The Life of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia ~ (1901-1918)

From The Romanian Monarchist

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanised: Anastasiya 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. Persistent rumours 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. 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.