In Light of Amazon's New Series The Romanoffs, Let's Revisit the Legend of Anastasia

During the height of World War I, Russia was in the midst of a revolution. Czar Nicholas II had made a few critical errors during his rule (which began in 1896), and was forced to abdicate his throne in 1917, when the revolution began. Vladimir Lenin, who was the leader of the radical socialist group the Bolsheviks, seized power and attempted to turn Russia into a communist society.

A civil war erupted in June 1918, and those against the Bolshviks advanced on Yekaterinburg, where Nicholas and the rest of the Romanov family resided. Under Lenin's orders, local authorities were to prevent a rescue of the Romanovs. At a secret meeting, they passed a death sentence on the imperial family, determined to thwart any rescue attempts.

The Romanov family was executed by the Bolsheviks late in the night on July 16, 1918. The family was ordered to dress quickly and go down to the cellar of the house in which they were staying. Shortly thereafter, a dozen Bolshevik soldiers burst into the room and rained gunfire on the family. Any survivors were stabbed to death.

According to the story, the bodies were taken to an abandoned mine shaft 14 miles away, doused in gasoline, and burned. They then soaked the bones in sulfuric acid to further hide the evidence. Initially, the remains of Crown Prince Alexei and Princess Anastasia could not be found with the rest of the family. Rumours began to swirl: that the children had escaped and survived the assassination attempt.

In the time after Anastasia's disappearance, many women stepped forward claiming to the heiress of the Romanov fortune. Perhaps the most compelling (and the one that took the longest to disprove) was that of Anastasia Tschaikovsky, who arrived in the United States in 1920 claiming to be the long lost princess.

The woman shared the same striking looks as Anastasia, and even bore horrifying scars that were, according to her, from the harrowing assassination escape. Many were impressed with her resemblance to the princess and the things she seemed to remember — she soon began to accrue quite a few supporters who sought to official declare her Anastasia Romanov, but others were not so sure.

One of the biggest sceptics was The Grand Duke of Hesse, Anastasia's uncle. The Duke hired a private investigator to discern Anastasia Tschaikovsky's real identity. After digging around, this man claimed she was actually Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish-German factory worker who had a history of mental illness and had disappeared in 1920. The woman eventually began to identify as Anna Anderson, and a play called Anastasia was written about her. It was even adapted into a 1956 film starring Ingmar Bergman — Bergman's performance won her the Oscar for best actress.

Anderson continued to insist she was the long-lost Anastasia, but lost a final legal battle in 1970, leaving the remainder of the Romanov fortune to he duchess of Mecklenberg. She died in 1984.

So how does the mystery end? In 1991, it seemed far from over when a group of Russian investigators found the remains of the Romanov family. A group of British DNA experts were able to confirm, indeed, that the remains were those of the Romanovs, but two bodies were missing: one son and one daughter. In 1994, scientists were able to confirm, through extensive testing, that the late Anna Anderson was not of Romanov descent and was, indeed, Franziska Schanzkowska.

So what about the missing princess?! Finally, in 2007, the whole mystery was put to rest. In time, investigators discovered another nearby grave site that contained the remains of two small children. Through more DNA testing, the bones were accurately identified as those of Anastasia and Alexei. Nearly 90 years later, the enigmatic story had been put to rest: the brother and sister had, tragically, died with the rest of the family.