anastasia

Anastasia Romanov was the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II, the last reining czar of Russia. She was born on June 18th 1901 at the Perterhof Palace, outside of St. Petersburg. She was a disapointment to her parents, as they were hoping for a son. Only men could rein Russia, a law created by the grandson of Catherine the Great. Nicholas supposedly took a long walk after he discovered the child was a girl. He recoreded the the birth in his diary:
      "At around three o'clock in the morning, Alix started having strong pains. At four o'clock, I got up, winet to my room and dressed. At exactly 6 o'clock in the morning a little daughter - Anastasia - was born."
Nicholas's sister, Xenia, too recorded the occasion:
      "Alix feels spendid - but my God! What a dissapointment! ...a forth girl! They have named her Anastasia. Mama sent me a telegram about it, and writes: 'Alix has given birth to a daughter!'"
Alix must have been incredibly disapointed, as she had been infromed by the mystics Anastasia and Militsa Montenegro (the Black Sisters) that her child would be male. Alix had been put under extream pressure in 1900 to produce an heir when Nicholas fell gravely ill with typus, nearly to the point of death. Alix would have rather died with her husband than see the "empty headed" Grand Duke Michael (Misha) take the throne. An heir was to be born three years later, in 1904. Unfortunately, the little Alexi would suffer mercilessly from hemophilia.
Anastasia was the comic relief of the czar's family. She loved to goof around, but knew she had to be careful around her brother. She - like most Grand Duchesses - was tutored at home. She learned how to play the piano, draw, and do needlework, as well as the more demanding subjects of Russian, English, French, and German. Alix supervised her daughters' education, chosing the curriculum carefully. Anastasia also had to live as her father had growing up. She slept on a military cot without pillows, and often took cold baths in the mornings, even the sub-zero winters!
Anastasia enjoyed drawing and photography. She often combined the two, coloring her black and white photos. Unfortunately, Anastasia had few friends, as her mother kept her and her sisters extreamly sheltered. This caused the Grand Duchesses to be a bit unmature, and also left them unprepared for their life in exile.
Revolution was already brewing in 1905, and culminated in Bloody Sunday, January 22nd, 1905. This revolt began as a peacful march, of which Nicholas was unaware of. Thinking it was a revolt, he ordered troops to stop it, and it ended in the death of hundreds. The spark of revolution became a fire in 1917, when many Russian soldiers were dying on the battle fields of WW1. The Russian public called for the abdication of the czar. On March 15th, 1917, the czar abdicated, first in favor of Alexi, then abdicated for Alexi too, leaving Misha the czar of Russia. Nicky wrote in his diary:
      "...I handed over the signed and recopied manifesto. I left Pskov at one o'clock that night, with a heavy heart. All around is betrayal, cowardice and deceit!"
Nicky returned home to find his children suffering from measles, and his family was under house arrest. Things did not get any better, the former royal family was moved first to Tolbolsk, then to Ekaterineburg. There, on July 17th, 1918, the Romanov family, along with a few servants was brutaly murdered (assanation is too gentle a word) and buried in the woods.
Yet, the name Anastasia means: "She will rise again"...