A Romanov Mystery Solved: Forensic Facial Reconstructions & History | Royalty Now

Hello everyone and welcome back to Royalty Now, where we bring you face to face with figures from the past and talk about their history. The mystery of what happened to the Romanov family is one of the greatest historical questions of the 20th century. In this video, I'll be revealing never-before-seen recreations of the Romanov children based off of forensic reconstructions that were made in the 90s. We'll also talk about the family's lives, the revolution that ended them, and the theories So let's go ahead and get started. House Romanov was almost 300 years old when Tsar Nicholas II assumed the throne in 1894. Between 1895 and 1904, Nicholas and his wife Alexandra, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria's, would have five children together. They would turn out to be the last imperial family Russia would ever have. Their fourth child was Grand Duchess Anastasia, now one of the more famous members of the family due to persistent rumors that she had survived after the family mysteriously disappeared in 1918. But Tsar Nicholas wasn't too pleased with the fourth daughter, having longed for a male heir for many years. It was said that Nicholas would part with half his empire in exchange for one imperial boy. However, the little girl was no less loved for it. Anastasia was known to be a mischievous, energetic child. She was much loved by her parents and her siblings. Thankfully a son did eventually come along, and the five siblings, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei, would grow up together in the Romanov royal palaces. What's interesting about the Romanovs in particular is that they lived in an almost early tabloid era. The entire family was photographed constantly, even candidly, showing the day-to-day events of their lives. We can see them lovingly reading together, playing with their pet pony, or just joking around. This fascinated the country, and they were treated with a celebrity-like status that would become the norm in the latter 20th century. But the siblings had a more simple upbringing than you might expect. They were required to do their daily chores, sleep on simple cots, and take cold baths in the mornings. Every day they were rigorously tutored in languages, literature, religion, and other subjects. Anastasia and Maria were especially close. They shared a room, and they were known as the little pair. The older girls, Olga and Tatiana, were known as the big pair. The youngest, and the only boy, Alexei, suffered from poor health. It was later determined with DNA testing that he suffered from hemophilia B, a rare form of the blood disorder that causes blood not to clot properly. In fact, many of the descendants of Queen Victoria suffered from the disease or were carriers. Alexei inherited it from his mother, Alexandra. At this time, most people who suffered from the disease died young, so his life as the only Romanov heir was very dangerous. Any minor cut, bruise, or scrape could result in unstoppable internal bleeding. The family kept this information close to the chest, insisting to their doctor that it was a family secret. But the Tsarina was desperate, knowing just how much Alexei meant to Nicholas and the country, and with doctors telling her there was no cure, she began to look elsewhere. Alexandra would come across a wandering holy man that she was told had otherworldly healing powers. His name was Grigory Rasputin. He would quickly become one of her most trusted advisors, and they would begin to spend so much time together that rumors began to swirl around the Russian court. Who was this man Rasputin? Did he really have magical powers? And if he did, could he be using that magic to influence the Tsar? The Russian people could see no other reason why the Tsar would let them suffer so much. Tsar Nicholas, despite being a loving and devoted father and husband, was also a terrible ruler. He just didn't have the charisma and devotion for public service that made a good Tsar. He wasn't good at seeing his own weaknesses. He distrusted his advisors, believing himself to be ruling with power divine directly from God. As a result, he was blissfully unaware of the troubles brewing in his country. When civil unrest increased, Nicholas just intensified police repression. When advisors opposed him, he viewed them as conspiring against him. And when the country cried out for more constitutional representation, Nicholas initially agreed to a parliament, but later doubled back, breaking his promises. Now, the peasant class made up most of the population, and their working conditions were horrendous. It wasn't even legal for them to strike for better hours or wages. In January of 1905, unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they peacefully marched to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas. This event is now known as Bloody Sunday. In 1914, Russia entered World War I, intensifying this public anger. While the sisters pitched in by becoming Red Cross nurses and visiting soldiers, it just wasn't enough to bring the Imperial family back into the good graces of the people. Unwilling soldiers, feeling no sense of patriotism to their dying nation, were being repeatedly defeated on the Eastern Front. Food was scarce, the country was in shambles, and confidence for the Romanov regime was at an all-time