Grand Duchess Anastasia (1901-1918)“Sprightly”, “entertaining” and “a bundle of mischief” are just some of the epithets used to describe the Tsar’s youngest daughter. Anastasia was born at Peterhof at 6am on June 18th 1901 (June 5th OS). She was the class clown and, like her father, the Tsar, a very gifted mimic. Her comic turns and love of daft humour have caused some observers to wildly underestimate the character of this very complex young woman.
Anastasia is known to have had a deep, restless and questioning intelligence and an inability to let go of unanswered questions, the answers to which she pursued relentlessly. One close member of the Imperial circle was very impressed with the breadth of her interests and the lively intelligence of her mind and she used her humour to rebel against all the social conventions of the time which she found unnecessary and stifling. In many ways, Anastasia was the most modern of the girls. Anastasia added sunshine and laughter wherever she went and was strikingly pretty, in a more petite way than her sisters, but in no way less physically attractive. Like her sister Marie, she was too young to nurse during World War I but was able to found a hospital and regularly visited the wounded where her pretty face and lively mind uplifted all who met her. Not quite seventeen when she was executed in July 1918, there have been persistent rumours over many years that Anastasia survived the massacre of her family, rumours which were apparently scotched when Anna Anderson, the Anastasia claimant was proved, by DNA analysis to not be a member of the Imperial Family. This physical result however leaves many questions about Mrs Anderson’s intimate knowledge of the Imperial Family still unresolved to this day. That there is an answer to this riddle is partially dealt with in Parts I & 2 of Lost Eagle, while the remaining story is the subject of the second novel in the Imperial Quintet, the novel dealing directly with Anastasia, “Voice on the Wind”, which is coming soon. |
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Tsar Nicholas II | NEXT PAGE |
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