Grand Duchess Anastasia

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanized: Anastasiya Nikolaevna Romanova; 18 June [O.S. 5 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 killed with the other members of her immediate family in a cellar where they had been confined by the Bolsheviks following the October Revolution. (Although there is some uncertainty over whether the family was killed on July 16 or 17, 1918, most sources indicate that the executions took place on the latter day.) After the executions, several women outside Russia claimed her identity, making her the subject of periodic popular conjecture and publicity. Each claimed to have survived the execution and managed to escape from Russia, and some claimed to be heir to the Romanov fortune held in Swiss banks.

Perhaps the most famous of these claimants wa...