The Tsar's daughter Anastasia. Temptation of Salvation

Maria Fedorovna

Nicholas I

Alexandra Fedorovna

Alexander II

Maria Alexandrovna

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the emperor’s children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. The walls of the room were gray, the ceiling was decorated with images of butterflies. There are icons and photographs on the walls. The furniture is in white and green tones, the furnishings are simple, almost Spartan, a couch with embroidered pillows, and an army cot on which the Grand Duchess slept all year round. This cot moved around the room in order to end up in a more illuminated and warmer part of the room in winter, and in summer it was sometimes even pulled out onto the balcony so that one could take a break from the stuffiness and heat. They took this same bed with them on vacation to the Livadia Palace, and the Grand Duchess slept on it during her Siberian exile. One a large room next door, divided in half by a curtain, served the Grand Duchesses as a common boudoir and bathroom.

The life of the grand duchesses was quite monotonous. Breakfast at 9 o'clock, second breakfast at 13.00 or 12.30 on Sundays. At five o'clock there was tea, at eight there was a general dinner, and the food was quite simple and unpretentious. In the evenings, the girls solved charades and did embroidery while their father read aloud to them.

Early in the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one, to which a few drops of perfume were added, and Anastasia preferred Koti perfume with the smell of violets. This tradition has been preserved since the time of Catherine I. When the girls were small, the servants carried buckets of water to the bathroom; when they grew up, this was their responsibility. There were two baths - the first large one, left over from the reign of Nicholas I (according to the surviving tradition, everyone who washed in it left their autograph on the side), the other, smaller, was intended for children.

Sundays were especially looked forward to - on this day the Grand Duchesses attended children's balls at their aunt, Olga Alexandrovna. The evening was especially interesting when Anastasia was allowed to dance with the young officers.

Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Education began at the age of eight, and the program included French and English, history, geography, the law of God, natural sciences, drawing, grammar, as well as dancing and lessons in manners. Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she hated grammar, wrote with horrific errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “sinishness.” English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that she once tried to bribe him with a bouquet of flowers to improve his grade, and after he refused, she gave these flowers to the Russian language teacher, Petrov.

Grigory Rasputin

As you know, Grigory Rasputin was presented to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on November 1, 1905. The Tsarevich’s illness was kept secret, so the appearance at court of a “man” who almost immediately acquired significant influence there caused speculation and rumors. Under the influence of their mother, all five children became accustomed to completely trusting the “holy elder” and sharing their experiences and thoughts with him.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna recalled how one day, accompanied by the Tsar, she went into the children's bedrooms, where Rasputin blessed the Grand Duchesses, dressed in white nightgowns, for the coming sleep.

The same mutual trust and affection is seen in the letters of “Elder Gregory” that he sent to the imperial family. Here is an excerpt from one of the letters, dated 1909:

Anastasia wrote to Rasputin:

My beloved, precious, only friend.

How I want to meet you again. Today I saw you in a dream. I always ask Mom when you will visit us next time, and I am happy that I have the opportunity to send you this congratulation. Happy New Year and may it bring you health and happiness.

I always remember you, my dear friend, because you have always been kind to me. I haven’t seen you for a long time, but every evening I certainly remembered you.

I wish you all the best. Mom promises that when you come again, we will definitely meet at Anya’s. This thought fills me with joy.

Yours, Anastasia.

The governess of the imperial children, Sofya Ivanovna Tyutcheva, was shocked that Rasputin had unlimited access to the children's bedrooms and reported this to the tsar. The Tsar supported her demand, but Alexandra Feodorovna and the girls themselves were completely on the side of the “holy elder.”

At the insistence of the Empress, Tyutcheva was fired. In all likelihood, the “holy elder” did not allow himself any liberties, but rumors so dirty spread around St. Petersburg that the emperor’s brothers and sisters took up arms against Rasputin, and Ksenia Alexandrovna sent her brother a particularly harsh letter, accusing Rasputin of “Khlystyism,” protesting against that this “lying old man” has unrestricted access to children. Significant letters and cartoons were passed from hand to hand, which depicted the elder’s relationship with the empress, girls and Anna Vyrubova. In order to quell the scandal, to the great displeasure of the Empress, Nicholas was forced to temporarily remove Rasputin from the palace, and he went on a pilgrimage to holy places. Despite the rumors, the imperial family's relationship with Rasputin continued until his assassination on December 17, 1916.

A. A. Mordvinov recalled that after the murder of Rasputin, all four Grand Duchesses “seemed quiet and noticeably depressed, they sat closely huddled together” on the sofa in one of the bedrooms, as if realizing that Russia had come into a movement that would soon become uncontrollable. An icon signed by the Emperor, Empress and all five children was placed on Rasputin’s chest. Together with the entire imperial family, on December 21, 1916, Anastasia attended the funeral service. It was decided to build a chapel over the grave of the “holy elder,” but due to subsequent events this plan was not realized.

Maria and Anastasia gave concerts to the wounded and tried their best to distract them from difficult thoughts. They spent days on end in the hospital, reluctantly taking time off from work for lessons. Anastasia recalled these days until the end of her life:

I remember how we visited the hospital a long time ago. I hope all our wounded survived in the end. Almost everyone was later taken away from Tsarskoe Selo. Do you remember Lukanov? He was so unhappy and so kind at the same time, and always played like a child with our bracelets. His business card remained in my album, but the album itself, unfortunately, remained in Tsarskoe. Now I’m in the bedroom, writing on the table, and on it there are photographs of our beloved hospital. You know, it was a wonderful time when we visited the hospital. We often think about this, and our evening conversations on the phone and everything else...

Under house arrest

According to the memoirs of Lili Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoe Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. The tsar was at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief at that time, in Mogilev, only the empress and her children remained in the palace.

Ultimately, the Provisional Government decided to transfer the family of the former Tsar to Tobolsk. On the last day before leaving, they managed to say goodbye to the servants, last time visit your favorite places in the park, ponds, islands. Alexei wrote in his diary that on that day he managed to push his older sister Olga into the water. On August 12, 1917, a train flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from a siding in the strictest secrecy.

Tobolsk

Ekaterinburg

There is information that after the first salvo, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia remained alive; they were saved by jewelry sewn into the corsets of their dresses. Later, witnesses interrogated by investigator Sokolov testified that from royal daughters Anastasia resisted death the longest; already wounded, she “had” to be finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. According to materials discovered by historian Edward Radzinsky, Anna Demidova, Alexandra's servant, who managed to protect herself with a pillow filled with jewelry, remained alive the longest.

Together with the corpses of her relatives, Anastasia’s body was wrapped in sheets taken from the beds of the Grand Duchesses and taken to the Four Brothers tract for burial. There the corpses, disfigured beyond recognition by blows from rifle butts and sulfuric acid, were thrown into one of the old mines. Later, investigator Sokolov discovered the body of Jimmy's dog here. After the execution, the last drawing made by Anastasia’s hand was found in the room of the grand duchesses - a swing between two birch trees.

Character. Contemporaries about Anastasia

Anastasia in another mime scene

According to the recollections of contemporaries, Anastasia was small and dense, with reddish brown hair, with large blue eyes, inherited from the father. The girl had a light and cheerful character, loved to play lapta, forfeits, and serso, and could tirelessly run around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She easily climbed trees, and often, out of pure mischief, refused to go down to the ground. She was inexhaustible in her inventions; for example, she loved to paint the cheeks and noses of her sisters, brother and young ladies-in-waiting with fragrant carmine and strawberry juice. With her light hand It became fashionable to weave flowers and ribbons into hair, of which little Anastasia was very proud. She was inseparable from her older sister Maria, adored her brother, and could entertain him for hours when another illness put Alexei to bed. Anna Vyrubova recalled that “Anastasia seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood.” Once, when I was just a baby, three or four years from birth, at a reception in Kronstadt, she climbed under the table and began to pinch those present on the legs, pretending to be a dog - for which she received an immediate severe reprimand from her father.