low. In late 1916, the Russian police tried to warn Nicholas of this impending disaster. As they put it, the lower classes of the empire are enraged by the burdens of daily existence. But once again, the Tsar ignored the warnings. Nicholas continued failure to listen not only to his advisors, but his own people would leave them with no other option but to force him to listen. In February of 1917, over 50,000 factory workers began their strike. In response, the Tsar brought in the army, to a crowd of defenseless men and women. But this time, even the Tsar's own army revolted against him, with his soldiers refusing to fire into the crowd. A line had just been crossed, one that Nicholas' monarchy would never recover from. All over the city, symbols of the Tsarist regime were torn down, and government authority collapsed in less than a day. The entire imperial family was placed at the Alexander Palace, where they would be held in house arrest for the foreseeable future. After 23 years as Tsar, Nicholas was forced to formally abdicate the throne on March 15, 1917. And a new provisional government was announced. But even this new government would suffer from the same mistakes as the Tsar. In July, they would fire on protesters and deepen the divide between the Russian people and its government, sparking a movement that would define world politics for the rest of the century. Vladimir Lenin, inspired by the Communist Manifesto, would capture the hearts of the Russian people. His effective propaganda and charisma would catapult his party to a majority within months of the abdication, and begin a new era of world politics. Soon the family had been moved to a house in Yekaterinburg, high in the Ural Mountains, under even more security. The stress of imprisonment on the children was great, but the family still found moments of joy. Anastasia would perform plays and organize dances. One of the guards remembered her as very friendly and full of fun. Yakov Yurovsky, who supervised the Romanovs during their house arrest, described them as living like a normal, middle-class family. They would have breakfast together and then do their daily chores. The daughters Olga and Tatiana were very cheeky, he said, often sweet-talking their guards trying to gain some favor. But as their captivity became more and more strict, the siblings were starting to lose hope. Don't forget us, Anastasia wrote to a friend in 1917. In the summer of 1918, outside the walls of the Ipatiev house where the family was being held, a civil war was raging. The Bolsheviks, known as the Red Army, wanted the Tsar ousted forever. But on the other side, the White Army, made up of anti-Bolshevik forces, were advancing into Yekaterinburg to try to free the imperial family and hopefully reach peace terms. Just as the White Army reached the house, they were shocked to find no one there. To the outside world, the imperial family had simply vanished. Everywhere, people were whispering and wondering what had happened to their royal family. It was rumored that one of the daughters or even the Tsarevich Alexei had escaped. This began the decades-long mystery of the lost Romanov family. In the coming years, the lack of evidence opened the door for impostors and fortune hunters, with the rumor spreading that the Romanov fortune was just sitting in European banks waiting to be claimed. Over a dozen people came forward in the years after, claiming to be surviving members of the family. But some impostors were more credible than others. One woman named Eugenia Smith wrote memoirs claiming to be Anastasia. She recounted her entire life as a member of the Russian imperial family, including a long-winded description of how she escaped the Red Army. But even with all the details she provided, not many people were convinced. Michael Golanowski, a Polish spy turned CIA agent, claimed that he was the Tsarevich Alexei and that the rest of the family had also survived and were hiding in Europe. He even met up with Eugenia Smith in a reunion. However, his claim was quickly debunked and they found no trace of hemophilia and Polish documentation of his birth. But then in 1920, a more convincing claim intrigued the world. A young woman was admitted to a mental hospital in Germany. She had mysterious scars on her head and body. Rumors within the hospital spread that she was a lost Romanov, maybe Tatiana or Anastasia. Following her release from the mental hospital, the woman, now calling herself Anastasia Tchaikovsky, began to spread the word of who she claimed to be, telling the story of her escape. Her scarred body the reminder of the night she escaped the Red Army, thanks only to one sympathetic Bolshevik soldier who decided to help her escape. Her compelling story, along with a passing resemblance to the Romanov daughters, began to make people truly believe that she could be Anastasia. But her story didn't gain true legitimacy until the son of the Romanov family doctor, Gleb Botkin, who had spent time with the Romanovs as a child, stepped forward to say that he wholeheartedly believed that this was Anastasia, the girl he had played with as a child. Botkin's own father had disappeared with the family in 1918, so his opinion held true weight. Soon, even Romanov relatives had begun to support her, impressed by her intimate knowledge of Anastasia's childhood. One of them was so convinced that he gifted her a castle to