Mystery of murdered Russian Tsar's missing children solved by DNA study - Telegraph Russia Mystery of murdered Russian Tsar's missing children solved by DNA study All five children of Russia's last Tsar were murdered by the Bolsheviks, according to a new DNA analysis that ends decades of conspiracy theories about family members who had escaped abroad. Russia's last tsar Nicholas II (L) and his wife Tsarina Alexander Fyodorovna (2ndR) and children Prince Alexei and Princesses Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia Photo: EPA By Alastair Jamieson 8:13AM GMT 11 Mar 2009 A study based on detailed evidence from the exhumed remains of the Romanovs concludes the whole family was slaughtered in 1918 in the wake of the Russian revolution. The results show none of the children of Tsar Nicholas II or his wife Tsarina Alexandra survived the execution, ending speculation that surviving members of the dynasty had fled the country to start a new life elsewhere. The gunshot-and-bayonet murders took place in July 1918 in a cellar in the city of Ekaterinburg, central Russia.

Since then, about 200 people have claimed to descend from one or other of the Romanovs who had somehow survived the slaughter in the basement of Ipatiev House. The claims were bolstered by the fact that the grave in which the Romanovs were buried was found to contain the bodies of only three of the children when it was finally examined following the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991. Related Articles Body of last tsar's mother brought back to Russia - Telegraph Body of last tsar's mother brought back to Russia Image 1 of 2 A coffin, draped with the imperial flag, containing the remains of Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna is carried by a guard of honour Maria married Tsar Alexander III in 1866 By Adrian Blomfield, in Moscow 12:01AM BST 27 Sep 2006 To the sounds of a 31-gun salute, the remains of Russia's last dowager empress returned to her adopted homeland yesterday almost nine decades after she fled the Bolshevik revolution that claimed the lives of her son and grandchildren.

Maria Fyodorovna, the mother of Nicholas II , Russia's last tsar, will be laid to rest tomorrow after three days of commemorations that will force Russia to consider the bloody end of its imperial past. Descendants of the Romanov dynasty gathered at the Baltic port of Kronstadt as the tsarina's coffin, draped in the imperial flag, was brought ashore from a Danish frigate. A military band played a 19th century funeral march as Danish and Russian soldiers formed a guard of honour, marching side by side for the first time. Related Articles Romanovs move from tsardom to sainthood 16 Aug 2000 After a brief ceremony, the tsarina's body was taken to the imperial summer residence at Peterhof, 20 miles south-east of St Petersburg, where it will lie in state. The solemn commemorations marked the culmination of years of negotiations between Moscow and Copenhagen to repatriate the Danish-born empress. Born Princess Dagmar of the Danish royal house, Maria married Tsar Alexander III in 1866, arriving in Russia exactly 140 years before her remains were returned.

She was to stay for more than half a century, becoming popular among ordinary Russians who admired her tact, beauty and charitable works. She was to outlive her husband, son and at least three of her five grandchildren. Even though a Bolshevik firing squad executed Nicholas II and his family in 1918, she refused to leave the country she had grown to love. She was eventually persuaded to flee aboard a British cruiser sent by her nephew, George V, in 1919. She came to Britain but felt eclipsed by her sister, Queen Alexandra, and later moved to Denmark. Refusing to accept the deaths at Yekaterinburg, she continued to write to her son and interviewed several women claiming to be her granddaughter Anastasia, said by some to have escaped the Bolsheviks. She died in 1928 and was buried at Roskilde, Denmark's royal cathedral. Her spoken desire to be buried in Russia could not be contemplated until the fall of communism. Moves towards her return began when Nicholas II, his wife and three of their five children were exhumed and buried in St Petersburg in 1998.

"This ceremony is a symbol of life in a new Russia," said Valentina Matviyenko, governor of St Petersburg. "It is also a very significant act of restoring our historical memory." Thousands of Russians are expected to line the streets of St Petersburg to watch the tsarina's last journey to the Peter and Paul fortress where she will be placed in the Romanov vault. It is unclear if President Vladimir Putin will attend although members of every royal house in Europe are expected, including Prince and Princess Michael of Kent who will officially represent the Queen, Maria's great-great niece. Royal Russia - The Fate of the Romanovs: The Survivors THE FATE OF THE ROMANOVS THE SURVIVORS The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich, Jr., Princess Irina Alexandrovna Yussoupova, and her husband, Prince Felix Felixovich Yussoupov These pages are maintained by Royal Russia and Gilbert's Royal Books. © 2004-2010. All Rights Reserved. © Professor Kent Sole, Department of Politcial Science, Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus, Georgia.