She also had a clear talent as a comic actress and loved to parody and imitate those around her, and she did it very talentedly and funny. One day Alexey told her:

To which I received an unexpected answer that the Grand Duchess cannot perform in the theater, she has other responsibilities. Sometimes, however, her jokes became harmless. So she tirelessly teased her sisters, once playing in the snow with Tatyana, she hit her in the face, so hard that the eldest could not stay on her feet; however, the culprit herself, scared to death, cried for a long time in her mother’s arms. Grand Duchess Nina Georgievna later recalled that little Anastasia did not want to forgive her high stature, and during games she tried to outwit, trip her leg, and even scratch her opponent.

Little Anastasia was also not particularly neat and loving of order. Hallie Reeves, the wife of an American diplomat accredited at the court of the last emperor, recalled how little Anastasia, while in the theater, ate chocolate, not bothering to take off her long white gloves, and desperately smeared herself face and hands. Her pockets were constantly filled with chocolates and Creme Brulee sweets, which she generously shared with others.

She also loved animals. At first, she lived with a Spitz named Shvybzik, and many funny and touching incidents were also associated with him. So, the Grand Duchess refused to go to bed until the dog joined her, and once, having lost her pet, she called him with a loud bark - and succeeded, Shvybzik was found under the sofa. In 1915, when the Pomeranian died of an infection, she was inconsolable for several weeks. Together with his sisters and brother, they buried the dog in Peterhof, on Children's Island. Then she had a dog named Jimmy.

She loved to draw, and she did it quite well, she enjoyed playing the guitar or balalaika with her brother, knitting, sewing, watching movies, was fond of photography, which was fashionable at that time, and had her own photo album, loved to hang on the phone, read or just lie in bed . During the war, she began to smoke secretly from her parents, in which her older sister, Olga, kept her company.

The Grand Duchess was not in good health. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of congenital curvature of the big toes, the so-called lats. hallux valgus- a syndrome by which she would later begin to be identified with one of the impostors - Anna Anderson. She had a weak back, despite the fact that she did her best to avoid the massage required to strengthen her muscles, hiding from the visiting masseuse in the cupboard or under the bed. Even with small cuts, the bleeding did not stop for an abnormally long time, from which doctors concluded that, like her mother, Anastasia is a carrier of hemophilia.

As testified by General M.K. Diterichs, who participated in the investigation of the murder royal family:

Drawing Grand Duchess Anastasia

Teacher French Gilliard recalled her this way:

Discovery of remains

Cross over Ganina Pit

The “Four Brothers” tract is located a few kilometers from the village of Koptyaki, not far from Yekaterinburg. One of its pits was chosen by Yurovsky's team to bury the remains of the royal family and servants.

It was not possible to keep the place a secret from the very beginning, due to the fact that literally next to the tract there was a road to Yekaterinburg; early in the morning the procession was seen by a peasant from the village of Koptyaki, Natalya Zykova, and then several more people. The Red Army soldiers, threatening with weapons, drove them away.

Later that same day, grenade explosions were heard in the area. Interested in the strange incident, local residents, a few days later, when the cordon had already been lifted, came to the tract and managed to discover several valuables (apparently belonging to the royal family) in a hurry, not noticed by the executioners.

American scientists believed that the missing body was Anastasia's because none of the female skeletons showed evidence of immaturity, such as an immature collarbone, immature wisdom teeth or immature vertebrae in the back, which they expected to find in the body of a seventeen-year-old girl.

In 1998, when the remains of the imperial family were finally interred, the 5'7" body was buried under Anastasia's name. Photos of the girl standing next to her sisters, taken six months before the murder, show that Anastasia was several inches shorter than them Her mother, commenting on the figure of her sixteen-year-old daughter, wrote in a letter to a friend seven months before the murder: “Anastasia, to her despair, has gained weight and her appearance exactly resembles Maria several years ago - the same huge waist and short legs... Let's hope with it will go away with age..." Scientists believe it is unlikely that she grew much in the last months of her life. Her actual height was approximately 5'2".

The doubts were finally resolved in 2007, after the discovery of the remains of a young girl and boy, later identified as Tsarevich Alexei and Maria, in the so-called Porosenkovsky meadow. Genetic testing confirmed the initial findings. In July 2008, this information was officially confirmed by the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, reporting that an examination of the remains found in 2007 on the old Koptyakovskaya road established that the discovered remains belonged to Grand Duchess Maria and Tsarevich Alexei, who was the emperor's heir.

False Anastasia

The most famous of the false Anastasias is Anna Anderson

Rumors that one of the Tsar's daughters managed to escape - either by running away from Ipatiev's house, or even before the revolution, by being replaced by one of the servants - began to circulate among Russian emigrants almost immediately after the execution of the Tsar's family. Attempts by a number of people to use the belief in the possible salvation of the younger princess Anastasia for selfish purposes led to the appearance of over thirty false Anastasias. One of the most famous impostors was Anna Anderson, who claimed that a soldier named Tchaikovsky managed to pull her wounded from the basement of Ipatiev’s house after he saw that she was still alive. Another version of the same story was told by the former Austrian prisoner of war Franz Svoboda at the trial, at which Anderson tried to defend her right to be called a Grand Duchess and gain access to the hypothetical inheritance of her “father.” Svoboda proclaimed himself the savior of Anderson, and, according to his version, the wounded princess was transported to the house of “a neighbor in love with her, a certain X.” This version, however, contained quite a lot of clearly implausible details, for example, about violating the curfew, which was unthinkable at that moment, about posters announcing the escape of the Grand Duchess, allegedly posted all over the city, and about general searches, which, fortunately , they didn’t give anything. Thomas Hildebrand Preston, who was the British Consul General in Yekaterinburg at that time, rejected such fabrications. Despite the fact that Anderson defended her “royal” origin until the end of her life, wrote the book “I, Anastasia” and fought legal battles for several decades, no final decision was made during her lifetime.

Currently, genetic analysis has confirmed already existing assumptions that Anna Anderson was in fact Franziska Schanzkovskaya, a worker in a Berlin factory that manufactured explosives. As a result of an industrial accident, she was seriously injured and suffered mental shock, the consequences of which she could not get rid of for the rest of her life.

Another false Anastasia was Eugenia Smith (Evgenia Smetisko), an artist who published “memoirs” in the USA about her life and miraculous salvation. She managed to attract significant attention to her person and seriously correct financial position, capitalizing on public interest.

Rumors about Anastasia's rescue were fueled by news of trains and houses that the Bolsheviks were searching in search of the missing princess. During a brief imprisonment in Perm in 1918, Princess Elena Petrovna, the wife of Anastasia's distant relative, Prince Ivan Konstantinovich, reported that guards brought a girl into her cell who called herself Anastasia Romanova and asked if the girl was the Tsar's daughter. Elena Petrovna replied that she did not recognize the girl, and the guards took her away. Another account is given more credibility by one historian. Eight witnesses reported the return of a young woman after an apparent rescue attempt in September 1918 at the railway station at Siding 37, northwest of Perm. These witnesses were Maxim Grigoriev, Tatyana Sytnikova and her son Fyodor Sytnikov, Ivan Kuklin and Marina Kuklina, Vasily Ryabov, Ustina Varankina and Dr. Pavel Utkin, the doctor who examined the girl after the incident. Some witnesses identified the girl as Anastasia when they were shown photographs of the Grand Duchess by White Army investigators. Utkin also told them that the traumatized girl he examined at the Cheka headquarters in Perm told him: “I am the daughter of the ruler, Anastasia.”

