The true story of Anastasia, the Russian princess who inspired imposters to take her name

Many people around the world have heard different stories about the late Grand Duchess Anastasia, the “mad monk” Rasputin and the tragic death of the Russian imperial family. For years, confusing versions of events have encouraged the princess’s growing mystery and fascination, which has helped create one of the most famous legends of the last century. Her story inspired the creation of dozens of books and movies that only served to perpetuate the belief that Anastasia had escaped her family’s brutal execution, but today we’re going to tell you what really happened to her.

O awesome.club wants to share with you the story of Anastasia, the Russian princess who inspired one of the most famous legends of the 20th century.

Anastasia dressed in court attire in 1910.

Grand Duchess Anastasia was born on June 18, 1901, at Peterhof Palace, Russia. She was the fourth and youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra. Her birth was met with some disappointment as her parents and the rest of the country yearned for a boy. By then, Russian emperors already had three daughters: Olga, Tatiana and Maria, and they wanted a boy to inherit the throne.

A Russian soldier rides with Anastasia in a cart (left) and her sister Maria.

Every detail of the Tsar’s daughters’ education was supervised by Alexandra, who often sat with them for hours in the classroom. In fact, she was the one who taught her daughters to sew and knit. In 1904, the imperial family grew even more with the desired arrival of the zarevich (heir to the Russian throne), Alexei.

Anastasia with her younger brother, Aleksei.

Despite being part of the imperial family, Anastasia and her siblings had a fairly normal and even frugal life: they slept in simple cribs and performed their tasks. According to various accounts, Anastasia was “a smart and cunning girl” who enjoyed teasing her siblings. Romanov children were brought up by different tutors, as was common among royals at the time. She and her sister Maria were particularly close, as they shared the same room and were only a few years apart. The two were nicknamed “the little duo”, while older sisters Olga and Tatiana were called “the big duo”.

Grigori Rasputin was known as the “mad monk” in the Russian imperial court.

Although he played no formal role within the Russian Orthodox Church, Grigori Rasputin had a major influence on Tsarina Alexandra, who credited the miraculous healing abilities she had to her unshakable faith in God. He himself claimed that he possessed healing powers, for which the Tsarina often called him to pray and heal her son, Alexei, who was hemophiliac.

Encouraged by their mother, Romanov’s children saw the monk as a friend and confidant. They often wrote him letters, which he responded kindly. However, around 1912, one of the family’s housekeepers became concerned when she found Rasputin visiting the girls while they were only wearing nightgowns. The woman was fired, but she first told other family members what she had seen.

Rasputin with Alexandra, their five children and the children’s tutor in 1910.

By most accounts, there was nothing inappropriate about Rasputin’s relationship with the children. For 10 years he enjoyed the affection of Nicholas and Alexandra, who were grateful to the monk for his ability to heal Alexei when he was under attack. This is how he became a kind of curator in the Russian imperial court, which allowed him to accumulate a great fortune and social status.

Alexandra, along with her four daughters—Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia—in the front row looking straight into the camera.

Over time, the rumors began to get out of control and even said that Rasputin was having an affair with the Tsarina and her daughters. To stop the gossip, Nicholas expelled him from court for a time. Eventually he returned to the capital, but in December 1916 he was murdered by a group of aristocrats who were uncomfortable with his influence over the Tsarina. Anastasia and her siblings were devastated by their friend’s death.

Maria and Anastasia (right) visiting wounded soldiers during World War I.

In 1914, World War I broke out and the Tsarina converted several of the palaces into hospitals for the wounded. Together with her two eldest daughters, she volunteered for the Red Cross as a nurse. Anastasia and Maria were too young to bond with their mother and sisters, so instead they visited wounded soldiers and played with them to lighten their mood.

Three years later, in February 1917, the Russian Revolution began. Citizens protested the food rationing that had taken place since the beginning of the war and the general discontent against the tsars, especially Tsarina Alexandra. They even asked that Nicholas II abdicate the throne. For eight days there were clashes and riots in front of the palace where Anastasia, her mother and brothers were. Members of the Russian army began to defect and join the revolutionary forces. Around 1,500 people died in the protests that culminated in the royal family being placed under house arrest.

The Tsar, Nicholas II, and his son, Alexei. Around 1916.