The bulk of the research and writing of this article was done by Professor Kent Sole, Department of Politcial Science at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia. It was originally published in the Imperial Russian Journal, Volume Two, Number One, 1995 and is reprinted here with permission. This article has been further edited and updated since 1995 by Paul Gilbert, Web Site Administrator, Royal Russia, the most recent update being 22 May, 2012. The fate of Russia's last Imperial Family is well known throughout the world. But what ever became of the other members of the Imperial House of Russia after the Empire was swallowed up by the Bolshevik Revolution? When Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the Russian Throne in March of 1917 there were fifty-three Romanovs living in Russia. One of these, the Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich died of pneumonia at Tashkent on 26 January 1918. He was buried in St George's Cathedral Tashkent (later demolished by the Soviet regime) and although the revolution had started he had a state funeral as he was so admired by the local population.

Of the remaining fifty-two, seventeen were murdered by the Bolsheviks! The remaining thirty-five members of the family all escaped by various methods narrowly managing to escape the same fate as their relatives. In addition to the thirty-five full-fledged members of the family, there were also a number of quasi-Romanovs resulting from morganatic marriages of various male members of the family. Of these, only Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley and the Prince Artemi Nicholaievich were murdered. Several notes of explanation are necessary before proceeding. Only the children and grandchildren of Emperors bore the title of Grand Duke or Grand Duchess while the great-grandchildren of an Emperor bore the title of Prince or Princess of the Imperial Blood. The second name of an individual simply indicates the name of his or her father. Therefore, Vladimir Kyrilovich means Vladimir son of Kyril; Marie Vlaidimirovna means Marie daughter of Vladimir. At the time of the Revolution the Romanov family was divided into four large branches--the Alexandrovichi, including the Vladimirovich and Pavlovich sub-branches; the Constantinovichi; the Nicholaievichi; and the Mikhailovichi.

Each was descended from the four sons of Emperor Nicholas I. This examination of The Survivors begins with those members of the family that did not survive the Revolution. 1. Emperor Nicholas II 2. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, former Princess of Hesse and their five children: 3. Czarevich Alexis Nicholaievich 4. Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna 5. Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna 6. Grand Duchess Maria Nicholaievna 7. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna These seven, the immediate Imperial Family were murdered in Ekaterinburg in July 1918. 8. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the Emperor's brother, was murdered at Perm in July 1918. He was technically the last Emperor since his brother abdicated in his favour and the Grand Duke Michael did not himself renounce the throne for twenty-four hours. 9. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Princess of Hesse. She was a sister of the Empress Alexandra and widow of the Emperor's uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was murdered in 1905 by a terrorist bomb.

His remains were found beneath a parking lot in Moscow in 1995 and were reburied on 17 September 1995 in the chapel of the Novospassky Monastery. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was the Abbess of the Convent of Sisters of Mercy of Martha and Mary which she founded in 1910. The Order was re-founded by her niece, Princess Alice of Greece, the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1949. 10. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, cousin of the Emperor. 11. Prince Ioann Constantinovich. 12. Prince Igor Constantinovich. 13. Prince Constantine Constantinovich The three princes were sons of the Emperor's cousin the late Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich. These five, along with the Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, son of the morganatic marriage of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, were thrown down a mine shaft at Alapaevsk in July 1918. Their bodies were later recovered and the Grand Duchess Elizabeth was buried in St. Mary Magdalene's Church, Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The others were buried at the Church of the Martyrs near Beijing, China.

14. Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, the Emperor's uncle. 15. Grand Duke Dmitri Constantinovich, cousin of the Emperor. 16. Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, cousin of the Emperor, along with his brother 17. Grand Duke George Mikhailovich. These four Grand Dukes were murdered at the Fortress of Peter and Paul in Petrograd in January 1919. The Fortress was the traditional burial place of the Romanovs. All the murdered Romanovs, with the exception of Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, were canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1981. Grand Duke Nicholas was considered to be too leftist in his leanings by the Church. Now that the list of the dead has been established, we can proceed to those who survived and the method of their escape. For convenience, The Survivors are listed by groups and in order of their escape. The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, and Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich, Jr., departing Yalta on board the HMS Marlborough. 8 April, 1919 GROUP 1 1. Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich, the Emperor's cousin. 2.

Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, Princess of Great Britain, and their two young daughters: 3. Princess Marie Kyrilovna. 4. Princess Kira Kyrilovna. The Grand Duke obtained permission from the Provisional Government to move his family from Petrograd to Borga in Finland and left the capital by train in June 1917. Grand Duchess Victoria gave birth to their only son, Grand Duke Vladimir Kyrilovich, the following month. The family remained in Finland until May 1920 when they moved to Germany. Grand Duke Vladimir Kyrilovich died in Miami, Florida on 21 April, 1992. With the departure of the Grand Duke Kyril and family in June 1917, Romanov emigration abroad would be terminated until late 1918. During the intervening year and a half the Bolsheviks would come to power and drop out of the War, having signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk with Germany in 1918. Many of the Romanovs would move into the southern Russia areas around the Black Sea during this same time period.