At the same time, in mid-1918, there were several reports of young people in Russia posing as escaped Romanovs. Boris Solovyov, the husband of Rasputin's daughter Maria, deceitfully begged money from noble Russian families for the supposedly saved Romanov, in fact wanting to use the money to go to China. Solovyov also found women who agreed to pose as grand duchesses and thereby contributed to the deception.

However, there is a possibility that one or more guards could actually save one of the surviving Romanovs. Yakov Yurovsky demanded that the guards come to his office and review the things they stole after the murder. Accordingly, there was a period of time when the bodies of the victims were left unattended in the truck, in the basement and in the hallway of the house. Some guards who did not participate in the murders and sympathized with the grand duchesses, according to some sources, remained in the basement with the bodies.

The last of the false Anastasias, Natalya Bilikhodze, died in 2000.

Rumors revived again after the release of Sergo Beria’s book “My Father - Lavrentiy Beria,” where the author casually recalls a meeting in the foyer of the Bolshoi Theater with the supposedly saved Anastasia, who became the abbess of an unnamed Bulgarian monastery.

Rumors of a “miraculous rescue,” which seemed to have subsided after the royal remains were subjected to scientific study in 1991, resumed with renewed vigor when publications appeared in the press that one of the grand duchesses was missing from the bodies found (it was assumed that it was Maria) and Tsarevich Alexei. However, according to another version, among the remains there might not have been Anastasia, who was slightly younger than her sister and almost the same build, so a mistake in identification seemed likely. This time Nadezhda Ivanova-Vasilieva, who spent most of her life in the Kazan psychiatric hospital, where she was assigned by the Soviet authorities, allegedly fearing the surviving princess, was claimed for the role of the rescued Anastasia.

Canonization

The canonization of the family of the last king in the rank of new martyrs was first undertaken by foreign Orthodox Church(1981) Preparations for canonization in Russia began in the same 1991, when excavations in the Ganina Pit were resumed. With the blessing of Archbishop Melchizedek, a Worship Cross was installed in the tract on July 7. On July 17, 1992, the first bishop's religious procession took place to the burial site of the remains of the royal family.

About the Holy Reign of the Great Martyr, Queen Alexandra, Princess Olgo, Tatiano, Maria, Anastasia, together with Tsarevich Alexy and the Venerable Martyrs Elizabeth and Varvara! Receive from our repentant hearts this warm prayer brought to you, and ask us from the All-Merciful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for forgiveness for the permission of the Regicide, against us and our father who fell, even to the seventh generation. Just as in your earthly life you have done innumerable mercies to your people, so now have mercy on us, sinners, and save us from fierce sorrows, from mental and physical ailments, from the elements that arise against us by God’s permission, from the battles of the enemy and internecine and brotherly bloodshed. Strengthen our faith and hope and ask the Lord for patience and everything useful in this life and useful for spiritual salvation. Comfort us, the grieving, and lead us to salvation. Amen.

The image of Anastasia in literature and cinematography

Poem by Nikolai Gumilyov

Other

Notes

At home, however, he had a reputation as a charlatan and was even prosecuted for practicing medicine without the appropriate education.
Makeevich, A.; Makeevich, G. Waiting for the heir to the throne. Tsarevich Alexey. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
Massie (1967), p. 153

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna

The youngest of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia Nikolaevna, seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood. She was very, extremely witty and had an undeniable gift for mime. She knew how to find the funny side in everything.

During the revolution, Anastasia turned only sixteen - after all, not such an old age! She was pretty, but her face was intelligent, and her eyes sparkled with remarkable intelligence.

The “tomboy” girl, “Schwibz,” as Her family called her, might have wanted to live up to the Domostroevsky ideal of a girl, but she couldn’t. But, most likely, She simply did not think about it, because the main feature of Her not fully developed character was cheerful childishness.

Anastasia Nikolaevna was... a big naughty girl, and not without guile. She quickly grasped the funny side of everything; It was difficult to fight against Her attacks. She was a spoiled person - a flaw from which She corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as sometimes happens with very capable children, She had an excellent pronunciation of French and acted out small theatrical scenes with real talent. She was so cheerful and so able to dispel the wrinkles of anyone who was out of sorts that some of those around them, remembering the nickname given to Her Mother at the English court, began to call Her " Sunbeam"»

Birth.

Born on June 5, 1901 in Peterhof. By the time of her appearance, the royal couple already had three daughters - Olga, Tatyana and Maria. The absence of an heir strained the political situation: according to the Act of Succession to the Throne, adopted by Paul I, a woman could not ascend to the throne, so the heir was considered younger brother Nicholas II Mikhail Alexandrovich, which did not suit many, and first of all, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. In an attempt to beg Providence for a son, at this time she becomes more and more immersed in mysticism. With the assistance of the Montenegrin princesses Militsa Nikolaevna and Anastasia Nikolaevna, a certain Philip, a Frenchman by nationality, arrived at the court, declaring himself a hypnotist and a specialist in nervous diseases. Philip predicted the birth of a son to Alexandra Fedorovna, however, a girl was born - Anastasia.

Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia

Nikolai wrote in his diary: “About 3 o’clock Alix began to have severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Thanks to the fact that it all started and ended while everyone was still sleeping, we both had a sense of peace and privacy! After that, I sat down to write telegrams and notify relatives in all corners of the world. Fortunately, Alix is feeling well. The baby weighs 11½ pounds and is 55 cm tall.”

The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, a close friend of the Empress. The “hypnotist” Philip, not at a loss after the failed prophecy, immediately predicted to her “ amazing life and a special destiny.” Margaret Eager, author of the memoir “Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court,” recalled that Anastasia was named in honor of the fact that the emperor pardoned and restored the rights of students of St. Petersburg University who took part in the recent unrest, since the very name “Anastasia” means “returned to life”; the image of this saint usually contains chains torn in half.

Childhood.

Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna in 1902

The full title of Anastasia Nikolaevna sounded like Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, but it was not used, in official speech they called her by her first name and patronymic, and at home they called her “little, Nastaska, Nastya, little egg” - for her small height (157 cm .) and a round figure and a “shvybzik” - for his mobility and inexhaustibility in inventing pranks and pranks.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the emperor’s children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. The walls of the room were gray, the ceiling was decorated with images of butterflies. There are icons and photographs on the walls. The furniture is in white and green tones, the furnishings are simple, almost spartan, a couch with embroidered pillows, and an army cot on which the Grand Duchess slept all year round. This cot moved around the room in order to end up in a more illuminated and warmer part of the room in winter, and in summer it was sometimes even pulled out onto the balcony so that one could take a break from the stuffiness and heat. They took this same bed with them on vacation to the Livadia Palace, and the Grand Duchess slept on it during her Siberian exile. One large room next door, divided in half by a curtain, served the Grand Duchesses as a common boudoir and bathroom.

Princesses Maria and Anastasia

Early in the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one, to which a few drops of perfume were added, and Anastasia preferred Koti perfume with the smell of violets. This tradition has been preserved since the time of Catherine I. When the girls were small, servants carried buckets of water to the bathroom; when they grew up, this was their responsibility. There were two baths - the first large one, left over from the reign of Nicholas I (according to the surviving tradition, everyone who washed in it left their autograph on the side), the other, smaller, was intended for children.

Grand Duchess Anastasia

Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Education began at the age of eight, the program included French, English and German languages, history, geography, God's law, natural sciences, drawing, grammar, arithmetic, as well as dance and music. Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she hated grammar, wrote with horrific errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “sinishness.” English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that she once tried to bribe him with a bouquet of flowers to improve his grade, and after he refused, she gave these flowers to the Russian language teacher, Petrov.

Grand Duchess Anastasia

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia

In mid-June, the family went on trips on the imperial yacht “Standart”, usually along the Finnish skerries, landing from time to time on the islands for short excursions. The imperial family especially fell in love with the small bay, which was dubbed Standard Bay. They had picnics there, or played tennis on the court, which the emperor built with his own hands.

