Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanized: 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, and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was killed with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.[1]
Persistent rumors 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 Nikolaevich 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 all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918.[2][3]
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, but DNA testing in
1994 on available pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no
relation to the Romanov family.
Association with Grigori Rasputin
Grand Duchess Anastasia with her mother, Tsarina Alexandra, in about 1908
Her mother relied on the counsel of Grigori Rasputin, a Russian peasant and wandering starets
or "holy man," and credited his prayers with saving the ailing
Tsarevich on numerous occasions. Anastasia and her siblings were taught
to view Rasputin as "Our Friend" and to share confidences with him. In
the autumn of 1907, Anastasia's aunt Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia
was escorted to the nursery by the Tsar to meet Rasputin. Anastasia,
her sisters and brother Alexei were all wearing their long white
nightgowns. "All the children seemed to like him," Olga Alexandrovna
recalled. "They were completely at ease with him."[29]
Rasputin's friendship with the imperial children was evident in some of
the messages he sent to them. In February 1909, Rasputin sent the
imperial children a telegram, advising them to "Love the whole of God's
nature, the whole of His creation in particular this earth. The Mother
of God was always occupied with flowers and needlework."[30]
However, one of the girls' governesses, Sofia Ivanovna Tyutcheva,
was horrified in 1910 that Rasputin was permitted access to the nursery
when the four girls were in their nightgowns and wanted him barred.
Nicholas asked Rasputin to avoid going to the nurseries in the future.
The children were aware of the tension and feared that their mother
would be angered by Tyutcheva's actions. "I am so afr(aid) that S.I.
(governess Sofia Ivanovna Tyutcheva) can speak ... about our friend
something bad," Anastasia's twelve-year-old sister Tatiana wrote to
their mother on 8 March 1910. "I hope our nurse will be nice to our
friend now."[31]
Grand Duchess Anastasia with her brother Alexei
Grand Duchess Anastasia in court dress in 1910
Tyutcheva was eventually fired. She took her story to other members of the family.[32]
While Rasputin's visits to the children were, by all accounts,
completely innocent in nature, the family was scandalized. Tyutcheva
told Nicholas's sister, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia,
that Rasputin visited the girls, talked with them while they were
getting ready for bed, and hugged and patted them. Tyutcheva said the
children had been taught not to discuss Rasputin with her and were
careful to hide his visits from the nursery staff. Xenia wrote on 15
March 1910, that she couldn't understand "...the attitude of Alix and
the children to that sinister Grigory (whom they consider to be almost a
saint, when in fact he's only a khlyst!)"[31]
In the spring of 1910, Maria Ivanovna Vishnyakova, a royal
governess, claimed that Rasputin had raped her. Vishnyakova said the
empress refused to believe her account of the assault, and insisted that
"everything Rasputin does is holy."[33]
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was told that Vishnyakova's claim had
been immediately investigated, but instead "they caught the young woman
in bed with a Cossack
of the Imperial Guard." Vishnyakova was kept from seeing Rasputin after
she made her accusation and was eventually dismissed from her post in
1913.[34]
However, rumors persisted and it was later whispered in society
that Rasputin had seduced not only the Tsarina but also the four grand
duchesses.[35] This was followed by circulation of pornographic cartoons, which depicted Rasputin having relations with the Empress, her four daughters and Anna Vyrubova.[36]
After the scandal, Nicholas ordered Rasputin to leave St. Petersburg
for a time, much to Alexandra's displeasure, and Rasputin went on a
pilgrimage to Palestine.[37]
Despite the rumors, the imperial family's association with Rasputin
continued until his murder on 17 December 1916. "Our Friend is so
contented with our girlies, says they have gone through heavy 'courses'
for their age and their souls have much developed", Alexandra wrote to
Nicholas on 6 December 1916.[38]
In his memoirs, A. A. Mordvinov reported that the four grand
duchesses appeared "cold and visibly terribly upset" by Rasputin's
death, and sat "huddled up closely together" on a sofa in one of their
bedrooms on the night they received the news. Mordvinov recalled that
the young women were in a gloomy mood and seemed to sense the political
upheaval that was about to be unleashed.[39]
Rasputin was buried with an icon signed on its reverse by Anastasia,
her mother and her sisters. She attended his funeral on 21 December
1916, and her family planned to build a church over the site of
Rasputin's grave.[40]
After they were killed by the Bolsheviks, it was discovered Anastasia
and her sisters were all wearing amulets bearing Rasputin's picture and a
prayer.
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