Anastasia Romanova: the fate of the last Russian princess. Anastasia Romanova: the mystery of the Grand Duchess
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.
The story of any human tragedy is always dramatic; it forces one to look for answers to hypothetical questions: why did it all happen? Could the disaster have been avoided? Who's to blame? Unambiguous answers do not always help understanding, since they are based on cause-and-effect factors. Knowledge, unfortunately, does not lead to understanding. Indeed, what can history give us? short life daughters of the last Russian emperor - Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna?
She flashed like a shadow on the historical horizon during the years of her country’s most serious trials, and together with her family found herself a victim of the terrible Russian revolution. She was not (and could not be) a politician; she could not influence the course of government affairs. She simply lived, by the will of Providence, being a member of the royal family, wanting only one thing: to live in this family, sharing with it all the joys and sorrows. The story of Anastasia Nikolaevna is the story of the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the story of good human relations between the closest people, who sincerely, to the depths of their hearts, believe in God and His good will.
It is precisely because the family was crowned that the story of the life and death of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (as well as her sisters and brother) acquires fundamental significance for Christian consciousness. The Romanovs, by their fate, confirmed the truth of the Gospel thought about the meaninglessness of acquiring “the whole world” at the cost of causing harm own soul(Mark 9:37). This was also confirmed by Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who was killed along with her entire family in the basement of Ipatiev’s house on the night of July 16-17, 1918...
sunbeam
She was born on June 5, 1901 in Peterhof (in the New Palace). The reports on the condition of the newborn and her crowned mother were most favorable. Twelve days later, a christening took place, at which, according to the tradition that had already developed by that time, the first among the successors was Empress Maria Feodorovna. Princess Irina of Prussia, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. The birth of the fourth daughter was, of course, a great joy for the royal family, although both the emperor and the empress really hoped for the appearance of an heir. It is not difficult to understand the crown bearers: according to the Basic Laws Russian Empire the throne was to be inherited by the son of the autocrat. Anastasia Nikolaevna and her sister Maria were considered “little” in the family, in contrast to the elders or “big ones” - Olga and Tatyana. Anastasia was active child, and, as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s closest friend A.A. Vyrubova recalled, “she was constantly climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to keep track of her.” Once at an official dinner, held on the imperial yacht "Standart", she, then a five-year-old child, quietly climbed under the table and crawled there, trying to pinch some important person who did not dare appearance express displeasure. The punishment came immediately: realizing what was happening, the sovereign pulled her out from under the table by her braid, “and she got it hard.” Such simple entertainments of the royal children, of course, did not in any way irritate those who, by chance, turned out to be their “victims,” but Nicholas II tried to suppress such liberties, finding them inappropriate. And yet the children, respecting and honoring their parents, were not at all afraid of them, considering it natural to play pranks with the guests. It must be admitted that the tsar was not seriously involved in raising his daughters: this was the prerogative of Alexandra Feodorovna, who spent many hours in the classroom when the children were growing up. The empress spoke English with the children: the language of Shakespeare and Byron was the second native language in the royal family. But the tsar’s daughters did not know enough French: while reading it, they never learned to speak fluently (for some reason, perhaps not wanting to see anyone between herself and her daughters, Alexandra Feodorovna did not want to take them a French governess). In addition, the empress, who loved needlework, taught her daughters this craft.Physical education was built in the English manner: girls slept in large children's beds, on camp beds, almost without pillows and covered with small blankets. In the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one. Alexandra Feodorovna strove to raise her in such a way that her daughters would be able to behave evenly with everyone, without showing their advantage to anyone in any way. However, the empress failed to achieve sufficient education for the imperial daughters. The sisters did not show any particular taste for their studies, being, according to the mentor of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Pierre Gilliard, who was in close contact with them, “rather gifted with practical qualities.”