Some, like Prince Gabriel Constantinovich, would be temporarily imprisoned; some, like the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, would be placed under house arrest; all would be harrassed by rival and competing Soviets. But there seemed to exist one singular trait among the Romanovs remaining in the country. This was the desire--or duty to some--to remain in Russia until no other course of action was open to them. Indeed, the King of Sweden offered the services of his diplomatic missions in Russia to all Romanovs and both the French and British send ships into the Black Sea to evacuate members of the family. All of these offers of rescue were rebuffed until, for some, it was too late. Finally, as the situation became more and more desperate, the family began to trickle out of Russia in small groups. It was not until February 1920, three years after the Emperor's abdication, that the last surviving Romanovs left the country. GROUP II 5. Prince Gabriel Constantinovich and his morganatic wife (Antonia Raphailovna Nesterovskia). Prince Gabriel was the eldest surviving son of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich.

He had been imprisoned in Petrograd, but was released and allowed to go to Finland through the intervention of the writer Maxim Gorki whose talent as a writer had been recognized by Prince Gabriel's father. Gorki was unsuccessful in his attempts to save the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich. GROUP III 6. Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna, Princess of Saxe-Altenburg. At the invitation of Queen Victoria of Sweden and with the permission of the Communist government, she left Petrograd for neutral Sweden on the Swedish ship Angermanland in November 1918. She was the widow of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich, who was the last Romanov formally buried at the Fortress of Peter and Paul. She was also the mother of the three Constantinovichi princes murdered at Alapaevks. Accompanying the Grand Duchess were her two youngest children: 7. Prince George Constantinovich. 8. Princess Vera Constantinovich. and her two grandchildren, the children of the murdered Prince Ioann Constantinovich and Princess Helen Petrovna: 9. Prince Vsevelod Ioannovich. 10. Princess Katherine Ioannovna.

Also in the party were Prince and Princess Schakhowskoy (he was the head of the Grand Duchess's household), and a maid and a nanny. GROUP IV 11. Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna (the younger), a cousin of the Emperor and her husband Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Puliatin who left Petrograd by train for the German held south in July 1918. From there they moved to Austrian occupied Odessa and at the invitation of Queen Marie of Roumania crossed the frontier into that country in late November 1918. GROUP V 12. Princess Helen Petrovna was the daughter of the King of Serbia and widow of the murdered Prince Ioann Constantinovich. Princess Helen had served as a nurse during the War and had joined her husband in the Urals, but was arrested and sent to Perm and later Moscow. She was rescued through the intervention of neutral Norway and allowed to leave Russia in December 1918. GROUP VI 13. Dowager Queen Olga of Greece, the Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna. She was the grandmother of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger) and sister of the murdered Grand Duke Dmitri Constantinovich.

Queen Olga had gone back to her homeland to establish a military hospital as soon as the War had begun in 1914. She was permitted to leave Russia with her lady-in-waiting and maid through the intervention of the Danish government in December 1918. GROUP VII 14. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the Emperor's cousin and brother-in-law, had fled with his family to the Crimea and left Russia from Yalta on HMS Forsythe in December 1918 to attend the Paris Peace Conference as the representative of the Romanov family. He was accompanied by his eldest son: 15. Prince Andrew Alexandrovich and his wife (Donna Elizabeth Ruffo di Sant' Antimo). GROUP VIII 16. Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich, the Emperor's cousin, and his mistress and future wife (Zina Sergeivna Raschevskia) left Russia by boat from Anapa in the Caucasus in March 1919. The Grand Duke along with his brother, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, had been arrested and briefly imprisoned at Kislovodsk in the summer of 1918.

GROUP IX A large number of Romanovs, headed by the Emperor's mother, had gathered at the Villa Ai Todor in the Crimea throughout 1917. In February 1918, this group was split and the major members, including the Dowager Empress, were placed under detention at the Villa Dulber near Yalta. The following month they were freed by the Germans who had occupied the area after signing the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. In the summer of 1918 they were moved to the Villa Harax near Sevastopol and joined the Ai Todor group in March 1919. They were rescued by two British battleships, HMS Marlborough and HMS Lord Nelson, which had been sent by King George V. This party left Russia from Yalta in April 1919. Photo of the HMS Marlborough, signed by many members of the Russian Imperial family Source: Close of a Dynasty by Vice Admiral Sir Francis Pridham, KBE, CB H.M.S. MARLBOROUGH 17. Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, Princess of Denmark and mother of Emperor Nicholas II. Her daughter: 18.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, wife of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, and their daughter and five sons: 19. Princess Irina Alexandrovna Yussoupova, her husband (Prince Felix Felixovich Yussoupov, the murderer of Rasputin) and their daughter (Princess Irina Felixovna Yussoupova) and in-laws (Prince Felix Felixovich and Princess Zenaida Nicholaievna Yussoupov). 20. Prince Feodor Alexandrovich. H.M.S. NELSON 25. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich, the Emperor's uncle and his wife: 26. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna, Princess of Montenegro and her two children from a previous marriage (Prince Sergei Georgevich of Leuchtenberg and Princess Helen Georgevna of Leuchtenberg and her husband Count Stephan Tyszkiewicz). 27. Grand Duke Peter Nicholaievich, the brother of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich, and his wife: 28. Grand Duchess Militza Nicholaievna, Princess of Montenegro, and their children: 29. Prince Roman Petrovich. 30.