Nicholas II with his daughters -. Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia

We also rested at the Livadia Palace. The main premises housed the imperial family, and the annexes housed several courtiers, guards and servants. They swam in the warm sea, built fortresses and towers out of sand, and sometimes went into the city to ride a stroller through the streets or visit shops. It was not possible to do this in St. Petersburg, since any appearance of the royal family in public created a crowd and excitement.

Visit to Germany

They sometimes visited Polish estates belonging to the royal family, where Nicholas loved to hunt.

Anastasia with her sisters Tatyana and Olga.

World War I

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, following her mother and older sisters, Anastasia sobbed bitterly on the day war was declared.

On the day of their fourteenth birthday, according to tradition, each of the emperor’s daughters became an honorary commander of one of the Russian regiments.

In 1901, after her birth, the name of St. The Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment received Anastasia the Pattern-Resolver in honor of the princess. He began to celebrate his regimental holiday on December 22, the holy day. The regimental church was erected in Peterhof by the architect Mikhail Fedorovich Verzhbitsky. At 14, she became his honorary commander (colonel), about which Nikolai made a corresponding entry in his diary. From now on, the regiment became officially known as the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia.

During the war, the empress gave many of the palace rooms for hospital premises. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana, together with their mother, became sisters of mercy; Maria and Anastasia, being too young for such hard work, became patronesses of the hospital. Both sisters gave their own money to buy medicine, read aloud to the wounded, knitted things for them, played cards and checkers, wrote letters home under their dictation, and entertained them in the evenings. telephone conversations, sewed linen, prepared bandages and lint.

Under house arrest.

According to the memoirs of Lily Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoe Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. At that time the Tsar was at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev; only the Empress and her children remained in the palace. .

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia look at photographs

On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Den stayed overnight in the palace, in the Raspberry Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. So that they would not worry, they explained to the children that the troops surrounding the palace and the distant shots were the result of ongoing exercises. Alexandra Feodorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible.” At 9 o'clock on March 2 they learned of the Tsar's abdication.

On Wednesday, March 8, Count Pavel Benckendorff appeared at the palace with the message that the Provisional Government had decided to subject the imperial family to house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. It was suggested that they make a list of people who wanted to stay with them. Lily Dehn immediately offered her services.

A.A.Vyrubova, Alexandra Fedorovna, Yu.A.Den.

On March 9, the children were informed about their father’s abdication. A few days later Nikolai returned. Life under house arrest turned out to be quite bearable. It was necessary to reduce the number of dishes during lunch, since the menu of the royal family was announced publicly from time to time, and it was not worth giving another reason to provoke the already angry crowd. Curious people often watched through the bars of the fence as the family walked in the park and sometimes greeted her with whistling and swearing, so the walks had to be shortened.

On June 22, 1917, it was decided to shave the girls’ heads, since their hair was falling out due to persistent fever and strong medications. Alexei insisted that he be shaved too, thereby causing extreme displeasure in his mother.

Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia

Despite everything, the children's education continued. The entire process was led by Gillard, a French teacher; Nikolai himself taught the children geography and history; Baroness Buxhoeveden took over English and music lessons; Mademoiselle Schneider taught arithmetic; Countess Gendrikova - drawing; Alexandra taught Orthodoxy.

The eldest, Olga, despite the fact that her education was completed, was often present at lessons and read a lot, improving on what she had already learned.

Grand Duchesses Olga and Anastasia

At this time, there was still hope for the family of the former king to go abroad; but George V, whose popularity among his subjects was rapidly falling, decided not to take risks and chose to sacrifice the royal family, thereby causing shock in his own cabinet.

Nicholas II and George V

Ultimately, the Provisional Government decided to transfer the family of the former tsar to Tobolsk. On the last day before leaving, they managed to say goodbye to the servants and visit their favorite places in the park, ponds, and islands for the last time. Alexei wrote in his diary that on that day he managed to push his older sister Olga into the water. On August 12, 1917, a train flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from a siding in the strictest secrecy.

Tobolsk

On August 26, the imperial family arrived in Tobolsk on the steamship Rus. The house intended for them was not yet completely ready, so they spent the first eight days on the ship.

Arrival of the Royal Family in Tobolsk

Finally, under escort, the imperial family was taken to the two-story governor's mansion, where they were henceforth to live. The girls were given a corner bedroom on the second floor, where they were accommodated in the same army beds captured from the Alexander Palace. Anastasia additionally decorated her corner with her favorite photographs and drawings.

Life in the governor's mansion was quite monotonous; The main entertainment is watching passers-by from the window. From 9.00 to 11.00 - lessons. An hour break for a walk with my father. Lessons again from 12.00 to 13.00. Dinner. From 14.00 to 16.00 there are walks and simple entertainment such as home performances, or in winter - skiing down a slide built with one’s own hands. Anastasia, in her own words, enthusiastically prepared firewood and sewed. Next on the schedule was the evening service and going to bed.

In September they were allowed to go to the nearest church for morning services. Again, the soldiers formed a living corridor right up to the church doors. The attitude of local residents towards the royal family was rather favorable.

The news that Nicholas II, exiled to Tobolsk, and the royal family were going to see the monument to Ermak, spread not only throughout the city, but also throughout the region. Tobolsk photographer Ilya Efimovich Kondrakhin, passionate about photography, with his bulky cameras - a great rarity in those days - hastened to capture this moment. And here we have a photograph showing several dozen people climbing the slope of the hill on which the monument stands so as not to miss the arrival of the last Russian Tsar. Vladimir Vasilievich Kondrakhin (grandson of the photographer) took a photo from the original photograph

Tobolsk

Suddenly, Anastasia began to gain weight, and the process proceeded at a fairly rapid pace, so that even the empress, worried, wrote to her friend:

“Anastasia, to her despair, has gained weight and her appearance exactly resembles Maria a few years ago - the same huge waist and short legs... Let's hope this will go away with age...”

From a letter to sister Maria.

“The iconostasis was set up terribly well for Easter, everything is in the Christmas tree, as it should be here, and flowers. We were filming, I hope it comes out. I continue to draw, they say it’s not bad, it’s very pleasant. We were swinging on a swing, and when I fell, it was such a wonderful fall!.. yeah! I told my sisters so many times yesterday that they were already tired, but I can tell them a lot more times, although there is no one else. In general, I have a lot of things to tell you and you. My Jimmy woke up and coughs, so he sits at home, bows to his helmet. That was the weather! You could literally scream from pleasure. I was the most tanned, oddly enough, like an acrobat! And these days are boring and ugly, it’s cold, and we were freezing this morning, although of course we didn’t go home... I’m very sorry, I forgot to congratulate all my loved ones on the holidays, I kiss you not three, but a lot of times to everyone. Everyone, darling, thanks you very much for your letter."

In April 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the fourth convocation decided to transfer the former tsar to Moscow for the purpose of his trial. After much hesitation, Alexandra decided to accompany her husband; Maria was supposed to go with her “to help.”

The rest had to wait for them in Tobolsk; Olga’s duties included taking care of her sick brother, Tatyana’s duties included leading household, Anastasia - “to entertain everyone.” However, at the beginning things were difficult with entertainment, on the last night before departure no one slept a wink, and when finally in the morning, peasant carts were brought to the threshold for the Tsar, Tsarina and those accompanying them, three girls - “three figures in gray” saw off those leaving with tears right up to the gate.

In the courtyard of the governor's house

In the empty house, life continued slowly and sadly. We told fortunes from books, read aloud to each other, and walked. Anastasia was still swinging on the swing, drawing and playing with her sick brother. According to the memoirs of Gleb Botkin, the son of a life physician who died along with the royal family, one day he saw Anastasia in the window and bowed to her, but the guards immediately drove him away, threatening to shoot if he dared to come so close again.

