Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova is the daughter of Nicholas II, who, along with the rest of the family, was shot in July 1918 in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg. At the beginning of the 1920s, numerous impostors began to appear in the countries of Europe and the USA, who declared themselves to be the surviving Grand Duchess. The most famous of them, Anna Anderson, was completely recognized as the youngest daughter by some surviving members of the imperial house. Litigation lasted several decades, but did not resolve the issue of its origin.
However, the discovery in the 90s of the remains of the executed royal family put an end to these proceedings. There was no salvation, and Anastasia Romanova was still killed that night of 1918. This article will be devoted to the short, tragic, and suddenly broken life of the Grand Duchess.
Princess's Birth
By the next, already the fourth pregnancy of the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna, public attention was riveted. The fact is that by law only a man could inherit the throne, and the wife of Nicholas II gave birth to three daughters in a row. Therefore, both the king and the queen counted on the appearance of the long-awaited son. Contemporaries recall that Alexandra Fyodorovna at this time was becoming increasingly immersed in mysticism, inviting people to the court who could help her give birth to an heir. However, on June 5, 1901, Anastasia Romanova was born. The daughter was born strong and healthy. She received her name in honor of the Montenegrin princess, who was a close friend of the queen. Other contemporaries claimed that the girl was named Anastasia in honor of the pardon of students who participated in the unrest.
And although relatives were disappointed with the birth of another daughter, Nikolai himself was glad that she was born strong and healthy.
Childhood
Parents did not spoil their daughters with luxury, instilling in them modesty and piety from early childhood. Anastasia Romanova was especially friendly with her older sister Maria, whose age difference was only 2 years. They shared a room, toys, and the younger princess often carried clothes for the elders. The room in which they lived was also not luxurious. The walls were painted gray and were decorated with icons and family photographs. Butterflies were painted on the ceiling. Princesses slept in camp beds.
The daily routine in childhood for all sisters was almost the same. They got up early in the morning, took a cold bath, had breakfast. They spent evenings embroidering or playing charades. Often at this time, the emperor read them aloud. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, Princess Anastasia Romanova was especially fond of Sunday's children's balls with her aunt Olga Alexandrovna. The girl loved dancing with young officers.
From early childhood, Anastasia Nikolaevna was notable for poor health. Often, she suffered from pain in her feet, as she had too big toes. The princess also had a rather weak back, but she flatly refused a firming massage. In addition, doctors believed that the girl inherited the hemophilia gene from her mother and was its carrier, since even after small cuts, her blood did not stop for a long time.
The character of the Grand Duchess
Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova from early childhood was significantly different in character from her older sisters. She was too active and agile, loved to play, constantly mischievous. Because of her exuberant disposition, parents and sisters often called her a small egg or “shvybzik”. The last nickname appeared due to her short stature and tendency to be overweight.
Contemporaries recall that the girl was distinguished by a cheerful character and very easily converged with other people. She had a high and deep voice, she loved to laugh out loud, often smiled. Most of all she was friends with Maria, but she was close with her brother Alexei. She could often entertain him for hours when he lay in bed after an illness. Anastasia was a creative person, she constantly invented something. With her filing at the court, it became fashionable to braid ribbons and flowers into her hair.
Anastasia Romanova, according to contemporaries, also possessed the talent of a comic actress, because she loved to parody her loved ones. However, sometimes she could be too harsh, and her jokes - offensive. Her pranks were not always harmless either. The girl was also not very neat, but she loved animals and drew well, played the guitar.
Training and education
Due to her short life, the biography of Anastasia Romanova was not saturated with bright events. Like the other daughters of Nicholas II, from the age of eight the princess began to take home schooling. Specially hired teachers taught her French, English and German. But in the last language, she could not speak. The princess was taught world and Russian history, geography, religious dogmas, and natural sciences. The program included grammar and arithmetic - the girl especially did not like these subjects. She was not distinguished by perseverance, poorly absorbed material, wrote with errors. Her teachers remembered that the girl was cunning, sometimes she tried to bribe them with small gifts in order to get a higher mark.