Princess Marina Petrovna. 31. Princess Nadejda Petrovna Orlov, her husband (Prince Nicholas Vladimirovich Orlov) and their daughter (Princess Irina Nicholaievna Orlov). In order to insure her safety the Dowager Empress had been separated from the Nicholaeivichi. The Montenegrin Grand Duchesses, known as the "black peril" because of their devotion to occultism and mysticism, had been responsible for introducing the Empress Alexandra to Rasputin and an attempt on their lives by patriots was feared. GROUP X 32. Princess Tatiana Constantinovna, the widow of Prince Constantine Alexandrovich Bagration-Moukhransky and daughter of the late Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich, and her two children (Prince Teymuraz Constantinovich Bagration and Princess Natalia Constantinovna Bagration). Princess Tatiana had been living with her uncle, Grand Duke Dmitri Constantinovich, at Strelna and after his arrest she fled into the south with her uncle's A.D.C. Col. A.V. Korotchenzov.

This party moved through Kiev and Odessa and finally into Roumania at the invitation of Queen Marie in 1919. GROUP XI 33. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and her husband (Nicholas Alexandrovich Koulikovsky) and their two infant sons (Tihon Nicholaievich and Guri Nicholaievich). The Grand Duchess and her husband had fled into the Crimea with her mother, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna but left the group of Romanovs and fled along the coast until finally managing to escape by boat in early February 1920. It was during this time that the two sons were born. GROUP XII 34. Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna (the elder), Duchess of Mecklenburg, the widow of the Emperor's uncle, the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. The Grand Duchess Marie, known as the "grandest of the grand duchesses" had refused to leave Russia on any ship that was going to dock in Constantinople for fear that she would be subjected to the indignity of delousing.

She finally left from Novorossisk in late February 1920 on the Italian liner Semiranisa which by-passed that Turkish city. Accompanying the Grand Duchess was her younger son: 35. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and his mistress and future wife (Princess Marie Krassinskia--she was Mathilde F. Kschessinska the Prima Ballerina Absoluta of the Mariensky Theater in Petrograd and had formerly been the mistress of the Emperor while he was a Grand Duke) and their son (Prince Vladimir Andreivich Krassinsky). With the departure of the Grand Duchess Marie and her son in February 1920, the Romanov family which had ruled Russia since 1613 was decisively removed from a position of world influence and importance. An additional eight Romanovs were living abroad at the time of the Revolution. A. Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich had been exiled to the Persian frontier for his part in Rasputin's murder. B. Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich was living in exile in London because of his morganatic marriage. C.

Grand Duchess Marie Georgevna, Princess of Greece, the wife of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich who was to be murdered in 1919, was visiting London when the War began in 1914 and had been unable to return to Russia. With the Grand Duchess were her two daughters: D. Prncess Nina Georgevna. E. Princess Xenia Georgevna. F. Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna, Dowager Grand Duchess of Saxe-Coburg of Edinburgh, was living in Germany. G. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna, Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg, was living in France. H. Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, was living in Greece. AFTERWARDS 1. The Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich proclaimed himself Head of the Imperial House of Russia and Curator of the Throne on 8 August 1922 and Czar and Autocrat of all the Russias on 31 August 1924, thus perpetuating the grand ducal title through his line. He settled with his family first at Coburg and then at St. Briac, France.

He died at Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1938 and his autobiography My Life in Russia's Service--Then and Now, was published after his death in 1939. On 7 March 1995, his remains where intered in the Grand Ducal Vault of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. 2. His wife, the Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, died at Amorbach, Germany in 1936. She was a grand daughter of both Emperor Alexander II and Queen Victoria. She had first married the Empress Alexandra's brother, the Grand Duke Ernst of Hesse. Their divorce and her subsequent marraige to the Grand Duke Kyril had caused a breech in the Imperial Family. On 7 March 1995, her remains where intered in the Grand Ducal Vault of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg. 3.

Their eldest daughter, the Grand Duchess (after her father proclaimed himself Czar) Marie Kyrilovna, married Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen and died at Madrid in 1951 while visiting her brother the Grand Duke Vladimir. 4. The second daughter, the Grand Duchess Kira Kyrilovna, married Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, head of the Imperial House of Germany, and also died while visiting her brother at St. Briac in 1967. 5. Prince Gabriel Constantinovich of Russia, after the death of his first wife in 1950, married the Princess Irina Ivanovna Kurakine and died without issue at Paris in 1955. He was the author of Memories in the Marble Palace, the only English translation of which was said to have been lost in the bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984. In 2009, Gilbert's Books in Canada, published the first English translation of his memoirs. 6. The Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna lived for two years in Sweden, then two years in Belgium and finally moved to her brother's palace at Altenburg, Germany.

