Anastasia Romanov was the youngest Grand Duchess of Russia. She was born in Petrodvorets, Russia. She was fun, carefree, and would always play pranks on her family. Not quite the characteristics of a royal; but underneath her title, she was simply a seventeen-year-old girl. Sadly, this princess did not have a happy ending. Anastasia was brutally murdered, along with her entire family. There are theories that she escaped, given the fact that her body was not found until almost a hundred years after her murder. Even then, could that have really been her body? Or could she have escaped and lived her life to the fullest after the Romanov’s murder?
As a young child, Anastasia was vivacious and energetic, described as short and inclined to be chubby, with blue eyes, and strawberry blonde hair (Massie). Anastasia began her academic schooling as soon as her mother saw her fit of understanding. She taught Anastasia spelling and would read her poems. As Anastasia got older, her mother assigned her prestige tutors to teach her more advanced subjects. Her tutors taught her subjects such as the French and English language, history, geography, natural sciences, mathematics, grammar, art and even the Bible studies. Anastasia was not what you would call an eager learner; she particularly enjoyed climbing trees to not have to deal with her schooling. Anastasia did not enjoy science or math, numbers and figures confused her; languages and reading bored her (“History and Women”). Anastasia’s least favorite subject was grammar. She would often try to bribe her tutor to let her leave and avoid that particular class. Her ladies in waiting and tutors often described Anastasia as lively, mischievous, and a gifted actress (Vyrubova). She possessed a strong competitive spirit to the point where she would not hesitate to do anything to win, even if it meant cheating or harming an opponent. She would cheat at games while playing with her classmates, and would also play pranks on her tutors (“History and Women”). Anastasia had a charm about her and was loved by many, despite her childish mischiefs.
Although The Grand Duchess Anastasia was born into great wealth and privilege, she grew up pretty common to normal people in her day. She cleaned her own room, slept in a cot, took cold baths and even did needlework for charity. People in the household, even the servants, called Anastasia by her first name and not her title. Sometimes they called her by the French version of her name, "Anastasie", or by the Russian nicknames "Nastya", "Nastas", or "Nastenka". Other family nicknames for Anastasia were "Malenkaya," meaning "little one", or "shvibzik," the Russian word for "imp" (Kurth).
Anastasia was loved her family. She without a doubt enjoyed playing pranks on them. Anastasia sometimes went too far, but her family loved her nonetheless. She was close to her loved ones; particularly her father, her younger brother, and her sister Maria. Anastasia and her sister shared a bedroom together; the two were said to be inseparable. They were given the nickname “Little Pair” since Anastasia was the youngest of four girls and Maria was the youngest of the older three. Anastasia loved her younger brother Alexei. They would often be mischievous together; although they had to be careful for Alexei was a hemophiliac. He had a genetic disorder that prevented blood clotting properly and can mean that even relatively small cuts can be life-threatening (“Alexei Romanov”).
Anastasia and her dearly beloved family were murdered in a brutal way. Late at night on July 16, Anastasia, her siblings, parents, and four servants were ordered to dress quickly and go down to the cellar of the house in which they were being held. There, the family and servants were arranged in two rows for a photograph they were told was being taken to prove to Russia they had not disappeared. Sadly, it was all a horrible lie. They were brought down to the cellar to be massacred. While they were adjusting themselves for the photograph, a dozen armed men burst into the room and gunned down the royal family in a hail of gunfire. Those who were still breathing when the smoked cleared were stabbed to death (“Romanov Family Executed”). It is believed that the girls still had their nightgowns on in the time of the photograph. The nightgowns had many precious stones and jewels sowed onto them. So many in fact, that when they were shot, they did not die immediately; therefore, they had to be stabbed.
Afterward, acid was thrown on them to speed up the decomposition process. They were buried in a grave but weren’t found until the 1980’s. There is a conspiracy theory that The Grand Duchess Anastasia somehow escaped the execution. The legend persisted for nearly a century, inspiring numerous books and films. Over the years, dozens of women came forward, claiming to be the Romanov princess. The most believable supposed “princess” was Anna Anderson.
Anna Anderson was the most famous imposter of The Grand Duchess. She had many similarities to Anastasia. She was the same height, had the same hair color and eye color, and was also the same shoe size as the Grand Duchess. Anna Anderson even had the same foot deformation as Anastasia (bunions). She had scars on the same fingers that Anastasia had injured by slamming a door on hers. She also had the scar on her back where Anastasia had a mole removed. She knew inside family jokes and answered correctly to questions asked of her by The Tzar's brother. She knew many secrets that only the princess would know. Anna Anderson even knew passageways of the palace. (“Just stuff from a Baby Boomer”). She understood Russian but refused to speak the language of those who had murdered her entire family.
