All Romanovs Accounted For!

Exciting news! Just this past week, the media was reporting of the possible discovery of the remains of the two missing children of the ill-fated last Emperor and Empress of Russia.

For those of us on the royalty forum, we were given a bit of a head's up ahead of time about a possible discovery. Despite the conclusive evidence of DNA testing, according to those "in the know", these are 100% the positive remains of the children.

Just today, after logging on to the forum I regularly visit, what should my wondrous eyes be greeted with? A positive confirmation that these remains are in fact those of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria (or Anastasia if you follow the opinions of the US and British forensic teams).

It was 10th grade Social Studies when I first learned of the tragic story of the last Emperor and Empress of all of Russia, their children, and the horrible fate they faced at the hands of the Bolsheviks. The story struck a chord with me, probably due to the fact that at the time none of their remains had been discovered, and Russia (then the Soviet Union) was communist and completely closed off to the West. This mystery managed to seep into other facets, such as the story of Anna Anderson, who became famous (or rather infamous) through her claims that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. A fantastical fairy tale loaded with intrigues. It was from the Romanov's that I moved on to other European royal houses and settled into a most unusual hobby - studying the social aspects of pre-20th Century European royalty. Just my luck. I can't even get a job with that kind of useless ka-knowledge.

In 1991, shortly after communism fell and the Soviet Union reverted back to its original name of Russia, the news was full of reports about the discovery of the remains of the Imperial family in Yekaterinburg. For those who supported Anna Anderson, her case looked somewhat plausible when during the exhumation, only five members of the Romanov family were found. Two of the Imperial children turned up missing. It was years later when DNA testing became the norm that with the help of current members of the European royal families (Prince Philip of Edinburgh's being one of them), the Yekaterinburg remains were confirmed and Anna Anderson's claims were disputed. Her DNA did not prove to be a match against that of the Imperial family.

For years the question on every one's mind was, "Where are the remains of the other two children"? Confirmed missing were the Tsarevich Alexei and his sister Grand Duchess Maria or Anastasia.

And now. Today. Here we are. Using the original notes of Yakov Yurovsky, the man who carried out their murder, scientists were able to detect exactly where to find these babes. You may wonder why it took so long. Yurovsky wrote two sets of notes. The first set, written in the 1920's were very detailed. Realizing how much information he was giving away, Yurovsky re-wrote another set of notes somewhat disguising the places of burial. The original set sat in Soviet archives while the revised notes were released. Several teams have tried to find the remains of the children using Yurovsky's original notes (released in the 90's), but to no avail. This time, a team was able to locate them using "metal detectors and metal rods as probes, not by digging".

Just last September 2006, Nicholas II's mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, was brought from her native and country of exile, Denmark, to be re-buried. Laid to rest back in Russia next to her beloved husband "Sasha", Tsar Alexander III. This was in accordance to her wishes. Currently, there are two empty spaces waiting in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Now, there is a serious possibility that soon, the remains of the two Imperial children will be placed in their respective places among their family, and all will finally be allowed to rest together in eternity.