The sisters, almost deprived of external entertainment, found joy in close family life. The “big ones” treated the “little ones” sincerely, they reciprocated; later they even came up with a common signature “OTMA” - according to the first letters of the names, according to seniority: Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia. “OTMA” sent common gifts and wrote common letters. But at the same time, each daughter of Nicholas II was an independent person, with her own merits and characteristics. Anastasia Nikolaevna was the funniest, she loved to joke good-naturedly. “She was a spoiled person,” Pierre Gilliard recalled in the early 1920s, “a flaw from which she corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as sometimes happens with very capable children, she had excellent pronunciation 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 her began, remembering the nickname given to her mother at the English court, to call her “Sunshine” - “ sunbeam“». This characteristic very revealing from a psychological point of view, especially if you keep in mind that when entertaining her loved ones, the Grand Duchess loved to imitate their voices and behavior. Life in the circle of her beloved family was perceived by Anastasia Nikolaevna as a holiday; fortunately, she, like her sisters, did not know its seamy side.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 3 years.
“Thank God, nothing...”
On August 1, 1917, together with her entire family and servants, she forever left the places where she spent the happy years of her short life. Soon she saw Siberia: she was to spend several months in Tobolsk with her family. Anastasia Nikolaevna did not lose heart, trying to find advantages in her new position. In her letters to A.A. Vyrubova, she assures that they settled down comfortably (all four live together): “It’s nice to see small mountains covered with snow from the windows. We sit on the windows a lot and have fun looking at people walking.” Later, in the winter months of New Year 1918, she again assures her confidante that they live, thank God, “nothing,” stage plays, walk in their “fence,” and set up a small slide for skating. The leitmotif of the letters is to convince A.A. Vyrubova that everything is fine with them, that there is nothing to worry about, that life is not so hopeless... She is illuminated by faith, hope for the best and love. No indignation, no resentment for humiliation, for being locked up. Long-suffering, integrity of the Christian worldview and amazing inner peace: everything is God’s will!
In Tobolsk, the Grand Duchess’s schoolwork also continued: in October, Klavdia Mikhailovna Bitner began studying with the royal children (with the exception of the eldest Olga Nikolaevna). former boss Tsarskoye Selo Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium. She taught geography and literature. The school preparation of the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses did not satisfy K.M. Bitner. “You have to wish for a lot,” she told the commissioner of the Provisional Government for the protection of the royal family, V.S. Pankratov. “I did not at all expect what I found. Such grown-up children already know so little Russian literature and are so little developed. They read little of Pushkin, Lermontov even less, and had never heard of Nekrasov. I'm not even talking about others.<...>What does it mean? How did you deal with them? There was every opportunity to beat the children the best teachers“And this was not done.”
It can be assumed that such “underdevelopment” was the price to pay for the home isolation in which the Grand Duchesses grew up, completely cut off from the world of their peers. Naive and clean girls Unlike their mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, they did not have deep philosophical knowledge, although they were, apparently, well-read in theological literature. Their main educator and teacher - their mother - cared more about proper education(as she understood him) than about the full education of her daughters and heir. Was this the result of the empress’s conscious pedagogical policy or her oversight? Who knows... The Yekaterinburg tragedy closed this issue forever.
Earlier, in April 1918, part of the family was transported to Yekaterinburg. Among those who moved were the emperor, his wife and Grand Duchess Maria. The remaining children (along with the sick Alexei Nikolaevich) remained in Tobolsk. The family was reunited in May, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was among those who arrived. She celebrated her last birthday, her 17th birthday, at the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg. Like her sisters, Anastasia Nikolaevna at that time learned to cook from the royal chef I.M. Kharitonov; I kneaded flour with them in the evenings and baked bread in the mornings. In Yekaterinburg, the life of prisoners was more strictly regulated, and total control was exercised over them. But even in this situation we do not notice despondency: faith allows us to live, to hope for the best even when there is no longer any reason for hope.