Much better than Anastasia Romanova were given creative disciplines. She always enjoyed drawing classes, music and dancing. The Grand Duchess was fond of knitting and sewing. Having matured, she seriously took up photographing. She even had her own album, in which she kept her work. Contemporaries recalled that Anastasia Nikolaevna also loved to read a lot and could spend hours talking on the phone.
World War I
In 1914, Princess Anastasia Romanova turned 13 years old. Together with her sisters, the girl cried for a long time after learning about the declaration of war. A year later, according to tradition, Anastasia received patronage over the infantry regiment, which now bore her name.
After the declaration of war, the empress organized a military hospital in the walls of the Alexander Palace. There she, along with Princesses Olga and Tatyana, regularly worked as sisters of mercy, took care of the wounded. Anastasia and Maria were still too young to follow suit. Therefore, they were appointed patronesses of the hospital. The princesses donated their own funds for the purchase of medicines, prepared dressings, knitted and sewed things to the wounded, wrote letters to their families and relatives. Often the younger sisters simply entertained the soldiers. In her diaries, Anastasia Nikolaevna noted that she taught the military to read and write. Together with Maria, they often gave concerts in the hospital. The sisters with pleasure fulfilled their duties, distracting from them only for the sake of lessons.
Anastasia Nikolaevna, with the end of her life, warmly recalled working in a hospital. In letters to her relatives from exile, she often mentioned wounded soldiers, hoping that later they could recover. On her desk were photographs taken at the hospital.
February revolution
In February 1917, all the princesses became seriously ill with measles. At the same time, Anastasia Romanova came down last. The daughter of Nicholas II did not know that riots were taking place in Petrograd. The empress planned until the last to hide from her children the news of the flaring revolution. When armed soldiers surrounded the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the princesses and the prince were told that military exercises were being held nearby.
Only on March 9, 1917 did the children learn about the abdication of their father and house arrest. Anastasia Nikolaevna has not yet had time to fully recover from the disease and suffered from otitis media, so for a while she completely lost her hearing. Therefore, her sister Maria specifically for her described in detail what happened on paper.
House arrest in Tsarskoye Selo
Judging by the memoirs of a contemporary, house arrest did not greatly change the measured life of members of the royal family, including Anastasia Romanova. The daughter of Nicholas II continued to devote all his free time to studying. Her father taught her and her younger brother geography and history, and his mother taught religious dogmas. The rest of the disciplines were undertaken by the retinue loyal to the king. They taught French and English, arithmetic, music.
The public of Petrograd was extremely negative towards the former monarch and his family. Newspapers and magazines harshly criticized the way of life of the Romanovs and published insulting cartoons. At the Alexander Palace, a crowd of visitors from Petrograd often gathered, who gathered at the gate, shouting insulting curses and booing princesses walking in the park. In order not to provoke them, it was decided to reduce the time of walks. I also had to give up many dishes on the menu. Firstly, because the government has cut back on the financing of the palace every month. Secondly, because of the newspapers that regularly published a detailed menu of former monarchs.
In June 1917, Anastasia and her sisters were completely shaved bald, because after a serious illness and taking a large number of drugs, their hair began to fall out severely. In the summer, the Provisional Government did not prevent the imperial family from leaving for Great Britain. However, the cousin of Nicholas II, George V, fearing unrest in the country, refused to accept his relative. Therefore, in August 1917, the government decided to send the family of the former tsar into exile in Tobolsk.
Link to Tobolsk
In August 1917, the royal family, in the strictest secrecy, was sent by train, first to Tyumen. From there, they were transported to Tobolsk already on the steamboat Rus. They were supposed to be settled in the former governor's house, but they did not have time to prepare it before their arrival. Therefore, for almost a week, all family members lived on a steamboat, and only then were transported under escort to their new home.
The Grand Duchesses settled in the corner bedroom on the second floor on the camping beds that they brought with them from Tsarskoye Selo. It is known that Anastasia Nikolaevna decorated her part of the room with photographs and her own drawings. Life in Tobolsk was pretty monotonous. Until September, they were not allowed to leave the territory of the house. Therefore, the sisters, along with their younger brother, looked at passers-by with interest, engaged in training. Several times a day they could go out for short walks. At this time, Anastasia loved to make firewood, and in the evenings she sewed a lot. The princess took part in home performances.
