20th Cent. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was born on 18 June 1901, at Alexandria Dacha, in Peterhof, Russian Empire. She was the daughter of Alexandra, Empress Consort of Russia (6 June 1872 - 17 July 1918) and Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia (18 May 1868 - 17 July 1918). Her maternal grandparents were Princess Alice of England (25 April 1843 – 14 December 1878) and Grand Duke Ludvig IV of Hesse and by the Rhine (12 September 1837 - 13 March 1892). Her paternal grandparents were Maria Feodorovna, Empress Consort of Russia (26 November 1847 - 13 October 1928) and Alexander III, Emperor of Russia (10 March 1845 - 1 November 1894). Her maternal great-grandparents were Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India (24 May 1819 - 22 January 1901) and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (26 August 1819 - 14 December 1861). Her paternal great-grandparents were Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (18 June 1815 - 21 March 1885) and Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine (23 April 1809 - 20 March 1877). Anastasia's parents were married on 1 November 1894. Her siblings were: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (15 November 1895 - 17 July 1918), Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna (10 June 1897 - 17 July 1918), Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (26 June 1899 - 17 July 1918), and Grand Duke Tsarevich Alexei (12 August 1904 - 17 July 1918). They named her Anastasia, meaning "one who will rise again". She was called Anastasie, or "Nastya," "Nastas," "Nastenka," "shvizbik," or "imp". The two older girls became known as "The Big Pair" and the two younger girls as "The Little Pair". As a child, she had an accident that left a scar on her forehead. Anastasia had a close relationship with her brother, Alexei. Anastasia was a talented actress and an enthusiastic photographer. She could speak Russian, French, and English. In 1915, her father Nicholas became Commander-In-Chief and left his wife and children in Tsarskoe Selo. Her dog, Shvibzig died of a brain inflammation in April 1915. He was buried on the children's island at Tsarksoe Selo. Rasputin was murdered on 17 December 1916. He was buried on 21 December 1916. Early in 1917, Anastasia and her sisters was ill with measles and had to shave their heads. Her father, Nicholas returned on 7 March 1917, to Mogilev from Tsarskoe Selo. At the end of the February Revolution on 15 March 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He firstly abdicated in favour of Tsarevich Alexei, but swiftly changed his mind after advice from doctors that the heir would not live long apart from his parents who would be forced into exile. Nicholas drew up a new manifesto naming his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as the next Emperor of all the Russias. Under pressure from the Committee the Grand Duke refused the throne on 16 March 1917. Her family was placed under house arrest on 20 March 1917, at the Alexander Palace. On 16 April 1918, her parents, Maria, Doctor Evgeny Botkin, and three servants were moved to the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg. While Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and Alexei stayed behind in Tobolsk, because Alexei, who had suffered another attack of haemophilia, could not be moved. During the month of separation from their parents and sister, Tatiana, Olga, Anastasia, and ladies in waiting busied themselves sewing precious stones and jewelry into their clothing, hoping to hide them from their captors. On 23 May 1918, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and Alexei arrived in Ekaterinburg. Grand Duke Mikhail was killed on 13 June 1918. On 14 July 1918, local priests at Yekaterinburg conducted a private church service for the family and reported that Anastasia and her family, contrary to custom, fell on their knees during the prayer for the dead. Anastasia, her siblings, her parents, along with Anna Demidova, the footman Trupp, the cook Kharitonov, and Dr. Botkin were shot dead on the night of 17 July 1918, in a small room on the ground floor of Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Russia. After the family had been murdered the executioners tried to burn the bodies. When it became apparent that getting rid of the bodies would not work with fire, the executioners buried the bodies in a mass grave. In 1981, Anastasia and her family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad as Holy Martyrs. In 1991, remains later identified through DNA testing as the Romanovs and their servants were discovered in the woods outside Yekaterinburg. The bodies of one of the Romanov daughters and Alexei were missing from the gravesite. The bodies of Tsarina Alexandra, Tsar Nicholas II, and three of their daughters were interred eighty years after they were murdered on 17 July 1998, at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The family was canonized as passion bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.

"Good bye. Don't forget me. Many kisses from us all to you my darling." Anastasia Nikolaevna