The Fate of Anastasia Romanov: How DNA Testing Solved the Mystery

Examining the History, DNA Evidence, and Controversy Surrounding the Romanov Family's Final Days

Dec 05, 2024

Last week, we explored the complicated legacy of Alexandra Romanov and her struggles with mental health. Make sure to read that before diving into the role DNA testing played in laying (some of) the Romanovs to rest once and for all.

The Subject

In the underrated 1997 film “Anastasia”, a beautiful redhead named Anya is a destitute amnesiac. Two schemers prey upon her, plotting to use her resemblance to Anastasia Romanov for monetary gain. In the end, Anya remembers that she indeed is the Grand Duchess and falls in love with one of the opportunists who helped her come to this realization. Behind the catchy musical numbers and bizarre casting choices (Meg Ryan, Kelsey Grammer, and John Cusack), there is a true story of uncertainty about Anastasia’s fate and a string of women who used that uncertainty for their own gain. And like many great mysteries, that uncertainty would remain until the advent of modern DNA testing.

At the time of the Romanovs’ execution, a story spread that Anastasia escaped death when her executioners’ bullets ricocheted off of diamonds concealed in her corset. Anna Anderson, a Polish factory worker and psychiatric patient, was one of many women who used this tale to her own advantage. After announcing that she was Anastasia in 1922, Anderson enjoyed a life of luxury at the expense of generous benefactors between stints in psychiatric facilities. She convinced Gleb Botkin, son of the Romanov’s physician and the real Anastasia’s childhood playmate, of her identity, but others were not so easily convinced. Anderson and other imposters were able to get away with the charade because the family’s remains were missing for decades, leaving room for questions about Anastasia’s fate.

Rumor has it that the mass grave in which the Romanovs were buried was eventually discovered in 1979 by a geologist. Fearing that the Soviet government would destroy the remains, the discovery remained a secret until 1991, when the site was re-discovered after the fall of the USSR. Researchers in Russia and the United States then conducted independent forensic and DNA analyses of the remains, and as with most things involving Russia and the US, a problem arose - there were bodies missing from the grave.

Both groups of scientists agreed that one of the two sets of remains that were missing belonged to Alexei, the only son of Alexandra and Nicholas. But they disagreed about the identity of the other missing body. The Russians said it was Maria’s, while the Americans argued it was Anastasia’s. Not only did this cast doubt on the otherwise reliable results of the DNA testing, it also allowed the rumors that Anastasia had survived (which had been swirling since 1918) to persist.

In 2007, archaeologists found additional remains 70 meters away from the first gravesite; one male and one female, both of the right age to be the missing Romanov children. The Russian government appointed an international team of scientists to complete a new DNA analysis of the remains from both gravesites, hoping to put the rumors and doubts to rest once and for all.

The Science

The researchers used two kinds of DNA tests: short tandem repeat (STR) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Let’s start with STR testing. Our DNA is made up of 4 molecular building blocks that pair with each other to “spell out” our genes: A and T, and G and C. Although we think of DNA as making us different from one another, the vast majority of our genetic material is uniform. However, there are key regions that differ between individuals. STRs are short sequences of those DNA building blocks, like ACCA, for example. Depending on the genetic material you inherit from your mother and father, you have a different number of copies of these repeats. You may be ACCAACCA, while I’m ACCAACCAACCAACCA. The scientists took DNA from bone fragments of all the remains (which were remarkably well-preserved, likely due to the cold climate where they were buried) and looked at the number of repeats at 15 STR sites. The results of this test showed that the two bodies in the grave discovered in 2007 were indeed the children of the two adults found in 1991. Now that they knew that all of the bodies were related to one another, they just needed to confirm that they were actually Romanovs.

That’s where the mtDNA comes in. I’m sure if you remember anything from science class it is that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. But what you might not know is that mitochondria also have their own DNA (likely because they were an independent organism absorbed by a cell more than a billion years ago), separate from the nuclear DNA that encodes your traits. mtDNA is only passed on by mothers, and doesn’t shuffle and rearrange like nuclear DNA. Because it’s so stable, it is very valuable in genetic testing. By comparing the mtDNA of Alexandra’s bones to the mtDNA of her great-nephew (and Queen Elizabeth’s hubby) Prince Philip, and Nicholas’ bones to those of his brother, the researchers could conclude that indeed, these were the remains of the Romanov family. (Prince Philip’s DNA was also used in 1994 to prove that Anna Anderson was not Anastasia after she passed.)

The Significance

Because Maria and Anastasia were so close in age, it is unclear which body was in which grave; however, we do know that all five children are accounted for. So despite decades of rumors, sadly none of the Romanovs survived the 1918 assassination.

Alexandra, Nicholas, and three of their daughters were buried in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998. In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church took the remarkable step of canonizing Alexandra, Nicholas, and their children as saints. The canonization meant that the family’s remains now had to be stringently authenticated, as the bodies of saints are considered holy relics. Although the 2007 DNA results have been nearly universally accepted as valid, the Church has refused to recognize the authenticity of the remains of Alexei and the fourth Romanov daughter. They have neither affirmed nor denied the identity of the last two bodies, but only said that they are continuing to “investigate.” As a result, Alexei and his sister wait in an evidence box inside a state vault. The Romanovs are as plagued by politics in death as they were in life. And science, despite its best efforts, cannot help.

Uneasy Lies the Crown

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