History of impostors
On the night of July 17, 1918, Anastasia Nikolaevna remained alive longer than others doomed to death. This was partly explained by the fact that the empress sewed jewelry into her dress, but only partly. The fact is that she was finished off with bayonets and shots to the head. The executioners in their circle said that after the first volleys, Anastasia Nikolaevna was alive. This played a role in the spread of myths that the youngest daughter of Nicholas II did not die, but was saved by the Red Army and later managed to go abroad. As a result, the story of Anastasia’s rescue for many years became the subject various kinds manipulations of both sincerely misguided naive people and crooks. How many of them there were, posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna! Rumors spread about Anastasia of Africa, Anastasia of Bulgaria, Anastasia of Volgograd. But the most famous story was that of Anna Anderson, who lived in the family of relatives of the murdered man along with royal family Dr. E.S. Botkin. For a long time these people believed that A. Anderson was the saved Anastasia Nikolaevna. Only in 1994, after the death of the impostor, with the help of genetic examination, it was possible to establish that she had nothing to do with the Romanovs, being a representative of the Polish peasant family of Shvantsovsky (who recognized A. Anderson as their relative back in 1927).Today, the fact of the death and burial of Anastasia Nikolaevna in a common grave with those killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918 can be considered established. The discovery of the grave and many years of work to identify the so-called Yekaterinburg remains are a separate issue. Let us emphasize just one point: unfortunately, for many Orthodox Christians who are new to the problem of discovering and determining the authenticity of the royal remains near Yekaterinburg, the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, his wife, children and servants, solemnly buried in the summer of 1998 in the Peter and Paul Fortress, are not authentic. Accordingly, they do not believe in the authenticity of the relics of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. This type of skeptics is not convinced by the fact that in 2007, next to the previous burial place, they found (according to the opinion of both historians and medical experts) relics of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and his sister Grand Duchess Maria. Thus, the remains of all those shot in the House of Special Purpose were discovered. We can only hope that evaluative maximalism will gradually decrease, and a biased attitude towards this problem will remain a thing of the past....
In 1981, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was canonized by the ROCOR along with all the Romanovs and their servants who died in Yekaterinburg. Almost 20 years later, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church also considered royal family to the face of the saints (as passion-bearers and martyrs). This glorification must be recognized as a significant event, a symbolic act, religiously reconciling us with the past and pointing to the truth of the well-known expression: “Good is not born from evil, it is born from good.” This should not be forgotten when remembering today one of the innocent victims of the terrible past - the cheerful “comforter” of her family, the youngest daughter of the last Russian emperor, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.
Author Sergey Firsov, professor at St. Petersburg State University. Magazine "Living Water" No. 6 2011.
Sir Peacock stated: I am almost convinced that the Russian imperial family never opened an account either in the Bank of England or in any bank in England. Having read the book I Am Anastasia Romanova even before this meeting in the studio, and now having also listened to her speech on the screen, he immediately made a linguistic diagnosis: this is most likely a commoner, who, apparently, has worn out a lot in an aristocratic environment. The mischievous girl gradually grew up, but still teased the mirrors. I don’t know why they made Rasputin a negative character in the cartoon.
The weather is spring, the snow is melting well, and there is a lot of water everywhere. The last thing Anastasia could see, covering her face with her hands from the approaching bayonet, was how a dead dog with silky fur fell out of the hands of her just killed sister. chocolate color…. Anastasia’s drawing was confiscated during a search in the Grand Duke’s estate Kharaks in the fall of 1919. Tsarevich Alexei was completely unable to walk at the time of his execution. In 1970, her claim was rejected by the court for lack of evidence. But who then is the mysterious prisoner from the Sviyazhsk special boarding school?
Is Anastasia Romanova alive?
The examination confirmed that Anastasia Romanova is alive.
The main proof of the existence of Grand Duchess Anastasia is historical and genetic examination.
This was announced by Professor of the Diplomatic Academy, Doctor 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.