Vel. Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia () and Tsarevich Alexei at tea. Tobolsk, governor's house. April-May 1918

On May 3, 1918, it became clear that for some reason, the former Tsar's departure to Moscow was canceled and instead Nicholas, Alexandra and Maria were forced to stay in the house of engineer Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg, requisitioned by the new government specifically to house the Tsar's family . In a letter marked with this date, the empress instructed her daughters to “properly dispose of medicines” - this word meant the jewelry that they managed to hide and take with them. Under the guidance of her older sister Tatyana, Anastasia sewed the remaining jewelry she had into the corset of her dress - with a successful combination of circumstances, it was supposed to be used to buy her way to salvation.

On May 19, it was finally decided that the remaining daughters and Alexey, who was by then quite strong, would join their parents and Maria at Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg. The next day, May 20, all four boarded the ship “Rus” again, which took them to Tyumen. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the girls were transported in locked cabins; Alexey was traveling with his orderly named Nagorny; access to their cabin was prohibited even for a doctor.

"My dear friend,

I'll tell you how we drove. We left early in the morning, then got on the train and I fell asleep, followed by everyone else. We were all very tired because we hadn't slept the whole night before. The first day it was very stuffy and dusty, and we had to close the curtains at each station so that no one could see us. One evening I looked out when we stopped at a small house, there was no station there, and you could look outside. came up to me a little boy, and asked: “Uncle, give me the newspaper if you have it.” I said: “I’m not an uncle, but an aunt, and I don’t have a newspaper.” At first I didn’t understand why he decided that I was “uncle,” and then I remembered that my hair was cut short and, together with the soldiers who accompanied us, we laughed for a long time at this story. In general, there were a lot of funny things along the way, and if there is time, I will tell you about the journey from beginning to end. Goodbye, don't forget me. Everyone kisses you.

Yours, Anastasia."

On May 23 at 9 a.m. the train arrived in Yekaterinburg. Here, the French teacher Gillard, the sailor Nagorny and the ladies-in-waiting, who had arrived with them, were removed from the children. Crews were brought to the train and at 11 o'clock in the morning Olga, Tatyana, Anastasia and Alexey were finally taken to the house of engineer Ipatiev.

Ipatiev House

Life at home special purpose"was monotonous, boring - but nothing more. Rise at 9 o'clock, breakfast. At 2.30 - lunch, at 5 - afternoon tea and dinner at 8. The family went to bed at 10.30 pm. Anastasia sewed with her sisters, walked in the garden, played cards and read spiritual publications aloud to her mother. A little later, the girls were taught to bake bread and they enthusiastically devoted themselves to this activity.

The dining room, the door visible in the picture leads to the Princesses' room.

Room of the Sovereign, Empress and Heir.

On Tuesday, June 18, 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last, 17th birthday. The weather that day was excellent, only in the evening a small thunderstorm broke out. Lilacs and lungwort were blooming. The girls baked bread, then Alexei was taken out to the garden, and the whole family joined him. At 8 pm we had dinner and played several games of cards. We went to bed at the usual time, 10.30 pm.

Execution

It is officially believed that the decision to execute the royal family was finally made by the Ural Council on July 16 in connection with the possibility of surrendering the city to the White Guard troops and the alleged discovery of a conspiracy to save the royal family. On the night of July 16-17, at 11:30 p.m., two special representatives from the Urals Council handed a written order to execute the commander of the security detachment, P.Z. Ermakov, and the commandant of the house, Commissioner of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission, Ya.M. Yurovsky. After a brief dispute about the method of execution, the royal family was woken up and, under the pretext of a possible shootout and the danger of being killed by bullets ricocheting off the walls, they were offered to go down to the corner semi-basement room.

According to the report of Yakov Yurovsky, the Romanovs did not suspect anything until the last moment. At the empress’s request, chairs were brought to the basement, on which she and Nicholas sat with their son in her arms. Anastasia stood behind with her sisters. The sisters brought several handbags with them, Anastasia also took her beloved dog Jimmy, who accompanied her throughout her exile.

Anastasia holding Jimmy the dog

There is information that after the first salvo, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia remained alive; they were saved by jewelry sewn into the corsets of their dresses. Later, witnesses interrogated by investigator Sokolov testified that of the Tsar’s daughters, Anastasia resisted death the longest; already wounded, she “had” to be finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. According to materials discovered by historian Edward Radzinsky, Anna Demidova, Alexandra's servant, who managed to protect herself with a pillow filled with jewelry, remained alive the longest.

Grand Duchess Anastasia, Grand Duchess Tatiana holding the dog Ortino

After the execution, the last drawing made by Anastasia’s hand was found in the room of the Grand Duchesses - a swing between two birch trees.

Drawings of Grand Duchess Anastasia

Anastasia over Ganina Yama

Discovery of remains

From May 23 to June 17, 1919, investigator Sokolov conducted reconnaissance of the area and interviewed village residents.

Photo by Gilliard: Nikolai Sokolov in 1919 near Yekaterinburg.

From June 6 to July 10, by order of Admiral Kolchak, excavations of the Ganina Pit began, which were interrupted due to the retreat of the Whites from the city.

On July 11, 1991, remains identified as the bodies of the royal family and servants were found in the Ganina Pit at a depth of just over one meter. The body, which probably belonged to Anastasia, was marked with number 5. Doubts arose about it - the entire left side of the face was broken into pieces; Russian anthropologists tried to connect the found fragments together and put together the missing part. The result of the rather painstaking work was in doubt. Russian researchers tried to proceed from the height of the found skeleton, however, the measurements were made from photographs and were questioned by American experts.

The doubts were finally resolved in 2007, after the discovery in the so-called Porosenkovsky ravine of the remains of a young girl and boy, later identified as Tsarevich Alexei and Maria. Genetic testing confirmed the initial findings. In July 2008, this information was officially confirmed by the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, reporting that an examination of the remains found in 2007 on the old Koptyakovskaya road established that the discovered remains belonged to Grand Duchess Maria and Tsarevich Alexei, who was the emperor's heir.

Fire pit with “charred wooden parts”

Another version of the same story was told by the former Austrian prisoner of war Franz Svoboda at the trial, at which Anderson tried to defend her right to be called a Grand Duchess and gain access to the hypothetical inheritance of her “father.” Svoboda proclaimed himself the savior of Anderson, and, according to his version, the wounded princess was transported to the house of “a neighbor in love with her, a certain X.” This version, however, contained quite a lot of clearly implausible details, for example, about violating the curfew, which was unthinkable at that moment, about posters announcing the escape of the Grand Duchess, allegedly posted all over the city, and about general searches, which, fortunately , they didn’t give anything. Thomas Hildebrand Preston, who was the British Consul General in Yekaterinburg at that time, rejected such fabrications. Despite the fact that Anderson defended her “royal” origin until the end of her life, wrote the book “I, Anastasia” and fought legal battles for several decades, no final decision was made during her lifetime.

Another false Anastasia was Eugenia Smith (Evgenia Smetisko), an artist who published “memoirs” in the USA about her life and miraculous salvation. She managed to attract significant attention to her person and seriously improve her financial situation, capitalizing on the public's interest.

Eugenia Smith. photo

Rumors about Anastasia's rescue were fueled by news of trains and houses that the Bolsheviks were searching in search of the missing princess. During a brief imprisonment in Perm in 1918, Princess Elena Petrovna, the wife of Anastasia's distant relative, Prince Ivan Konstantinovich, reported that guards brought a girl into her cell who called herself Anastasia Romanova and asked if the girl was the Tsar's daughter. Elena Petrovna replied that she did not recognize the girl, and the guards took her away. Another account is given more credibility by one historian. Eight witnesses reported the return of a young woman after an apparent rescue attempt in September 1918 at the railway station at Siding 37, northwest of Perm. These witnesses were Maxim Grigoriev, Tatyana Sytnikova and her son Fyodor Sytnikov, Ivan Kuklin and Marina Kuklina, Vasily Ryabov, Ustina Varankina and Dr. Pavel Utkin, the doctor who examined the girl after the incident. Some witnesses identified the girl as Anastasia when they were shown photographs of the Grand Duchess by White Army investigators. Utkin also told them that the injured girl he examined at the Cheka headquarters in Perm told him: “I am the daughter of the ruler, Anastasia.”

