Honestly, the story of Anastasia princess of Russia—officially Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna—is basically the original "true crime" obsession of the 20th century. You've probably seen the 1997 cartoon with the talking bat, or maybe the Ingrid Bergman movie where she’s a glamorous amnesiac. But the real story? It’s way grittier, sadder, and weirdly, much more human than the Disney-fied version.
Most people think of her as this tragic, ethereal figure frozen in a white dress. In reality, she was a total menace. Her family nicknamed her "Shvybzik," which roughly translates to "the imp" or "merry little one." She wasn’t the poised, perfect princess from a fairy tale. She was the kid who would climb a tree and refuse to come down, or trip the servants for a laugh.
Who Was the Real Anastasia?
Born in June 1901, Anastasia was the fourth daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. Her birth was actually a bit of a letdown for the Russian Empire. They desperately needed a boy to inherit the throne, and when the fourth girl arrived, the Tsar reportedly had to take a long walk to process his disappointment before visiting the nursery.
She grew up in what you’d call "golden cages." While they had palaces, the Romanov kids lived surprisingly Spartan lives. They slept on hard camp beds and took cold baths every morning. Anastasia wasn't a great student; she actually hated grammar and would try to bribe her tutors with sweets to get out of lessons.
She was short, a bit chubby in her teens (which she hated), and had blue eyes and strawberry-blonde hair. She was also the heart of the family. When her younger brother, Alexei, was suffering from hemophilia, she was the one who could make him laugh and distract him from the pain.
The Night in the Basement: July 1918
Everything changed when the Russian Revolution hit. After months of being moved from one prison house to another, the family ended up in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. They called it the "House of Special Purpose."
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On the night of July 17, 1918, the family was woken up and told they were being moved for their safety. They were led into a small, windowless semi-basement. Anastasia even brought her little dog, Jimmy, with her.
Then the doors opened, and a squad of Bolshevik secret police walked in.
It wasn't a quick or clean execution. It was a mess. Because the sisters had sewn the family’s diamonds and jewelry into their corsets for safekeeping, the stones acted like makeshift bulletproof vests. The first round of gunfire didn't kill them. It turned into a horrific scene of bayonets and chaos. For decades, the fact that the girls didn't die instantly fueled the myth that Anastasia princess of Russia had somehow escaped the carnage.
The Anna Anderson Saga
Enter Anna Anderson. She’s the reason we’re still talking about this. In 1920, a woman was pulled out of a canal in Berlin after a suicide attempt. She wouldn't say who she was. Eventually, she claimed she was Anastasia, saved by a sympathetic soldier who supposedly hauled her out of the basement.
She had the scars. She knew things only a royal would know (or so people thought). She even convinced some of Anastasia’s own relatives.
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But science eventually caught up.
In 1994, long after Anderson had died in Virginia, DNA testing was performed on a tissue sample from her. It was a 0% match to the Romanovs. She wasn't a princess. She was Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental health struggles.
The Mystery is Actually Solved
For years, there was a nagging doubt because two bodies were missing from the original mass grave found in 1991. People thought, "Hey, maybe Anastasia is out there."
That hope died in 2007.
Amateur archaeologists found a second, smaller grave nearby. It contained the remains of a young man and a young woman. Advanced DNA testing, which included samples from Prince Philip (who was a grand-nephew of Tsarina Alexandra), proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that these were the missing Romanov children: Alexei and one of his sisters.
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Most experts, based on the bone development, believe the female remains in that second grave were Maria, meaning Anastasia had been in the first grave all along. Regardless of which sister it was, the math finally added up. All five children were accounted for. No one got away.
Why We Can't Let Go
It’s hard to accept that a 17-year-old girl with a "genius for naughtiness" met such a dark end. We want the escape. We want the secret identity and the happy ending in Paris.
But the real legacy of Anastasia princess of Russia isn't a mystery—it’s a reminder of how quickly "history" happens to real people. She wasn't a symbol; she was a girl who loved photography, hated math, and died with her dog in her arms.
If you’re looking to truly understand her life beyond the myths, here’s how to separate fact from fiction:
- Read the Primary Sources: Check out The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport. It uses actual letters and diaries to show their personalities.
- Look at the Forensic Evidence: The 2009 study published in PLOS ONE details the DNA matching that closed the case for good.
- Visit the Archives: Many of Anastasia’s own photographs and "naughty" letters are digitized through the Yale University Library’s Romanov Collection.
The "mystery" might be over, but the story of the girl behind the crown is still worth telling.
Next Steps for Your Research
You can explore the digital archives of the Alexander Palace website, which hosts a massive collection of the family's personal photos and floor plans of where they lived. If you're interested in the forensic side, searching for the "2007 Romanov DNA identification report" will give you the technical breakdown of how the impostor claims were finally put to rest.