to be Alexei. In 1991, the mystery surrounding the Romanovs only seemed to deepen when DNA evidence from a grave discovered in the 1970s proved that the buried bodies included those of Nicholas, his wife, and three of their daughters. However, the bodies of one Romanov daughter and the son were still missing. Finally, in 2007, the bodies of another young female and a young boy were found near the original gravesite. Experts believe that Anastasia was in the original grave, and this grave contained the remains of Alexei and his sister Maria. Additionally, DNA evidence from Anderson did not seem to match that of the Romanov line.

Still, some people refused to accept this as the end to the story. In 2014, respected Russian historian Veniamin Alekseyev continued to argue that Anastasia most likely lived and was in fact Anna Anderson, who died in America in the 1980s. In his book, he claimed there was evidence from the Russian State Archive and other sources that proved that Anderson had probably been the grand duchess after all.

However, continued DNA analysis conclusively proved in 2018 that the remains found in the gravesite discovered in 2007 were members of the Romanov royal family. This meant that Anastasia was killed in 1918 along with her entire family.

Impact

Although she lived a brief life, Grand Duchess Anastasia captured the imaginations of people from across the globe for years after her death. The story of her tragic life and the mystery surrounding her possible escape from death inspired several films, including the 1956 movie Anastasia starring Ingrid Berman in the title role. A 1997 animated film, also called Anastasia, featured the voices of actors Meg Ryan and John Cusack. That cartoon inspired a stage musical that debuted on Broadway in the fall of 2017. There have also been countless books, both fiction and nonfiction, written about Anastasia and the rumors surrounding her life and death.

Personal Life

Anastasia never married or attended a formal school. She spent much of her time at her family's various residences. It is said that she loved animals. Anastasia carried her dog, Jimmy, down to the basement with her on the night she and her family were assassinated.

Bibliography

Bilyeau, Nancy. "Will the Real Anastasia Romanov Please Stand Up?" Town and Country, 25 Apr. 2017, www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a9247552/princess-anastasia-romanov-true-story/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

"Faking It—Anna Anderson." Time, content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1900621‗1900618‗1900620,00.html. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Garber, Megan. "1913: Duchess Anastasia Takes a Selfie." Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/1913-duchess-anastasia-takes-a-selfie/281853/. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Lucchesi, Emilie Le Beau. “How Scientists Identified the Remains of the Romanovs." Discover, 15 Apr. 2022, www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-scientists-identified-the-remains-of-the-romanovs. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Rappaport, Helen. The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra. St. Martin's Press, 2014.

"Russian Mystery Is Finally Unraveled." ABC News, 26 Nov. 2007, abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3913339&page=1. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.