She died of cancer at Leipzig in 1927. 7. Prince George Constantinovich of Russia became a succesful interior decorator and died of complications following surgery in New York City at the age of 35 in 1938. 8. Princess Vera Constantinovna of Russia lived at Altenburg, Germany until 1945, when for the second time in her life she had to flee from the Communists. She moved to the United States in 1951 and spent her remaining years at the Tolstoy Foundation Center in Nyack, New York. She died at the Tolstoy Foundation's elderly care home in Nyack, New York on 11 January 2001, at the age of 95. She was buried next to her brother Prince George Constantinovich at the cemetery of the Russian Orthodox Monastery of Novo-Diveyevo in Nanuet, New York. Of all the members of the Romanov family in Imperial Russia, only her niece Princess Catherine Ivanovna outlived her. Princess Vera never married and left no children.

In the spring of 2007 the Pavlovsk Palace, where she was born, held an exhibit about her and her family, commemorating what would have been her 101st birthday. 9. Prince Vsevelod Ioannovich of Russia married Lady Mary Lygon, Emilia de Gosztonyi and Valli Knust. He died at London in 1973 without issue. 10. Princess Katherine Ioannovna married Ruggero, the late marchese Farace de Villaforesta and lived in Montevideo, Uruguay where she died on 13 March 2007. She was the last member of the Imperial Family to be born before the fall of the dynasty, and was ultimately to become the last surviving uncontested dynast of the Imperial House of Russia. 11. The Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna (the younger) divorced Prince Putiatin in 1923. Her first marriage had been to Prince Vilhelm of Sweden and they had one son, Count Lennart Bernadotte.

Grand Duchess marie wrote The Education of a Princess in 1930 and died at her son's estate on the Island of Mainau, Germany in 1958. 12. Princess Helen Petrovna returned to Serbia with her two children. She subsequently settled in France, wrote a book of memoirs and died at Nice in 1962. 13. Queen Olga returned to Greece and served as Regent from October to December 1920. She went into exile when Greece became a republic in 1924 and died at Rome, Italy in 1926. She was the grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. 14. The Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich separated from the Grand Duchess Xenia and died at Roquebrune, France in 1933. He was the author of Once a Grand Duke (1932) and Always a Grand Duke (1933). 15. His son, Prince Andrew Alexandrovich, spent the remainder of his life in Britain. After his first wife's death in 1940, he married Nadine McDougall and died in 1981.

He had three children by his first marriage and one by his second marriage. 16. The Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich died at Paris without issue in 1943. His wife Zina died in 1952. 17. The Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna settled first with her sister, Queen Mother Alexandra of Britain and then moved to her native Denmark where she died at the Villa Hvidore, near Copenhagen in 1928. She never accepted the fate of her sons and grandchildren nor acknowledged Anna Anderson, the Anastasia claimant. In 2005, Queen Margarethe II of Denmark and President Vladimir Putin of Russia and their respective governments agreed that the Empress's remains should be returned to Saint Petersburg in accordance with her wish to be interred next to her husband. A number of ceremonies took place from 23 to 28 September 2006. The funeral service, attended by high dignitaries, including the current Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

On 26 September 2006, a statue of Maria Feodorovna was unveiled near her favourite Cottage Palace in Peterhof. Following a service at Saint Isaac's Cathedral, she was interred next to her husband Alexander III in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on 28 September 2006, 140 years after her first arrival to Russia and almost 78 years after her death. 18. The Emperor's sister, the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, having separated from her husband, the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich lived the rest of her life as a "grace and favor" guest of the British Monarchs at Hampton Court Palace. She died at Wilderness House, Hampton Court in early 1960. 19. Her daughter, Princess Irina Alexandrovna Yussoupovna, and her family settled in Paris. In 1934, Princes Irina sued MGM for libel and won $375,000 and in 1965 Prince Felix sued Columbia Broadcasting for invasion of privacy and lost. Prince Felix wrote Rasputin (1927) and Lost Splendour (1953).

Prince Felix died in 1967 and Princess Irina in 1970. 20. Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia married the Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley, daughter of the Grand Duke Paul. They had one son and subsequently divorced. Prince Feodor died at Ascain, France in 1968. 21. Prince Nikita Alexandrovich of Russia married Countess Maria Ilarionovna Woronzov-Daschkov. He died at Cannes in 1974, having two sons. 22. Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia married Countess Maria Sergeivna Golenistcheff-Kutuzov and Sheila Chisholm (Lady Milbanke). He died at London in 1980 and is survived by one daughter. 23. Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich of Russia married Princess Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine, Alice Baker and Hedwig von Chappius. He died in France in 1978 and is survived by two sons. 24.

