The Romanov Family: The Truth Behind Anastasia Romanov’s Identity

After a few years passed, the specifics of that fatal night became murkier, and the public began to question whether or not Anastasia had perished with her family. When a woman surfaced claiming to be the long-lost daughter of the Romanovs, things got even more complex. Finally, a century after the crime was committed, the case was officially solved. In the pages beyond, you will discover the truth about the Romanov family and what happened to them on that fateful night in 1918.

A succession of wars and reforms carried out by members of the House of Romanov helped to establish Russia as a significant world power over the course of nearly three centuries. The last dynasty of the Romanovs is where our story begins.

Both the Tsar and Tsarina were from royal families in Europe. Nicholas was the son of Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna. Alexandra was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

They slept on rough cots with no pillows, had daily cold baths, and were never addressed by their regal titles. Olga and Tatiana, the older sisters, were dubbed the “Big Pair” and slept in the same room as each other, while Maria and Anastasia, the younger sisters, were dubbed “The Little Pair.” The initials “OTMA” were a common moniker for the four sisters.

However, Anastasia proved to be a remarkable child who stood out from the rest of her siblings in many ways. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was an adorably plump little child. Many people said she resembled her mother more than her father in appearance.

Princess Nina Georgievna, a distant relative, described Anastasia as “nasty to the point of being evil.” According to one of her family friends, “she probably held the record for penalized acts in her family since she was a prodigy in naughtiness.”

Protests erupted in Petrograd (today’s Saint Petersburg) on February 23, 1917, in response to food rationing and overall dissatisfaction with the monarchy, prompting the Tsar to abdicate from the throne shortly afterward.

In October, the Bolsheviks’ Red Army officially took control of the government, sparking the October Revolution. This time, the Romanovs were sent to the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains of Russia. Tatiana’s chamber was thoroughly trashed and looted during the Russian Revolution, as shown in this photograph.

As time passed, the Romanovs were increasingly despondent about their predicament. Though they were living in a mansion, they hated being cooped up inside. Sadly, things were only going to get worse from that point on.

The White Army, which was larger and better-equipped than the Bolsheviks’ Red Army, was almost certain to beat them. This would allow the Romanovs to be liberated and potentially return to power. As a result, they made the decision to do the unthinkable.

After a few moments, Yurovsky entered the chamber and told the Tsar that he and his family were about to meet their demise by gunfire. Within 20 minutes, the entire family had perished… or so everyone believed.

The populace began to doubt whether the Bolsheviks had spared any lives that night. However, no remains had been found yet, so it appeared plausible that someone had managed to make it out alive. They had no idea that the truth would take a century to emerge! The terrible scene in the Ipatiev House is depicted in this image.

Everyone knew that Anastasia was the heiress to the opulent Romanov wealth, which explains why so many women wanted to be her. The majority of these claims were immediately found to be untrue, but one woman, who became known as “Anna Anderson,” turned the case on its head completely.

A fellow patient at the hospital, a woman named Clara Peuthert, felt that Ms. Unknown could be one of the long-lost Romanov daughters. She speculated that it may have been Tatiana, who had been reported missing. So, Clara went out to discover the identity of Ms. Unknown as soon as she was released from the hospital.

However, Ms. Unknown hardly spoke to any of the guests and never confirmed or denied her identity. Visitors quickly realized that she resembled Tatiana Romanov so well that they couldn’t believe she wasn’t the real deal. Olga and Tatiana are shown in this photograph.

As soon as the Baroness laid eyes on Ms. Unknown, she saw that while she resembled Tatiana, she was significantly shorter. “I never said I was Tatiana,” remarked Ms. Unknown, who had rarely talked to any of the guests presented to her up until that point.

He handed Ms. Unknown a list of the Romanov girls’ names, and she began to cross off every name on the list except for Anastasia’s. From that point on, Ms. Unknown was referred to as “Anna Anderson.”

She visited with House of Romanov’s extended relatives and mentioned facts that only the genuine Anastasia could have known. There was also a significant similarity in their physical appearance. However, the mystery was still unsolved.

She also met with the Romanovs’ long-time acquaintance Zina Tolstoi. When Zina started playing a song on the piano that she had once played for the Romanov kids, Anna slumped on the couch in tears, and they grieved together. Could it be that recalling her early memories was too difficult for her? Or was it all a sham? After all, Anastasia was infamous for her childish pranks.

Anna got up from the table and walked away, apparently enraged. Irene followed her, wondering whether she knew her, but ultimately decided Anna was not Anastasia. Anna later claimed she stormed out because her own aunt had tried to prove she was a fraud. Alexandra Feodorovna and Princess Irene are shown in the photograph above.

Because of this, he sought the counsel of a New York City attorney, Edward Fallows. In order to have access to the Romanov family’s riches, she would need official recognition as Anastasia Romanov. The case would go on to be the longest in German history.

Psychological tests were also conducted on Anna, and she was apparently deemed to be free of any mental health issues. “It seems impossible that her knowledge of numerous small details is based on anything but her own personal experience,” remarked another doctor, Dr. Lothar Nobel.

However, Anna and her supporters said that she had a persistent mental disorder that caused her memory to fail at times, countering that claim. Nevertheless, there was still a lot on the line, including the Romanov family wealth, so the battle went on.

According to the investigator, Anna was actually Franziska, a Polish factory worker who had a history of mental illness and went missing in 1920. By this time, the case had garnered widespread attention, inspiring a French play and a film titled Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman.

Anna Anderson died of pneumonia in 1984 after having stuck to her claim of being the actual Anastasia Romanov throughout her life. In the end, the Duchess of Mecklenburg received the Romanov family’s riches.

The bones of the lost royal family were discovered, which was both terrifying and magnificent. Alexei and one of the young girls, however, remained unaccounted for. Could this indicate they had survived after all? Before they could discover more, Avdonin and his crew had to return the bones to their burial site because they feared the Soviet government’s reaction.

The message stated that after the incident, the remains were concealed in a bonfire and then buried in a woodland mine. However, the mine turned out to be too shallow for the entire family, so they moved the bodies of Alexei and one of the family’s young daughters to a different spot nearby. The mystery was finally coming together!

For this purpose, they compared their DNA to that of British nobility at the time, including Prince Philip, the grand-nephew of Tsarina Alexandra. But it wasn’t until 2007 that a forensics enthusiast named Sergei Plotnikov discovered the bones of the two lost children. He revealed to The Guardian, “it was evident that they didn’t die peacefully.”

Finally, they found that she was not linked to the Romanovs in any way. For the first time, researchers confirmed Anna Anderson’s identity after all these years by comparing her DNA to that of Karl Maucher, a grand-nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska.

In 2000, the remains of the Romanov family were canonized, making them sacred relics. Sadly, politics and conspiracy theories have profoundly influenced the Church’s stance, making it difficult to predict if the entire family will ever be buried in the church.

Perhaps we will never know which of Alexei’s three daughters was buried with him at a separate site, far removed from the rest of his family. However, further investigation into the family members continues to this day. What we do know is that on that tragic night in 1918, the lives of the whole Romanov family and their servants were mercilessly taken, and no one survived.