All studies have confirmed that the youngest daughter of 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. There is still no such equipment in Russia. 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.
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 found a stunning document in the State Archives of the Russian Federation - the testimony of the royal waitress Ekaterina Tomilova, who, under signature, to tell the truth, the truth and only the truth, told the investigators of Nikolai Sokolov’s Kolchak Commission that even after July 17, that is, after the execution of the royal family, I wore 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, although he did not publish Yurovsky’s forged note without any indication that it was written not by Yurovsky, but by Pokrovsky once.
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. It is curious that the second court case of the false Anastasia 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 the end of the 21st century.
Me, Anastasia Romanova
The book about the family of Emperor Nicholas II was written by the emperor’s youngest daughter, Anastasia Romanova. A lively, sincere narrative reveals the world of the Romanov family from the inside; there are many intimate moments and, on the other hand, relationships with many people, when it is easy to get lost among them, but without going beyond acceptable limits and without getting lost, Anastasia is present in everything. Russia is presented in a romantic aura through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old girl and surprises with a broad view of events and relationships with people. This is Anastasia's book, her words, her thoughts.
Sources: habeo.ru, www.maybe.ru, www.takelink.ru, dic.academic.ru, babydaytime.ru
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Anastasia Nikolaevna - Grand Duchess. The fourth (youngest) daughter of Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was born on June 18, 1901 in Peterhof
Anastasia Nikolaevna - Grand Duchess. The fourth (youngest) daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
Born in Peterhof. There are two versions of why the name “Anastasia” was chosen for the newborn. According to the first, the girl was named in honor of a close friend of the Russian Empress Anastasia (Stana) Nikolaevna, a Montenegrin princess. The second version of the choice of name was outlined by Margaret Eager, who wrote the memoir “Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court.”
She claimed that Anastasia was named in honor of the pardon granted by Nicholas II in honor of the birth of his daughter to students of St. Petersburg University who participated in anti-government unrest. The name "Anastasia" means "returned to life." At her baptism as a Grand Duchess she received the Order of St. Catherine, 1st degree.
Since childhood, Anastasia has had a difficult character. At home, she even received the nickname “Shvybz” for her cheerful, irrepressible childishness.
Anastasia was very playful. Despite her physique (short, dense), for which her sisters called her “little egg,” she deftly climbed trees and often refused to climb down out of mischief, loved to play hide and seek, rounders and other games, played the balalaika and guitar, introduced It is fashionable among her sisters to weave flowers and ribbons into their hair.
Nikolai wrote in his diary: “At about 3 o’clock Alix began 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.”
Name
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 her “an amazing life and a special destiny.”
"Reborn to Life"
Margaret Eager, author of the memoir Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court, recalled that Anastasia was named after the Emperor pardoned and reinstated the students of St. Petersburg University who took part in the recent unrest, since the name “Anastasia” itself means “returned to life,” the image of this saint usually contains chains torn in half.
Full Title
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.
Living conditions
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.
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, 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.
Education
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 dancing 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.”
Teacher English language 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.
Life of the Royal Children
Basically, the family lived in the Alexander Palace, occupying only part of several dozen rooms. Sometimes they moved to the Winter Palace, despite the fact that it was very large and cold, the girls Tatyana and Anastasia often got sick here.
In mid-June, the family went on trips on the imperial yacht "Standard", 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.
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.
Chief Polka
In 1901, after her birth, the name of St. Anastasia the Pattern-Resolver received the Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment 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.
War
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.
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.
Memories of Lily Dehn
According to the memoirs of Lily Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Fedorovna, 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 Tsarskoye 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.
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 Fedorovna 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.
Chronicle of events
On Wednesday, March 8, Count Pavel Benckendorff appeared at the palace with the message that the Provisional Government had decided to subject imperial family house arrest in Tsarskoye Selo. It was suggested that they make a list of people who wanted to stay with them. Lily Dehn immediately offered her services.