live in. But of course, there were holes in her story. Anna routinely failed to remember important events that Anastasia had gone through. And most glaringly, she didn't speak English, French, or Russian to the degree that the real Anastasia would have. It was easy for Anna to claim trauma, memory loss, and mental illness as the reasons for the discrepancies. It wasn't until a private detective worker was hired that Anna was found to bear a striking resemblance to a missing Polish factory worker who had become mentally ill from trauma she experienced during World War I. Nevertheless, many Romanov relatives and the doctor's son Gleb Botkin still believed that she was Anastasia. Even with all the holes in her story, Anna would continue to garner support for the rest of her life. It was as though the world was so hungry for the truth about what had really happened to the Tsar and his family that they were ready to believe anything. Even the matriarch of the family, Dowager Empress Maria, refused to believe her family was gone. Everyone wanted a survivor. It would take until the fall of the Soviet Union for the truth to finally come out. In 1993, a letter was published by the Russian government. It was an 8,000-word confession, written in 1922 by Yakov Yurovsky, the man who guarded the Romanovs in their captivity. He describes in great detail the night of July 17, 1918, when he was ordered to execute the Romanovs. The long confession, which is available online to read, leaves little doubt that his story is true. The world was finally given an answer about the fate of the Romanovs. But some were still clinging to hope that one of them had survived. Soon, another Soviet secret would be made public that would leave more questions than answers. In 1979, Soviet investigators finally located what they thought might be the final resting place of the family, in the woods outside of Yekaterinburg. When the bodies were analyzed in the 1990s, DNA analysis confirmed they were the lost family. But it provided an incomplete picture. Only five of the seven Romanovs could be identified. The grave contained the remains of Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, and three of the daughters, two of whom they identified certainly as Olga and Tatyana. But the third was a mystery. Was it either Maria or Anastasia? This left the remains of Alexei and one of the daughters still unlocated. What it did resolve was the chapter on Anna Anderson, whose DNA was found not to match anyone in the family. She was then confirmed to be the missing Polish factory worker. In the rest of the 1990s, there was a true hope that one or more of the Romanovs had escaped that fateful night. The world became once again fascinated with Anastasia, even prompting an animated movie about the princess, which piqued the interest of a whole new generation. Sadly, in 2007, the last piece of the puzzle popped into place. Searching near the original site, Alexei's remains were found at a separate site, along with the remains of one young woman. They called this skeleton number 6, which was said to be aged between 15 and 24. I want to really dig into the mystery of this skeleton number 6. This one belongs to either Anastasia or Maria. The Russians firmly believe that skeleton number 6 belongs to Anastasia, whereas scientists in the U.S. firmly believe it belongs to Maria. The controversy is still raging. In 1994, Russian medical examiner Dr. Sergei Nitkin created forensic facial reconstructions of the bodies found in the first gravesite. So we don't have reconstructions of the two bodies found later in 2007. Even with all the photographs we have of the family, this girl is just hard to identify. The Romanovs' siblings all look incredibly similar, and there are very few images of them after their imprisonment. For instance, Anastasia was only 15 when the family was moved into captivity, so the young girl we see in photographs probably looks different than she would have as a more mature adult. There are certain things that skull reconstructions can't touch, like the soft tissue features, the precise shape of the lips, facial fullness in certain areas, and more. I think Tatiana just has a face where her soft tissue features really define her appearance. I've found that her forensic reconstruction just doesn't match photographs of her. So for this reason, I've modified her recreation to better match the photos. So first, let's take a look at my recreations of the firmly identified daughters, Olga and Tatiana, now. Alexei's remains have been identified, but there's no forensic reconstruction for him. So I've also made a recreation of the young Tsarevich to honor his memory. Let's take a look at that now. Now let's take a look at my recreation of skeleton number 6, and compare it with the While I'm not a forensic scientist, to me, this reconstruction is almost certainly of Anastasia. When brought to life, it looks like the more mature version of the young Anastasia we see in photographs. And since I believe we are missing Maria from these images, I've also made a photo composite of her. So let's take a look at that for comparison. Based on the reconstruction and photograph comparisons, who do you think skeleton number 6 belongs to? Is it Anastasia or Maria? We hope you enjoyed the other recreations of the family as well. Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you for the next video.