Aboard a train, Nicholas II renounced the throne on behalf of himself and his son, Alexei, naming his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as his successor. However, quickly realizing that he would have no support, the latter rejected the offer, leaving Russia without a monarchy for the first time in its history and ending the Romanov dynasty, which reigned for 300 years. An interim government was formed and kept the family under house arrest.

Anastasia in Tobolsk, Siberia, in 1918.

In August 1917, the provisional government decided to move the royal family from the palace to avoid being caught by the Bolsheviks, who demanded the head of the tsars. The Romanovs were sent to Tobolsk, Siberia. Together with his servants, they settled in the former governor’s house. The family was not mistreated during their time there, and the children continued classes with their father and tutor Pierre Gilliard. Alexandra, despite her failing health, was in charge of sewing and even playing music. When the Bolsheviks took over Russia, the family was transferred once more, this time to a house in Yekaterinburg.

Anastasia with her father, Nicholas, and her sisters, Olga and Tatiana, during the winter of 1917, while they all remained in captivity in Siberia.

In mid-1918, Anastasia, Olga, Tatiana and Alekséi were separated from their parents and sister Maria, who moved to Yekaterinburg. Anastasia and the brothers spent time in Tobolsk while Alexei was recovering from a bout of hemophilia. In May of that year, the family was reunited at the Ipatiev house, better known as “the special purpose house”. At that time, the Romanovs were in the custody of the Bolsheviks, who generally despised them.

In Ipatiev, the family was under the command of Yakov Yurovsky, a revolutionary who imposed severe restrictions: the Romanovs could only exercise for one hour in the garden and had no contact with the outside world. In this way, the revolutionaries wanted to prevent Nicholas from making plans to retake the government or fleeing.

Anastasia with her brother, Aleksei, and two sisters, in 1917.

At 2:15 am on July 17, 1918, White Army troops were approaching Yekaterinburg. To prevent the family from being discovered and released, the Bolsheviks gave the order to assassinate the Romanovs.

They forced Nicholas and the rest of the family, along with their faithful servants, to dress and quickly descend to the basement of the house to line up and be photographed. Then Yakov Yurovsky entered the room and formally sentenced the imperial family to death. The execution, which was supposed to be quick and trouble-free, took about 20 minutes. The Tsar was the first to fall, and soon his wife and Alexei followed. Anastasia, Tatiana and Maria suffered more painful deaths than the others.

Anastasia and her sisters, 1910.

According to “Yurovsky’s Notes”, once the thick smoke that filled the room with the multiple shots fired at close range cleared, it was possible to hear the girls complaining of pain in the background and they discovered that the soldiers’ bullets had bounced off the corsets of Anastasia, Tatiana and Maria. Previously, Alexandra had instructed her daughters to sew the royal family jewels and diamonds inside the corset linings to hide them from their captors. In this way, the robes served as a kind of “armor” against bullets.

According to Yurovsky’s account, Anastasia and Maria tried to crouch against a wall, covering their heads for protection, until they were finally hit by the bullets. As the soldiers placed the corpses of the Romanovs and their servants on stretchers to be taken away, one of the girls started crying and covered her face with her arm, so she was beaten by the soldiers on the back of the head to keep her silent.

The Grand Duchess Anastasia in 1914.

The mystery surrounding the Romanovs’ deaths was intentional, as the Bolsheviks carried out a disinformation campaign about the family’s fate for nearly a decade. They only reported the Tsar’s death, but gave no information about the rest. Furthermore, they never revealed the burial site, which remained hidden until its discovery, 61 years after the execution. Due to uncertainty, rumors and conspiracy theories, imposters began to emerge claiming to be the lost children of Nicholas and Alexandra.

The five sons of Tsar Nicholas II.

From the 1920s onwards, numerous women began to appear posing as the Grand Duchess. One of them, Eugenia Smith, wrote her “memoirs” as Anastasia, which included a lengthy description of how she had escaped her captors. Another was Nadezhda Vasilyeva, who appeared in Siberia and was imprisoned by the Bolshevik authorities. And then, in 2000, appeared Natalya Bilikhodze, who traveled to Russia to claim the imperial family fortune.

Anna Anderson, the imposter who claimed to be Anastasia. Around 1920.

Anna Anderson was perhaps the best known of the imposters. She claimed that she, claiming to be Anastasia, had been injured during her family’s execution, but survived and was rescued from the basement by a soldier who fell in love…