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 the persistent temperature and strong drugs. Alexei insisted that he be shaved too, thereby causing extreme displeasure in his mother.
Study no matter what
Despite everything, the children's education continued. The whole process was led by Gilliard, 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; Empress 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.
Anastasia was not particularly diligent in her studies, she wrote with errors, and called arithmetic “disgusting.”
English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that the younger princess once tried to “bribe” him with a bouquet of flowers, then gave the bouquet to the Russian teacher Petrov.
In the years Great War Anastasia and her sister Maria visited the Tsarskoye Selo hospital, where their mother and older sisters worked.
Like everyone else in the family of Nicholas II, the Grand Duchess loved animals. She had a Spitz, Shvibzik. When he died in 1915, the Grand Duchess was inconsolable for several weeks. Later she got another dog - Jimmy. He accompanied her during her exile.
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.
Taking care of everyday life
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 walks and simple entertainment such as home performances, or in winter - skiing down a slide built with one’s own hands. Anastasia, by in my own words, enthusiastically prepared firewood and sewed. Next on the schedule was the evening service and going to bed.From a letter from Anastasia to her sister Maria.
“They arranged the iconostasis 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.”
Life's twists and turns
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, in the beginning things were difficult with entertainment, last night Before leaving, 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” with tears escorted those leaving to the very gate.
In 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.
Jewelry
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 manage their medications” - this word meant the jewelry that they managed to hide and take with them. Under the leadership older sister Tatiana, 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.
Reunion
On May 19, it was finally decided that the remaining daughters and Alexey, by that time 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; Alexei was traveling with his orderly named Nagorny; access to their cabin was prohibited even for a doctor.
Power of Spirit
"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 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."
Ipatiev House
On May 23 at 9 a.m. the train arrived in Yekaterinburg. Here, the French teacher Gilliard, 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.
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 girls They were taught to bake bread, and they devoted themselves to this activity with enthusiasm.
Last Birthday
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.
Some of the most famous impostors in history were False Dmitrys, swindlers who, in search of easy money, to varying degrees successfully passed himself off as the sons of Ivan the Terrible. Another “leader” in the number of “fake” children was Romanov family. Despite the tragic death of the imperial family in July 1918, many subsequently tried to pass themselves off as “surviving” heirs. In 1920, a girl appeared in Berlin claiming that she was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II, Princess Anastasia Romanova.
Interesting fact: after the execution of the Romanovs in different years“children” appeared who supposedly managed to survive the terrible tragedy. History has preserved the names of 8 Olgas, 33 Tatyans, 53 Maris and as many as 80 Alekseevs, all, of course, with the prefix false-. Despite the fact that in most cases the fact of impostor was obvious, the case of Anastasia is almost unique. There were too many doubts around her person, and her story seemed too plausible.
To begin with, it’s worth remembering Anastasia herself. Her birth was more of a disappointment than a joy: everyone was waiting for an heir, and Alexandra Fedorovna gave birth to a daughter for the fourth time. Nicholas II himself warmly accepted the news of his paternity. Anastasia's life was measured, she was educated at home, loved to dance and had a friendly easy character. As befits the daughters of the emperor, upon reaching her 14th birthday, she headed the Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment. During the First World War, Anastasia took an active part in the lives of soldiers to cheer up the wounded; she organized concerts in hospitals, wrote letters from dictation and sent them to relatives. In peace everyday life She was fond of photography and loved to sew, mastered the use of the telephone and enjoyed communicating with her friends.
The girl’s life was cut short on the night of July 16–17; the 17-year-old princess was shot along with other members of the imperial family. Despite her inglorious death, Anastasia was talked about for a long time in Europe; her name gained almost worldwide fame when, 2 years later, information appeared in Berlin that she managed to survive.