In September, they were allowed to attend church on Sundays. Locals treated the former monarch and his family well, they regularly brought fresh food from the monastery. Anastasia at the same time began to gain much weight, but she hoped that over time, like her sister Maria, she could return to her previous form. In April 1918, the Bolsheviks decided to move the imperial family to Yekaterinburg. The emperor was the first to go there with his wife and daughter Maria. Other sisters, along with his brother, were supposed to stay in the city.
In the photo below - Anastasia Romanova, together with her father and older sisters Olga and Tatyana in Tobolsk.
Relocation to Yekaterinburg and the last months of life
It is known that the attitude of the house guard in Tobolsk towards its residents was hostile. In April 1918, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, along with her sisters, burned her diaries for fear of searches. Only at the end of May the government decided to send the remaining Romanovs to their parents in Yekaterinburg.
The survivors recalled that life in the house of engineer Ipatiev, in which the royal family was housed, was pretty monotonous. Princess Anastasia, together with her sisters, was engaged in everyday activities: she sewed, played cards, walked in the garden near the house, and in the evenings read church literature to her mother. At the same time, girls were taught to bake bread. In June 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last birthday, she turned 17 years old. They were not allowed to celebrate it, so all family members played cards in the garden in honor of this and went to bed at normal times.
The shooting of the family in the house of Ipatiev
Like other members of the Romanov family, Anastasia was shot on the night of July 17, 1918. It is believed that until the last she did not suspect the intentions of the guard. They were woken up in the middle of the night and ordered to urgently go down to the basement of the house because of the shooting in the streets nearby. In the room were brought chairs for the empress and the sick prince. Anastasia stood behind her mother. With her, she took her dog Jimmy, who accompanied her during the exile.
It is believed that after the first shots Anastasia and her sisters Tatyana and Maria were able to survive. The bullets could not hurt because of the jewels that were sewn into the corsets of the dresses. The empress hoped that with their help they would be able to redeem their salvation if possible. Witnesses to the murder said that it was Princess Anastasia who resisted the longest. They could only injure her, so after the guard had to finish off the girl with bayonets.
The bodies of members of the royal family were wrapped in sheets and taken out of town. There they were first doused with sulfuric acid and dumped in the mines. For many years, the burial place remained unknown.
The appearance of the false Anastasius
Almost immediately after the death of the royal family, rumors began to appear about their salvation. Over the course of several decades of the 20th century, more than 30 women declared themselves the surviving Princess Anastasia Romanova. Most of them failed to attract attention.
The most famous impostor, who appeared to be Anastasia, was Polish Anne Anderson, who appeared in Berlin in 1920. Initially, due to the outward resemblance, she was mistaken for the surviving Tatyana. To establish the fact of kinship with the Romanovs, she was visited by many courtiers who were well acquainted with the royal family. However, they did not recognize either Tatyana or Anastasia. However, the trial lasted until the death of Anna Anderson in 1984. Significant evidence was the curvature of the big toes, which was the impostor, and the deceased Anastasia. However, Anderson could not accurately determine the origin until the remains of the royal family were discovered.
Discovery of the remains and their reburial
The story of Anastasia Romanova, unfortunately, did not receive a happy continuation. In 1991, unknown remains were discovered in the Ganina pit, which supposedly belonged to members of the royal family. Initially, not all the bodies were found - one of the princes and the crown prince was absent. Scientists came to the conclusion that they could not find Maria and Alexei. They were found only in 2007, not far from the burial place of the remaining relatives. This find put an end to the story of numerous impostors.
Several independent genetic examinations determined that the remains found belonged to the emperor, his wife and children. Thus, they were able to conclude that there could be no survivors after the execution.
In 1981, the Russian Church Abroad officially ranked Princess Anastasia as a saint along with the rest of the dead family members. In Russia, their canonization took place only in 2000. After all the necessary research, their remains were reburied in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In place of Ipatiev’s house, where the shooting took place, the Temple on Blood has now been built.