Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova - 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. In the early 20s of the 20th century, numerous impostors began to appear in Europe and the USA, who declared themselves to be the surviving Grand Duchess. The most famous of them, Anna Anderson, was generally 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 escape, and Anastasia Romanova was still killed that night in 1918. This article will be devoted to the short, tragic and abruptly ended life of the Grand Duchess.
Birth of a princess
The public attention was riveted to the next, already fourth pregnancy of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The fact is that, according to the 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 a long-awaited son. Contemporaries recall that Alexandra Feodorovna at that time was 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 he althy. 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 pardoning students who participated in the unrest.
And although the relatives were disappointed with the birth of another daughter, Nikolai himself was glad that she was born strong and he althy.
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 and toys together, and the younger princess often wore clothes for the elders. The room in which they lived was also not luxurious. The walls were painted gray and decorated with icons and family photographs. Butterflies were painted on the ceiling. The princesses slept in folding folding beds.
The daily routine in childhood for all the sisters was almost the same. They got up early in the morning, took a cold bath, had breakfast. They spent their evenings embroidering or playing charades. Often at this time, the emperor would read aloud to them. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, Princess Anastasia Romanova especially lovedSunday children's balls at his aunt - Olga Alexandrovna. The girl loved to dance with the young officers.
From early childhood, Anastasia Nikolaevna was distinguished by poor he alth. She often suffered from pain in her feet, as she had overly crooked 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 played pranks. Because of her violent temper, her parents and sisters often called her a pod or "shvybzik". The last nickname came from her short stature and tendency to be overweight.
Contemporaries recall that the girl had 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. She was best friends with Maria, but she was close with her brother Alexei. She was often able to entertain him for hours when he lay in bed after an illness. Anastasia was a creative person, she constantly invented something. At her court, it became fashionable to braid hair with ribbons and flowers.
Anastasia Romanova, according to contemporaries, also hadthe talent of a comic actress, because she loved to parody her loved ones. However, she could sometimes be too blunt and her jokes hurtful. Her pranks weren't always harmless either. The girl was also not very neat, but she loved animals and was good at drawing and playing the guitar.
Education and upbringing
Due to a short life, the biography of Anastasia Romanova was not full of bright events. Like other daughters of Nicholas II, from the age of eight, the princess began to be educated at home. Specially hired teachers taught her French, English and German. But in the latter language, she could not speak. The princess was taught world and Russian history, geography, religious dogmas, natural sciences. The program included grammar and arithmetic - the girl especially did not like these subjects. She did not differ in perseverance, poorly absorbed the material, wrote with errors. Her teachers recalled that the girl was cunning, sometimes trying to bribe them with small gifts to get a higher grade.
Creative disciplines were much better than Anastasia Romanova. She always enjoyed attending drawing, music and dance classes. The Grand Duchess was fond of knitting and sewing. As she grew older, she took up photography in earnest. 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 talk on the phone for hours.
World War I
In 1914, Princess Anastasia Romanovaturned 13 years old. Together with her sisters, the girl cried for a long time when she learned about the declaration of war. A year later, according to tradition, Anastasia received patronage of the infantry regiment, which now bore her name.
After the declaration of war, the Empress organized a military hospital within the walls of the Alexander Palace. There, together with Princesses Olga and Tatyana, she regularly worked as sisters of mercy and took care of the wounded. Anastasia, along with Maria, were still too young to follow their example. Therefore, they were appointed patronesses of the hospital. The princesses donated their own funds to buy medicines, prepared dressings, knitted and sewed things for the wounded, wrote letters to their families and loved ones. 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 happily fulfilled their duties, being distracted from them only for the sake of lessons.
Anastasia Nikolaevna recalled her work in the hospital with warmth until the end of her life. In letters to her relatives from exile, she often mentioned wounded soldiers, hoping that they would later be able to recover. She had photographs taken in the hospital on her desk.
February Revolution
In February 1917, all the princesses became seriously ill with measles. At the same time, Anastasia Romanova was the last to fall ill. The daughter of Nicholas II did not know that riots were taking place in Petrograd. The Empress planned to hide the news of the flaring revolution from her children until the last. Whenarmed soldiers surrounded the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the princesses and the Tsarevich were told that military exercises were being held nearby.
Only on March 9, 1917, did the children learn about their father's abdication and house arrest. Anastasia Nikolaevna had not yet fully recovered from her illness and suffered from otitis media, so for a while she completely lost her hearing. So her sister Maria wrote down the incident on paper especially for her.