Prince Vassili Alexandrovich of Russia married the Princess Natalia Alexievna Galitzine, has one daughter and lived in Woodside, California until his death in 1989. 25. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian armies 1914-15, retired to Cap d'Antibes, France and died there in 1929. He was recognized by many as the Head of the Imperial Family. 26. His wife, the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna died at Cap d'Antibes in 1935. 27. The Grand Duke Peter Nicholaievich died at Cap'd'Antibes in 1931. 28. His wife, the Grand Duchess Militza Nicholaievna then settled in Rome with her sister Queen Elena of Italy. Grand Duchess Militza accompanied the Italian Royal Family into exile in Alexandria, Egypt and died there in 1951. 29.

Her son, Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia, also settled in Italy, married Countess Prascovia Dmitrievna Sheremeteff, had two sons and died in Rome in 1978. Prince Roman's memoirs were published in German and Danish in 1991. 30. Princess Marina Petrovna married the late Prince Alexander Nicholaievich Galitzine and died in 1981. 31. Princess Nadejda Petrovna divorced Prince Orlov and died in France in 1988 at the age of 90, the greatest age ever attained by a Romanov at the time. 32. Princess Tatiana Constantinovna was married in Switzerland in 1921 to Alexander Vassilievich Korotchenzov who died three months later. She subsequently became Mother Tamara, Abbess of the Orthodox Convent of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. She died there in 1979 at the age of 89. 33.

The Emperor's youngest sister, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, accompanied her mother to Denmark and after World War II moved to Canada where she died in late 1960 at Cooksville, near Toronto. Her husband had died two years earlier. 34. The "Grand" Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna (the elder) having finally escaped Russia in late February 1920, died at Contrexeville, France in September of the same year. Thus, the last to leave was the first to die. 35. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich died at Paris in 1956. His wife the ballerina-princess Marie/Mathilde ran a ballet school (she taught Margot Fonteyn) until she was 92; wrote Dancing in Petersburg; and died at Paris in 1971 at the age of 99. Their son Prince Vladimir Andreivich Krassinsky died in 1974 unmarried. THOSE ABROAD A. The Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich married Audrey Emery, had one son and died at Davos, Switzerland in 1942. B.

The Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich died at London in 1929. C. The Grand Duchess Marie Georgevna married the Greek Vice-Admiral Pericles Joannides and died at Athens in 1940. She was the aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Her autobiography, A Romanov Diary was published in 1988. D. Her daughter Princess Nina Georgevna of Russia married Prince Paul Alexandrovich Chavchavadze and died at Wellfleet, Massachusetts in 1974. E. Her sister, Princess Xenia Georgevna, married William Leeds and herman Jud and died at Glen Cove, New York in 1965. She gained notoriety for hosting and giving support to Anna Anderson, the Anastasia claimant. F. Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna died at Zurich, Switzerland in 1920. She was the daughter of Emperor Alexander II, daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria and mother of Queen Marie of Roumania and the Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna. G. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna died at Eze, France in 1922.

She was the mother of Queen Alexandrine of Denmark and Crown-Princess Cecelie of Germany. H. Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna died at Athens, Greece in 1957. She was the mother of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent and aunt by marriage of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. APPENDIX I There were also several morganatic wives and children of various members of the Imperial Family that escaped or were living abroad at the time of the Revolution. a. Princess Katherine Mikhailovna Jurievska, the widow of Czar Alexander II. She died at Nice, France in 1922. Her two daughters: b. Princess Olga Alexandrovna was married to Count George of Merenburg, the brother of Countess Torby. She died at Wiesbaden in 1925. c. Princess Katherine Alexandrovna was married to her second husband Prince Sergei Obolensky, whom she later divorced. She died at North Hayling, Britain in 1959. d. Countess Natalie Sergeievna Brassova, the widow of the murdered Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. She died in Paris in 1952.

Her son: e. Prince George Mikhailovich Brassov died as a result of an auto accident at Auxerre, France in 1931. f. Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley, widow of the murdered Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and mother of the murdered Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley. She died at Paris in 1929. Her daughters: g. Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley married and subsequently divorced Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia and remarried Hubert de Monbrison. She died at Biarritz, France in 1990. h. Princess Natalie Pavlovna Paley, married Lucien Lelong and John Wilson. She died in New York in 1981. i. Nadejda Alexandrovna Dreyer, widow of Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich and mother of the murdered Prince Artemi Iskander. She died in 1929. Her son: j. Prince Alexander Nicholaievich Iskander died at Grasse, France in 1957. His wife and two children disappeared in Russia during the Revolution. k.

Countess Sophie Nicholaievna Torby, wife of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich, was living in London where she died in 1929. Their three children were living in London: l. Countess Anastasia Mikhailovna married Sir Harald Wernher and died at Luton, Britain in 1973. m. Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna married George Mountbatten, a second marquess of Milford haven and died at Cannes, France in 1963. She was aunt by marriage of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. n. Count Michael Mikhailovich Torby became a successful painter and died unmarried at London in 1959. DNA testing ends mystery surrounding Czar Nicholas II children - latimes YOU ARE HERE: LAT Home → Collections → Mysteries DNA testing ends mystery surrounding Czar Nicholas II children With bone fragment analysis, scientists put to rest the rumors that two children might have escaped the royal family's murder during the Russian Revolution. March 11, 2009 |Thomas H.