They discovered the girl who pretended to be Anastasia by accident: a policeman saved her from suicide by catching her on the bridge when she was about to commit suicide by throwing herself down. According to the girl, she was the surviving daughter of Emperor Nicholas II. Her real name was Anna Anderson. She claimed that she was saved by the soldier who shot the Romanov family. She made her way to Germany to find her relatives. Anna-Anastasia was first sent to psychiatric hospital After undergoing treatment, she left for America to continue to prove her relationship with the Romanovs.
There were 44 heirs of the Romanov family, some of them made a declaration of non-recognition of Anastasia. However, there were also those who supported her. Maybe, cornerstone In this matter, there was an inheritance: the real Anastasia was entitled to all the gold of the imperial family. The case eventually went to court, the litigation lasted for several decades, but neither side was able to provide enough convincing evidence, so the case was closed. Anastasia’s opponents argued that she was actually born in Poland, worked at a bomb-making factory, and there received numerous injuries, which she later passed off as bullet wounds. The end to Anna Anderson's story was put by a DNA test carried out a few years after her death. Scientists have proven that the impostor had nothing to do with the Romanov family.
Based on materials from Commons.wikimedia.org
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova was born on June 18, 1901. The Emperor waited a long time for an heir, and when the long-awaited fourth child turned out to be a daughter, he was saddened. Soon the sadness passed, and the Emperor loved his fourth daughter no less than his other children.
They were expecting a boy, but a girl was born. With her agility, Anastasia could give any boy a head start. She wore simple clothes, inherited from older sisters. The fourth daughter's bedroom was not richly decorated.
Every morning the crown princess was sure to take cold shower. It was not easy to keep track of her. As a child she was very nimble, she loved to climb where she could not get caught and hide.
When she was still a child, Grand Duchess Anastasia loved to play pranks and also make others laugh. In addition to cheerfulness, it reflects such character traits as wit, courage and observation.
In all the tricks, the princess was considered the ringleader. Consequently, she was not without leadership qualities. In pranks, Anastasia later supported her younger brother, heir to the royal throne - .
Distinctive feature the young princess had the ability to notice weaknesses people and is very talented at parodying them. The girl's playfulness did not develop into something indecent. On the contrary, brought up surrounded Christian spirit, Anastasia turned into a creature who pleased and consoled all the close people around her.
When she worked in a hospital during the war, they began to say about her that even the wounded and sick danced in the presence of the princess. Before that, she was beautiful and cheerful, and when necessary, a sincere compassionate and comforter. In the hospital, the crown princess prepared bandages and lint, and did sewing for the wounded and their families.
She did this together with Maria. Then they both lamented that, due to their age, they could not, like their older sisters, to the fullest to be sisters of mercy. Visiting wounded soldiers, with her charm and wit, Anastasia Nikolaevna made them forget about pain for a while, she consoled all those suffering with her kindness and tenderness.
Among the wounded with whom she was able to see was an ensign. The same Gumilyov is famous. While in the infirmary, he wrote a poem about her, which you can find in his collections. The work was written on June 5, 1916 in the Infirmary Grand Palace, and is called “For my birthday.”
Years later, officers and soldiers who visited the hospitals remembered the Grand Duchesses very fondly. The military, recalling those days from memory, seemed to be illuminated with an unearthly light. The wounded soldiers were interested in their fates. , assumed that all four sisters would marry four Balkan princes. The Russian soldier wanted to see the princesses happy, and prayed for them, and also gave them crowns from the queens of European states. However, everything turned out completely wrong...
Anastasia's fate, like the fate of everyone else, ended in the basement of the Ipatiev House. Here the Romanov dynasty ended, where Great Russian Russia ended along with them.
Since the beginning of the 20s of the 20th century, girls constantly appeared in Europe posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova. All of them were impostors who had a desire to profit from the misfortune of the Russian people. All the royal gold was bequeathed to Anastasia Nikolaevna. That's why there were adventurers who wanted to get their hands on him.