In 1964-1967, during the Anna Anderson case, Viennese tailor Heinrich Kleibenzetl testified that he allegedly saw the wounded Anastasia shortly after the murder in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918. The girl was looked after by his landlady, Anna Baoudin, in a building directly opposite Ipatiev's house.

“Her lower body was covered in blood, her eyes were closed and she was white as a sheet,” he testified. “We washed her chin, Frau Annuschka and I, then she moaned. The bones must have been broken... Then she opened her eyes for a minute.” Kleibenzetl claimed that the injured girl remained in his landlady's house for three days. The Red Army soldiers allegedly came to the house, but knew its landlady too well and did not actually search the house. “They said something like this: Anastasia has disappeared, but she’s not here, that’s for sure.” Finally, a Red Army soldier, the same man who brought her, arrived to take the girl away. Kleibenzetl knew nothing more about her future fate.

Rumors were revived again after the release of Sergo Beria’s book “My Father - Lavrentiy Beria,” where the author casually recalls a meeting in the lobby of the Bolshoi Theater with Anastasia, who allegedly survived, and became the abbess of an unnamed Bulgarian monastery.

Rumors of a “miraculous rescue,” which seemed to have died down after the royal remains were subjected to scientific study in 1991, resumed with renewed vigor when publications appeared in the press that one of the grand duchesses was missing from the bodies found (it was assumed that it was Maria) and Tsarevich Alexei. However, according to another version, among the remains there might not have been Anastasia, who was slightly younger than her sister and almost the same build, so a mistake in identification seemed likely. This time, Nadezhda Ivanova-Vasilieva, who spent most of her life in the Kazan psychiatric hospital, where she was assigned by the Soviet authorities, allegedly fearing the surviving princess, was claiming the role of the rescued Anastasia.

Prince Dmitry Romanovich Romanov, great-great-grandson of Nicholas, summed up the long-term epic of impostors:

In my memory, the self-proclaimed Anastasias ranged from 12 to 19. In the conditions of the post-war depression, many went crazy. We, the Romanovs, would be happy if Anastasia, even in the person of this very Anna Anderson, turned out to be alive. But alas, it was not her.

The last dot was put to rest by the discovery of the bodies of Alexei and Maria in the same tract in 2007 and anthropological and genetic examinations, which finally confirmed that there could not have been any rescued among the royal family

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was born on June 5/18, 1901. Having learned about the birth of his fourth daughter, the Tsar walked for a long time alone and was sad, because he expected that a boy would be born. But when he returned, he completely changed, with a smile he entered the empress’s room and kissed the newborn child.

Having been born instead of the expected heir, Anastasia, indeed, by the liveliness of her character, resembled a playful boy. “The youngest of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia Nikolaevna, seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood,” wrote Lily Dehn.

The youngest Princess was bolder than her sisters, very fast and witty, quick-witted and observant, and was considered the ringleader in all pranks. She had a pretty face, long blond hair and quick eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and fun. Many found that her facial features resembled her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the Sovereign Martyr.

Saint Princess Anastasia, like all the royal children, was brought up in the Russian Orthodox spirit, combining work and prayer, as well as Spartan conditions: a cold bedroom, a hard bed with small pillows, a cold shower in the morning, clothes are always simple, inherited, as a rule, from older sisters.

“All these three Grand Duchesses, except for Tatiana, played pranks and frolicked like boys, but in their manners they were reminiscent of the Romanovs,” recalls Anna Vyrubova. Anastasia Nikolaevna was always playing pranks, climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to spot her.

The Younger Princess was extremely cheerful, brave, very fast, witty and observant, and was considered the ringleader in all pranks. Grand Duchess Anastasia was also a lively and carefree child, intelligent and not without cunning. She always managed to turn everything in her own way. From early childhood, plans for various pranks arose in Her head, and later the Heir, always ready for pranks, joined Her. When the Tsarevich lacked boyish company, he was successfully replaced by the “bastard” Anastasia.

Her distinctive feature was to notice weak sides people and skillfully imitate them. “She was a natural, gifted comedian,” wrote M.K. Diterichs. “It always happened that she made everyone laugh, maintaining an artificially serious appearance.”

The Empress Mother understood perfectly well that for the sake of her daughter, her irrepressible energy had to be restrained from time to time. But unlike many modern mothers, the wise Empress Alexandra Feodorovna did not at all want to remake the child’s nature to her own taste, or break it. She allowed her daughters, relying on the instilled rules of Christian piety, to develop depending on their God-given qualities. As a result, playfulness, a quality that could have degenerated into something unattractive, turned into a virtue for Grand Duchess Anastasia: the cheerfulness of the young girl not only pleased, but also consoled those around her

She also pleased the Queen Mother with her notes. Here is a typical example - a note from Anastasia Nikolaevna dated May 7, 1915: “My dear sweet Mother! I hope that you are not too tired. We will try not to quarrel, argue or fight, so sleep well. God bless you! loving daughter Nastenka."

The daughters also wrote to the Father, whom they also loved and honored immensely. Although these letters are confessional, the measure of love in them is no less expressive. In these letters, the children were more relaxed; they could write as they pleased, which was not possible in correspondence with Mom. The most lively and playful ones were written by Anastasia.
Here is her “message” dated October 28, 1914: “My golden, good, dear Dad! We have just had lunch. So I am sending you my beautiful postcard. I'm sure you'll like it. Today I sat with our soldier and helped him read, which made me very happy... Olga pushes Maria, and Maria screams like an idiot. A dragon and a big idiot. Olga sends you a kiss again. I have already washed my face and must now go to bed. I will finish this letter tomorrow. Greetings Your Imperial Majesty! Good morning! I'm going to drink tea. I slept well without my mother and sisters. Now I have a Russian lesson. Pyotr Vasilyevich reads Turgenev's Notes of a Hunter. Very interesting. I wish you all the best, 1,000,000 kisses. Your devoted and loving daughter, 13-year-old servant of God Anastasia. God bless you."

The kind, loving heart of the youngest Princess, combined with her liveliness and wit, incredibly inspired all those who had the good fortune to communicate with her. During the war, visiting hospitals with her sister Maria, she cheered up the soldiers, making them forget about pain for a while, and consoled all those suffering with her kindness and tenderness. Even many years later, soldiers and officers who once lay in the Tsarskoe Selo infirmaries, when remembering the Tsar’s daughters, according to eyewitnesses, seemed to be illuminated by an unearthly light, brightly recalling those days when the Grand Duchesses leaned over them carefully and tenderly.

The wounded soldiers and officers were keenly interested in the fate of the princesses.

The Holy Martyr Tsarana Anastasia walked with her family the entire mournful path from the Tsarskoye Selo Palace to the basement of the Ipatiev House, which the Lord prepared for them to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the 1920s, a girl appeared in Berlin posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova. The hope burned in the hearts of many Russian people that at least one of the daughters of the Sovereign Martyr had been saved. But these hopes did not come true. Neither the Tsarina's sister Irena of Prussia, nor Baroness Sophia Buchsgeven, nor the mentor of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, recognized her as Anastasia. The girl turned out to be an impostor. Later, more and more impostors appeared. One of the reasons for these appearances was that the so-called. The “royal gold” was bequeathed by the emperor to his youngest daughter. And to this day, the desire to receive the “inheritance” kept by the Japanese emperor haunts many political adventurers who more than once wanted to profit from the tragedy of the Russian people - the betrayal of the Royal Family, which ended in regicide.