Maugh II The most enduring and romantic legend of the Russian Revolution -- that two children of Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, survived the slaughter that killed the rest of their family -- may finally be put to rest with the positive identification of bone fragments from a lonely Russian grave. The czar and his family were gunned down and stabbed by members of the Red Guard early on the morning of July 17, 1918, but rumors have persisted that two of the children, the Grand Duchess Anastasia and her brother Alexei, survived, perhaps because the diamonds sewn into their clothes blocked attempts to kill them. Those hopes were bolstered with the 1991 revelation that nine bodies of Romanov family members and servants had been found in a Yekaterinberg grave, but that a son and daughter were still missing. Now, newly analyzed DNA evidence from a second, nearby grave discovered in 2007 proves that the bones are those of two Romanov children, ending the mystery once and for all. A report on the analysis was published online Tuesday in the journal PloS One.

For The Record Los Angeles Times Thursday, March 12, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction Russian czar's family: An article in Wednesday's Section A about DNA analysis of remains of Czar Nicholas II's family said that the grandmother of Britain's Prince Philip was the sister of the czarina's grandmother. His grandmother was the sister of the czarina. "I think it is very compelling evidence that this family has been reunited finally," said geneticist Terry Melton of Mitotyping Technologies in State College, Pa., an expert in forensic DNA. Melton, who was not involved in the new research, played a major role in disproving the famous claim of the late Anna Anderson that she was Anastasia. Melton says she still receives several calls each year from people claiming to be direct descendants of the Romanovs. "There is absolutely no doubt that these are the remains of the Romanov family," said Peter Sarandinaki, founder of the Scientific Expedition to Account for the Romanov Children, which has been seeking the remains of the family.

"The scientific results are, without a doubt, conclusive," said Sarandinaki, the great-grandson of the White Army general who attempted to rescue the Romanovs before their deaths. Nicholas II abdicated the throne in March 1917, ending the 304-year Romanov rule, and the family was banished to Siberia. The following year, the family, their doctor and three servants were executed by the Red Guard on the orders of Vladimir Lenin and their bodies disposed of. Russian film director Gely Ryabov, an amateur archaeologist, found the remains of nine bodies in an unmarked grave near Yekaterinberg in the early 1970s, but kept the discovery secret until 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. DNA testing in the 1990s by geneticist Peter Gill of the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, indicated that the remains were those of the czar and czarina and three of their daughters. For comparison samples, researchers used DNA from Britain's Prince Philip, whose grandmother and the czarina's grandmother were sisters, and from indirect descendants of the royal family.

Two years ago, archaeologists found a second grave about 70 yards from the first. It contained 44 broken and burned bone fragments, consistent with reports that the Red Guard unsuccessfully tried to burn the remains of two of the dead children before burying them. Russian authorities enlisted the help of geneticist Michael Coble of the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Md., the world's largest mitochondrial DNA testing facility, specializing in identifying the remains of U.S. soldiers. Coble is lead author of a report on the findings. Preliminary analysis suggested that the fragments were from two people, a female age 17 to 24 -- some speculate it is daughter Marie -- and a male age 14 to 16. Coble and geneticist Anthony Falsetti of the University of Florida extracted DNA and compared it with DNA from the bones found earlier and to DNA from a leg bone of Nicholas' brother Georgij, who died of tuberculosis as a young man.

Using new technology that allows use of extremely small samples, they were also able to match the DNA from all the Romanov family members to DNA from a bloodstained shirt that had been worn by Nicholas on April 29, 1891, when he was attacked by a Japanese policeman while touring the city of Otsu. The bloody shirt had been preserved in Russia. The matches were all perfect. "The genetic evidence is really overwhelming," Coble said. Their results were then independently replicated by geneticist Walther Parson of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Innsbruck, Austria, and confirmed by Gill. "This closes the book on this particular chapter of the Romanov history," said forensic anthropologist Susan Myster of Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. "There are still people who are going to want to believe that there were survivors, and God bless them, but I am confident that the royal family has been found, they have been identified and there was no escape, no princess," Falsetti said. But the story is not quite over. The original nine bodies were buried in Russia, but not as royalty, Sarandinaki said.

In May, he and Coble will present the new results to officials of the Russian Orthodox Church. "Hopefully, we will be able to convince the church [that these are the remains of the royal family], and at the end, the church will agree and finally give the family the decent and honorable burial they deserve," Sarandinaki said. "Once the church accepts the remains, my duty will be done," he said. -- No survivors in Russian Czar family murders - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience | NBC News No survivors in Russian Czar family murders Neither Anastasia nor the czar's other children found a fairy tale ending Below: Advertise Alexei Vladykin / AP file Local villager Andrei Sidikov squats at the spot where the remains of last Russian czar Nicholas II's son and heir to the throne may have finally been found near Yekaterinburg, about 1500 kilometers (900 miles) east of Moscow. By Jeremy Hsu + - Confusion reigned for 90 years about a possible surviving daughter of Czar Nicholas II, the last Imperial ruler of Russia.