Anna Anderson was found as a suicidal young woman rescued from her distress. She was admitted to a mental hospital because of her vulnerable state. No one there knew her name nor where she came from. The staff at the hospital said she looked like the Grand Duchess but at the time no one knew for sure. Eventually, she spoke and had a strange accent. Although she did not speak of the past for some time she eventually described how she had escaped the massacre. She admitted that she had been stabbed, but said that the wound had not killed her because the sword was blunt. She claimed that a soldier named Tschaikovsky saw that she was still alive, took sympathy upon her and helped her escape. He took her to Romania where she stayed with him until he was killed in a fight. She gave birth to his son who she placed in an orphanage. She claimed that she had walked from Romania to Berlin to find her relatives. However, when she reached Berlin she thought that no one would recognize her and decided to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge (“Anna Anderson—Mystery of Anastasia”). With the accent and all the similarities, the theory began to expand within the asylum and the town. Soon enough, almost everyone believed she was the lost Princess.
Anna Anderson convinced many. She convinced many locals and even convinced a handful of important people. Those such as the Duke of Leuchtenberg, the Kaiser’s aging daughter-in-law Crown Princess Cecilia, the children of the doctor who had died alongside the royals in 1918, Anastasia’s childhood playmate who was now a wealthy American socialite called Xenia Leeds, the famous composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, the real Anastasia’s cousin Grand Duke Andrei, and, later, several prominent historians (Russel).
Anna Anderson was soon enough released from the mental hospital she was in, and ended up living with wealthy advocates, one after another, all over the world. In 1968 she married one of her supporters, John Manahan of Virginia, who was 20 years younger than her. She was in and out of asylums throughout the remainder of her life because she suffered from mental illnesses. She claimed to suffer from mental illnesses because she watched her entire family get murdered. She didn’t have any children, and on June 18, 1984, she died of pneumonia. Anna Anderson claimed to be the Grand Duchess until her last breath.
The story of Anastasia inspired many books, movies, and plays. The loveliest story of Anastasia is an animated movie named “Anastasia”.
In the movie, the family is having a royal ball. Then suddenly, an entire mob is coming into the palace to kill them all. Anastasia and her grandmother are led through a secret passageway in the palace by a young servant boy. After they are on their way to escape, Anastasia and her grandmother are running from the danger in the palace; running through town, Anastasia’s grandmother jumps on a moving train. While Anastasia is desperately trying to jump aboard too, she trips on the tracks and hits her head. Anastasia’s grandmother tries to stop for her, but the train is moving too fast and there are too many people around her and she can’t get off.
Anastasia is about twelve in the movie, while in real life she was seventeen. In the movie, because Anastasia fell and hit her head on a train track, she loses her memory. She grows up in an orphanage and when she is eighteen she is forced to go by on her own. She is kicked out into the cold. Anastasia decides to find her family. She has no idea who she is, or where she came from but she’s determined to find out.
Anastasia is traveling on her own until she runs into a man named Demetri (He’s actually the servant boy that helped Anastasia escape). Demetri is a scammer trying to find girls that look like the princess so that he can turn her into the desperate grandmother and get some money. He looks at Anastasia and thinks she is the perfect candidate. While trying to reach her grandmother, Demetri realizes he is falling in love with her and does not want to harm her by using her. Not only that, he realizes that she is indeed the real princess!
The animated movie “Anastasia” is a beautiful what if. Sadly, that was not the case with the true story of The Grand Duchess Anastasia. Anastasia either did die brutally along with her family or somehow got lucky enough to get away from that fate.
The question still asked today is—Was Anna Anderson really the lost princess of Russia? When Anna Anderson died, DNA results proved that she indeed was not the Princess. The real body was found in 2007. The government ran some test and proved the body to be Anastasia’s. The theory is that the Russian government wanted the conspiracies to cease. Perhaps they created a dead body to end the rumors once and for all.
If Anna Anderson was not The Grand Duchess, then who was she? How did she know so much about the royal family, their family secrets, and ways of the palace? Anna Anderson even carried herself as a royal; knew how to act and live like a royal. She had the birthmarks of Anastasia. The mystery of Anna Anderson is yet to be solved. Anything is possible, and the more you dig into it, the more questions you ask yourself.
Works Cited
Gareth Russel “Missing Royals and Murder Mysteries: Anastasia and the allure of romance” January 1st 1970 http://garethrussellcidevant.blogspot.com/2012/09/missing-royals-and-murder-mysteries.html
History.com “Romanov Family Executed” A&E Television Networks https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/romanov-family-executed
King and Wilson (2003), p. 250
Kurth (1983), p. 309
Massie (1967), p. 134
Mysteries and Conspiracy Theories “Just Stuff from a Baby Boomer” http://juststufffromaboomer.blogspot.com/2011/09/mysteries-and-conspiracy-theories
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