Reading the letters of Grand Duchess Anastasia and the memories of those close to her, you involuntarily come to the indisputable conclusion that under no circumstances would the Princess leave her beloved family. Even if she was given a chance to escape, she would never take it. Any of the Royal Martyrs would have done the same, since not one of them wanted to leave Russia and could not imagine himself without his family, where the souls and hearts of the Tsar, Queen, Tsarevich and Grand Duchesses were connected by an unbreakable thread, which even death could not break.

Anastasia was obedient to her parents and older sisters. A meek and silent spirit was inherent in her internally, and not externally, because Anastasia was humble. It is precisely humble, since the word “humility” attracts with the phrase “in peace” hidden in it. Accept everything in peace. Even the bullying of the Red “comrades” and executioners.

On the night of the martyrdom of the Royal Family, Blessed Maria of Diveyevo raged and shouted: "The princesses with bayonets! Damned Jews!" She raged terribly, and only then did they understand what she was screaming about. The wounded Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. The most innocent suffered the greatest torment, truly the Holy Lamb.

Melnik-Botkina’s memoirs mention a conversation between members of the Provisional Government commission to investigate the guilt of the Royal Family. One of its members asked why letters from the Empress and the Grand Duchesses had not yet been published. “What are you saying,” said another, “all the correspondence is here in my desk, but if we publish it, the people will worship them as saints.”

HOLY MARTYR QUEEN ANASTASIA, PRAY TO GOD FOR US!

“At about 3 o’clock Alix began to feel severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 a.m. my daughter was born. Anastasia. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Thanks to the fact that it all started and ended while everyone was still sleeping, we both had a sense of peace and privacy! After that, I sat down to write telegrams and notify relatives in all corners of the world. Fortunately, Alix is feeling well. The baby weighs 11½ pounds and is 55 cm tall.”

This is how the last Russian emperor described in his diary the birth of his youngest, fourth daughter, which occurred on June 18, 1901.

The birth of little Anastasia did not cause delight among the Romanovs. Nicholas's sister, Grand Duchess Xenia, wrote about it like this: “What a disappointment! 4th girl!... Mom telegraphed me about the same thing and writes: “Alix gave birth to a daughter again!”

According to the regulations in force at that time Russian Empire laws introduced Paul I, women could inherit the throne only if all male lines of the family were suppressed. This meant that the heir to the father of four daughters Nicholas II should be his younger brother Mikhail.

This prospect did not please the Romanov clan too much, and Emperor's wife Alexandra Feodorovna and completely infuriating. The empress had high hopes for the fourth birth, but a girl appeared again. Alexandra Fedorovna managed to give birth to an heir only on the fifth attempt.

"Kubushka" who did not like arithmetic

Grand Duchess Anastasia was not threatened with the prospect of taking the throne. Like her sisters, she received home education, which began at the age of eight. The program included French, English and German, history, geography, God's Law, natural sciences, drawing, grammar, arithmetic, as well as dance and music.

While studying, “Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia” had a particular dislike for arithmetic and grammar. Anastasia loved games, dancing, and charades.

Because of her mobility and hooligan disposition, her family called her “shvybzik”, and because of her small stature and prone to plump figure, she was called “little one”.

In accordance with the traditions of the imperial family, at the age of 14, each of the emperor’s daughters became an honorary commander of one of the Russian regiments. In 1915, Anastasia became the honorary commander of the Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment.

Maria and Anastasia in the hospital in Tsarskoe Selo. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

During the First World War, Anastasia and her sister Maria organized concerts for wounded soldiers in hospitals, read to them, and helped them write letters home.

In the spring of 1917, the daughters of Nicholas II, who had already abdicated the throne, contracted measles. Due to high fever and strong medications, the girls' hair began to fall out and their heads were shaved. Their brother Alexei, who was spared the disease, insisted that he be tonsured in the same way as his sisters. In memory of this, a photo was taken - the shaved heads of the emperor's children protruding from behind the black drapery. Today, some see this photo as a dark omen.

Anastasia, Olga, Alexey, Maria and Tatiana after measles (June 1917) Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Life under house arrest for the daughters of Nicholas II was not too burdensome - the girls were not spoiled in the palace, where they grew up in, if not Spartan, then very harsh conditions.

During her stay in Tobolsk, Anastasia was passionate about sewing and preparing firewood.

Birthday at Ipatiev's house

In May 1918, the Romanov family was taken to Yekaterinburg, to the house engineer Ipatiev. On June 18, Anastasia celebrated her 17th birthday.

From left to right - Olga, Nikolay, Anastasia, Tatyana. Tobolsk (winter 1917) Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

By this time, she was almost no longer interested in children's fun - Anastasia, like all girls of her age, was worried about relatively imaginary and real shortcomings own figure. With the outbreak of the war, she, along with her sisters, became addicted to smoking. In the last period before her father’s abdication, Anastasia was fond of photography and loved chatting on the phone.

In the Romanov family there were generally few people with good health, and Anastasia was not one of the chosen ones. Doctors believed that she, like her mother, was a carrier of hemophilia. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of congenital curvature of her big toes. Anastasia had a weak back, but she avoided special exercises and massage aimed at correcting this deficiency in every possible way.

On the night of July 16-17, 1918, Anastasia Romanova was shot in the basement of the house of engineer Ipatiev, along with her sisters, brother, parents and associates.

A short life with a sad ending. But surprisingly, after her death, Anastasia became the most famous representative of the family of Nicholas II in the world, perhaps eclipsing the emperor himself.

The girl from the Berlin clinic

The story of the “miraculous rescue” of Grand Duchess Anastasia has been exciting minds for almost a century. Books have been written about her, films have been made, and in 1997 the full-length cartoon “Anastasia” was released, which collected $140 million at the worldwide box office. “Anastasia” was even nominated for an Oscar for the best song.

Anastasia. Photo: Still from the cartoon

Why did Anastasia, of the entire imperial family, gain such fame?

This happened thanks to a woman named Anna Anderson, who declared herself a Grand Duchess who escaped execution.

In February 1920, a policeman in Berlin saved a young woman who was trying to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge. From the lady’s confused explanations it followed that she was looking for royal relatives in the capital of Germany, but they allegedly rejected her, after which the woman decided to take her own life.

Anna Anderson. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

The failed suicide was sent to a psychiatric clinic, where upon examination they found numerous scars on her body from gunshot wounds. The patient understood Russian, but the doctors still believed that she native language- Polish. At the clinic, she did not give her name and was generally reluctant to enter into conversations.

In 1921, rumors began to circulate especially actively in Europe that one of the daughters of Nicholas II could have survived the execution in Yekaterinburg.

Looking at photographs of the daughters of the Russian emperor published in newspapers, one of the clinic’s patients found that her neighbor was extremely similar to one of them.

This is where the epic of Anna Anderson and Anastasia began.

“I hid behind my sister Tatyana’s back”

Russian emigrants began to visit the clinic, trying to understand whether the unknown woman, suffering from memory loss, was really the daughter of the emperor.

At the same time, they initially said that the patient of the mental hospital was not Anastasia, but Tatyana.

Most of the visitors who knew the royal daughters were convinced that the unknown lady had nothing to do with the children of Nicholas II.

But they noticed that the “princess” grasps everything on the fly - after one visitor, trying to remind her of the “royal past,” told her episodes from the life of the royal daughters, she passed on these words to the next as her own “memories.”

Anna Anderson. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In 1922, Anna Anderson openly declared herself Anastasia Romanova for the first time.