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 her free time to studying. Her father taught her and her younger brother geography and history, and her mother taught religious dogmas. The remaining disciplines were taken over by the retinue loyal to the king. They taught French and English, arithmetic, music.
The public of Petrograd had an extremely negative attitude towards the former monarch and his family. Newspapers and magazines harshly criticized the way of life of the Romanovs, published offensive cartoons. A crowd of visitors from Petrograd often gathered at the Alexander Palace, who gathered at the gates, shouted insulting curses and booed the 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 cut the funding of the palace every month. Secondly, because of newspapers that regularly published detailed menus of former monarchs.
In June 1917, Anastasia and her sisters were completely shaved baldly, because after a serious illness and taking a large number of drugs, their hair began to fall out badly. In the summer, the Provisional Government did not prevent the royal family from leaving for Great Britain. However, the cousin of Nicholas II, George V, fearing unrest in the country, refused to receive 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, already on the ship "Rus" they were transported to Tobolsk. 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 the ship and only then, under escort, were transported to their new home.
The Grand Duchesses settled in the corner bedroom on the second floor on camp 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 rather monotonous. Until September, they were not allowed to leave the grounds of the house. Therefore, the sisters, together with their younger brother, looked at the passers-by with interest, and were engaged in training. Several times a day they could go for short walks outside. At this time, Anastasia loved to prepare firewood, and in the evenings she sewed a lot. The princess also took part in home performances.
BSeptember they were allowed to attend church on Sundays. The locals treated the former monarch and his family well; they were regularly brought fresh food from the monastery. Anastasia at the same time began to gain a lot of weight, but she hoped that over time, like her sister Maria, she would be able to return to her previous form. In April 1918, the Bolsheviks decided to move the royal family to Yekaterinburg. The emperor and his wife and daughter Maria were the first to go there. The other sisters were supposed to stay in the city with their brother.
The photo below shows Anastasia Romanova 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 guards of the house in Tobolsk towards its inhabitants was hostile. In April 1918, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova burned her diaries with her sisters, fearing searches. Only at the end of May did the government decide to send the remaining Romanovs to their parents in Yekaterinburg.
Survivors recalled that life in the house of the engineer Ipatiev, in which the royal family was accommodated, was rather monotonous. Princess Anastasia, along with her sisters, was engaged in everyday activities: sewing, playing cards, walking in the garden next to the house, and in the evenings reading church literature to her mother. At the same time, the girls were taught how to bake bread. In June 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last birthday, she was 17 years old. They were not allowed to celebrate it, so all family members in honor of thisplayed cards in the garden and went to bed at the usual time.
The shooting of the family in the Ipatiev house
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 guards. They were awakened in the middle of the night and ordered to urgently go down to the basement of the house because of the shooting that took place in the streets nearby. Chairs were brought into the room for the empress and the sick crown prince. Anastasia stood behind her mother. She took her dog Jimmy with her, who accompanied her during her exile.
It is believed that after the first shots, Anastasia and her sisters Tatyana and Maria were able to survive. The bullets failed to hit because of the jewels that were sewn into the corsets of the dresses. The Empress hoped that with their help they would, if possible, be able to buy their salvation. Witnesses to the murder said that it was Princess Anastasia who resisted the longest. They could only wound her, so after the guards 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 previously doused with sulfuric acid and thrown into the mines. For many years, the place of burial 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 to be the surviving Princess Anastasia Romanoff. Most of them failed to attract attention.
Most famousthe impostor, who introduced herself as Anastasia, was the Polish woman Anna Anderson, who showed up in Berlin in 1920. Initially, due to external 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 in her either Tatiana or Anastasia. However, the legal proceedings lasted until the death of Anna Anderson in 1984. Significant evidence was the curvature of the big toes, which both the impostor and the deceased Anastasia had. However, the exact origin of Anderson could not be determined until the remains of the royal family were discovered.
Discovery of the remains and their reburial
The story of Anastasia Romanova, unfortunately, did not get a happy continuation. In 1991, unknown remains were discovered in Ganina Yama, which allegedly belonged to members of the royal family. Initially, not all the bodies were found - one of the princesses and the crown prince were missing. Scientists came to the conclusion that they could not find Maria and Alexei. They were discovered only in 2007 near 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 not have been any survivors of the execution.
In 1981, the Russian Church Abroad officially canonized Princess Anastasia along with the rest of the dead membersfamilies. In Russia, their canonization took place only in 2000. Their remains after carrying out all the necessary research were reburied in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the site of the Ipatiev house, where the execution took place, the Church on Blood has now been built.
