Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Анастасия Николаевна Романова; 18 June 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.
Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia.
Anastasia was born on 18 June 1901.
She was the fourth daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra.
When she was born, her parents and extended family were disappointed that she was a girl.
They had hoped for a son who would have become heir apparent to the throne.
Her father went for a long walk to compose himself before going to visit his wife and their newborn child for the first time.
Her paternal aunt Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia said, "My God! What a disappointment!... a fourth girl!"
Her first cousin twice removed Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote, "Forgive us, Lord, if we all felt disappointment instead of joy. We were so hoping for a boy, and it's a daughter."
The travel writer Burton Holmes wrote, "Nicholas would part with half his Empire in exchange for one Imperial boy."
Anastasia was named for the fourth-century martyr St. Anastasia.
"Anastasia" is a Greek name (Αναστασία), meaning "of the resurrection", a fact often alluded to later in stories about her rumored survival.
Anastasia's title is most precisely translated as "Grand Princess".
"Grand Duchess" became the most widely used translation of the title into English from Russian.
The Tsar's children were raised as simply as possible.
They slept on hard camp cots without pillows, except when they were ill, took cold baths in the morning, and were expected to tidy their rooms and do needlework to be sold at various charity events when they were not otherwise occupied.
Most in the household, including the servants, generally called the Grand Duchess by her first name and patronym, "Anastasia Nikolaevna", and did not use her title or style.
She was occasionally called by the French version of her name, "Anastasie", or by the Russian nicknames "Nastya", "Nastas", or "Nastenka".
Other family nicknames for Anastasia were "Malenkaya", meaning "little (one)" in Russian, or "Shvybzik", meaning "merry little one" or "little mischief" in German.
Anastasia and her older sister Maria were known within the family as "The Little Pair".
The two girls shared a room, often wore variations of the same dress, and spent much of their time together.
Their older sisters Olga and Tatiana also shared a room and were known as "The Big Pair".
The four girls sometimes signed letters using the nickname OTMA, which derived from the first letters of their first names.
1918
She was killed with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.
Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of communist rule.
Scientific analysis including DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918.
Several women falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best known impostor was Anna Anderson.
1984
Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984; DNA testing in 1994 on pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no relation to the Romanov family.
1991
The abandoned mine serving as a mass grave near Yekaterinburg which held the acidified remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991.
1998
These remains were put to rest at Peter and Paul Fortress in 1998.
2007
The bodies of Alexei and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007.
Her purported survival has been conclusively disproven.
2009
DNA testing on the remains of the royal family proved conclusively in 2009 that Anastasia’s younger brother, Alexei, suffered from Hemophilia B, a rare form of the disease.
His mother and one sister, identified alternatively as Maria or Anastasia, were carriers.
Symptomatic carriers of the gene, while not hemophiliacs themselves, can have symptoms of hemophilia including a lower than normal blood-clotting factor that can lead to heavy bleeding.
If Anastasia lived to have children of her own, it is genetically probable that they would have been afflicted by the disease.
Anastasia was short and inclined to be chubby, and she had blue eyes and blonde hair.
Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, her mother's lady-in-waiting, reflected that "her features were regular and finely cut. She had fair hair, fine eyes, with impish laughter in their depths, and dark eyebrows that nearly met."
Buxhoeveden believed that Anastasia resembled her mother, saying that she "was more like her mother's than her father's family."