“I was with everyone on the night of the murder, and when the massacre began, I hid behind my sister Tatyana, who was shot dead. I lost consciousness from several blows. When I came to my senses, I discovered that I was in the house of some soldier who had saved me. By the way, I went to Romania with his wife, and when she died, I decided to make my way to Germany alone,” this is how the woman told about her “miraculous salvation.”

The stories of Anna Anderson, who left the clinic and found support from those who believed her, changed over time and were full of inconsistencies. Despite this, opinions on her were divided: some were convinced that Anna Anderson was an impostor, others also firmly insisted that she really was Anastasia.

"Anna Anderson vs. the Romanovs"

In 1928, Anna Anderson moved to the USA, where she began to actively fight for recognition of herself as Anastasia. At the same time, the “Romanov Declaration” appeared, in which the surviving members of the Russian imperial house resolutely disavowed any kinship with her.

The problem, however, was that of the 44 Romanovs, less than half signed this document. Some Romanovs stubbornly supported Anna Anderson, and they were joined by Tatiana And Gleb Botkins, children of the last court physician, who was killed along with the royal family.

In 1928, Gleb Botkin was at the forefront of the creation of the joint-stock company “Grandanor” (“Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia” - that is, “Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia”.

The company intended to defend the interests of Anna Anderson in the courts, seeking her recognition as Anastasia. At stake was “royal gold”—the foreign treasures of the Romanovs, which were valued at tens of millions of dollars. If successful, Anna Anderson was to become their sole heir.

The Anna Anderson v. Romanov trial began in Berlin in 1938 and spanned several decades. It was a series of lawsuits that ended in nothing in 1977. The court found the available evidence of Anna Anderson's relationship with the Romanovs insufficient, although her opponents failed to prove that Anderson was not really Anastasia.

The opponents of “Anastasia” from among the Romanovs, having spent a lot of money on paying private detectives, provided evidence that Anna Anderson is in fact Polish Franziska Shantskovskaya, a worker at a Berlin explosives factory. The wounds on her body, according to this version, were received in an explosion at the enterprise.

Anna Anderson was even confronted with the Shantskovskys, at which they identified her as their relative.

However, not everyone believed their testimony, especially since the Shantskovskys themselves either identified Franziska in Anna or retracted their words.

"Alas, it was not her"

The long trial made the alleged "Anastasia" very famous in the West, inspiring writers and directors to create works about her fate.

At the end of her life, Anna Anderson again found herself in a psychiatric clinic, this time in Charlottesville, in the US state of Virginia. On February 12, 1984, she died of pneumonia. Her body, according to her will, was cremated, and her ashes were buried in the chapel of Zeon Castle in Bavaria.

By 2008, numerous DNA tests on the alleged remains of the royal family found in 1991, carried out by experts in several laboratories various countries, gave an unambiguous conclusion - we are really talking about the family of Nicholas II, and all its representatives really died in Ipatiev’s house.

An analysis of tissue samples from Anna Anderson, taken from her during her lifetime and preserved in the Charlottesville clinic, showed that she has nothing to do with the Romanovs. But two independent DNA tests confirmed her genetic proximity to the Shantskovsky family.

Grand Duchess Anastasia, circa 1912. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Anna Anderson was the most famous, but far from the only false Anastasia. Great-great-grandson of Emperor Nicholas I, Prince Dmitry Romanov said: “In my memory there were from 12 to 19 self-proclaimed Anastasii. In the conditions of the post-war depression, many went crazy. We, the Romanovs, would be happy if Anastasia, even in the person of this very Anna Anderson, turned out to be alive. But, alas, it was not her."

"The Emperor's Children" as "the children of Lieutenant Schmidt"

The prince turned out to be wrong in only one thing - there were much more false Anastasius. To date, 34 “miraculously escaped Anastasias” are known. Most of them did not show such activity as Anna Anderson; some were posthumously ascribed “royal origins” by various lovers of historical secrets.

There were many people among the “Anastasias” - peasant women who revealed the “secret” to their children before their death, patients of psychiatric clinics, and clever scammers who sometimes had nothing to do with Russia at all. The last of the false Anastasias passed away in 2000, but some of their heirs to these women are still fighting to recognize themselves as Romanovs.

“But why Anastasia?” - a natural question from an inquisitive reader will be heard.

In fact, not only Anastasia. “The miraculously saved children of Nicholas II” are no less than the famous “children of Lieutenant Schmidt” from “The Golden Calf.” Researchers of this phenomenon counted 28 false Olgas, 33 false Tatyanas, 53 false Marias. But all the records were broken by the false Alexeys - today there are more than 80 of them. And each has its own story of salvation, its own supporters, confident in the truth of the applicant.

All this has nothing to do with the tragic fate of Alexei, Anastasia, Maria, Tatiana and Olga Romanov, as history False Dmitry has nothing to do with the fate of the unfortunate younger son of Ivan the Terrible.

But sometimes it happens in history that impostors leave a brighter mark on it than those whose names were appropriated.

The main proof of the existence of Grand Duchess Anastasia is historical and genetic examination

Message from Professor Vladlen Sirotkin about the results of the examination

This was announced by Professor of the Diplomatic Academy, Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladlen Sirotkin. According to him, 22 genetic examinations were carried out, photographic examinations were also carried out, that is, comparisons of young Anastasia and the current elderly one, and handwriting examinations, Izvestia.ru reports.

The examination confirmed that Anastasia Romanova is alive

Research confirmed Anastasia Nikolaevna is alive

All studies have confirmed - youngest daughter Nicholas II Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova and the woman under the name Natalya Petrovna Bilikhodze are one and the same person. Genetic examinations were carried out in Japan and Germany. And on the latest equipment(so-called nuclear or computer forensics). There is still no such equipment in Russia.

Documentary evidence

In addition, according to Sirotkin, there is documentary evidence of Anastasia’s escape from the executioner of the royal family, Yurovsky. There is archival evidence that on the eve of her execution Godfather, an officer of the tsarist secret services and an employee of Stolypin Verkhovsky, secretly took Anastasia out of the Ipatiev House and fled with her from Yekaterinburg. (At that time he served in the Cheka).

Together they went to the south of Russia, were in Rostov-on-Don, Crimea, and in 1919 settled in Abkhazia. Subsequently, Verkhovsky guarded Anastasia in Abkhazia, in the mountains of Svaneti, and also in Tbilisi. In addition, Academician Alekseev in the State Archive of the Russian Federation (formerly the Central Archive of the October Revolution) found a stunning document - the testimony of the Tsar’s waitress Ekaterina Tomilova, who, under signature, told the truth, the truth and only the truth, told the investigators of Nikolai Sokolov’s Kolchak Commission that even after July 17, then there is after the execution of the royal family, “I carried... dinner for the royal family and personally saw the sovereign and the whole family.” In other words, Professor Sirotkin noted, since July 18, 1918, the royal family was alive.

However, members of the commission for the study of the remains of the royal family, chaired by Boris Nemtsov, ignored this document and did not include it in their dossier. Moreover, the director of Rosarkhiv, Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Mironenko, a participant in the program about Anastasia on REN-TV, did not include this document in the collection of documents “The Death of the Royal Family” (2001), although Yurovsky’s forged note without any indication that it was not written by Yurovsky , and Pokrovsky, published more than once.

false Anastasia

Meanwhile, there were more than three hundred reports that Anastasia had died, Sirotkin noted. According to him, there were 32 reports of living Anastasias from 1918 to 2002, and each of them “died” 10-15 times. In the real situation there were only two Anastasias. "Anastasia" Andersen, a Polish Jew who was tried twice in the 20-70s of the twentieth century, and Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova (Bilikhodze). It is curious that the second court case of the false Anastasia (Andersen) is in Copenhagen. Neither representatives of Nemtsov’s government commission nor representatives of the Interregional Charitable Christian Foundation of the Grand Duchess were allowed to see him. It is classified until end of XXI century.