Now a public report reveals how modern investigators established that neither Anastasia nor the czar's other children found a fairy tale ending. DNA analysis linked a known grave for most of the murdered Romanov family with two human remains found in 2007. Russian authorities confirmed the discovered bodies as the last missing children in mid-2008, after getting results from labs in Russia, the U.S. and U.K. "I was requested to do the study," said Evgeny Rogaev, a molecular geneticist at the University of Massachusetts lab who took the lead on the scientific investigation . "It's a difficult case." The report's final evidence was published online last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Bolsheviks killed Czar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra and their five children in 1918 as Russia plunged into bitter civil war. Most of the Romanovs and several servants ended up in an unmarked grave near Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, 900 miles east of Moscow. But Russian anthropologists searching for the last two missing Romanov children found possible remains just several hundred feet from the first grave, almost 90 years after the deaths of the Imperial family.

A small horror awaited the discovery team. The killers had tried to disfigure the bodies with both fire and sulfuric acid, possibly to conceal the victims' identities or condition at time of death. That made for a very tricky job when the Russian Prosecutor-General's office called on Rogaev to help solve the case. Advertise AP file Russian Czar Nicholas II son and heir, Prince Alexei, is seen . DNA tests performed by a U.S. laboratory have proved that bone fragments exhumed in the Ural Mountains belong to two children of Russia's last czar Alexei and Maria. "The problem was the bones from the second grave, because the quality was very bad from most of the samples," Rogaev told LiveScience. "We just selected a few that could give us some results." Rogaev had previously applied his skills to forensic science in 1997, when a Russian government asked him to verify the identities of Czar Nicholas II and his family from the first grave. Now he had an even greater scientific arsenal to help establish the final fates of all the Romanov children. One piece of evidence came from mitochondrial DNA.

Unlike the more familiar autosomal DNA, which people inherit as a jumbled recombination of genetic material from both parents, mitochondrial DNA is only passed down from mothers to children. That provided a maternal lineage which Rogaev and other researchers used to identify the Romanov children through the late Empress Alexandra. Russian forensic investigators previously relied on short sequence matches using mitochondrial DNA in the 1990s, but Rogaev used the latest technological advances to put together a complete analysis of the mitochondrial genomes belonging to the Imperial family. "It's not just 200-400 base pairs [building blocks of DNA molecules], but 16,500 or more base pairs," Rogaev noted. "It's like comparing just having sentences to having all the chapters of a book." Living and the dead Another key connection came through the male Y chromosomes of the Romanov line . Examination of the bones from the second site turned up one male and one female, which meant that the lab could compare the Y-chromosome markers from the supposed body of Crown Prince Alexei with those of Czar Nicholas II. "If everything was as we expected, the Y chromosome profiles should match," Rogaev said.

"And they did." Rogaev also compared the grave evidence with the Y-chromosome markers of living male descendants connected to the great grandfather of Czar Nicholas II. He then confirmed that the Y-chromosome markers represented a unique genetic marker of the Romanovs, by checking existing genetic databases from various populations. But a final piece of the puzzle arose from an unexpected source — a bloodstained shirt belonging to Czar Nicholas II, carefully preserved in a museum. Nicholas II survived an assassination attempt during a visit to Osaka, Japan, in 1891, while he was still Russian heir to the throne. His bloodstained shirt ended up as a historical relic in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Rogaev did not expect much from the blood stain, given that almost a century's worth of exposure to ultraviolet light and various temperature conditions should have destroyed much of the DNA. "Certainly we did not count on this," Rogaev said.

"But surprisingly we got very good DNA profiles, so the estimates of probability for the identification of the remains of Nicholas II are extremely high." Confirmation of the father's identity allows researchers to firmly say that the second site contains the bodies of Crown Prince Alexei and one of his older sisters. Forensic scientists say that the sister was likely Maria, although some initially thought it could be Anastasia. Russian authorities have yet to decide what to do with these final remains of the Romanov dynasty. But the other members of the Imperial family were finally laid to rest in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg in 1998. © 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved. Explosive new book claims Princess Anastasia DID escape to the West | Daily Mail Online Did Grand Duchess Anastasia survive the Bolshevik bullets?

Explosive new book claims fresh evidence shows the Russian princess really DID escape to the West Veniamin Alekseyev says Grand Duchess Anastasia probably did escape Claims DNA testing in 1991 was flawed and bones found were not hers Says Tsarina and Anastasia's sisters Olga, Marie and Tatiana also got away Believes that impostor Anna Anderson was indeed telling the truth Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was executed on 17th July 1918 by Bolsheviks His son Alexei Nikolaevich also died along with family servants

Question: Which daughter of the last Tsar of Russia was said to have escaped to America?
Answer: Anastasia