Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
Photo, c. 1914
Born18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1901
Peterhof Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died17 July 1918(1918-07-17) (aged 17)
Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Russian Soviet Republic
Burial17 July 1998
Names
Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova
HouseHolstein-Gottorp-Romanov
FatherNicholas II of Russia
MotherAlix of Hesse and by Rhine
ReligionRussian Orthodox
SignatureGrand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna's signature

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanizedAnastasiya Nikolaevna Romanova; 18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria (commonly known together as the OTMA sisters) and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.[1]

Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of communist rule. The abandoned mine serving as a mass grave near Yekaterinburg which held the acidified remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991. These remains were put to rest at Peter and Paul Fortress in 1998. The bodies of Alexei and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007. Her purported survival has been conclusively disproven. Scientific analysis including DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that Anastasia was killed alongside her family.[2][3]

Several women falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best known impostor was Anna Anderson. Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984; DNA testing in 1994 on pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no relation to the Romanov family.[4]

  1. ^ "Did Duchess Anastasia Survive Her Family's Execution?". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  2. ^ "DNA Confirms Remains Of Czar's Children". CBS News. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
  3. ^ Coble, Michael D.; Loreille, Odile M.; Wadhams, Mark J.; Edson, Suni M.; Maynard, Kerry; Meyer, Carna E.; Niederstätter, Harald; Berger, Cordula; Berger, Burkhard; Falsetti, Anthony B.; Gill, Peter; Parson, Walther; Finelli, Louis N.; Hofreiter, Michael (2009). "Mystery Solved: The Identification of the Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis". PLOS ONE. 4 (3): e4838. Bibcode:2009PLoSO...4.4838C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004838. PMC 2652717. PMID 19277206.
  4. ^ Massie (1995), pp. 194–229