Romanov impostors: A century of fakers

The first episode of [Netflix’s The Last Czars]( opens with Pierre Gilliard, French tutor to the children of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, visiting Anna Anderson at St. Mary’s Hospital in Berlin in order to verify her claim that she was really the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia and had somehow managed to survive the assassination of her entire family. She was, instead, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness named Franziska Schanzkowska. Gilliard, along with several other acquaintances and relatives of the Romanovs, later dedicated much of his life to disproving her claims, even [writing a book]( on the subject. Still, Anderson had her supporters and defenders, most notably Gleb Botkin, the son of the court physician who had been murdered at Yekaterinburg with Tsar Nicholas II and his family. People were, and still are, dazzled by the idea of a mystery like that, by the incredible story of a spunky princess who survived execution only to fight to prove her identity. Until 2008, when DNA tests proved conclusively that the entire family of Tsar Nicholas II had indeed been murdered by Bolsheviks, many people at least considered it a possibility that one or more of the Romanov children had survived, creating an entire cottage industry of movies and books about the “Romanov mystery.” It also inspired a whole lot of people to come out of the woodwork, claiming that they were or knew an escaped Romanov—from Anastasia to Alexei to a secret Romanov baby—and it provided work and notoriety for the forensic experts, documentarians and writers willing to help them prove it. And even as the imposters have slowly petered out, our fascination remains. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Romanov impostors July 25, 2019 A lost princess? --------------------------------------------------------------- The first episode of [Netflix’s The Last Czars]( opens with Pierre Gilliard, French tutor to the children of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, visiting Anna Anderson at St. Mary’s Hospital in Berlin in order to verify her claim that she was really the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia and had somehow managed to survive the assassination of her entire family. She was, instead, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness named Franziska Schanzkowska. Gilliard, along with several other acquaintances and relatives of the Romanovs, later dedicated much of his life to disproving her claims, even [writing a book]( on the subject. Still, Anderson had her supporters and defenders, most notably Gleb Botkin, the son of the court physician who had been murdered at Yekaterinburg with Tsar Nicholas II and his family. People were, and still are, dazzled by the idea of a mystery like that, by the incredible story of a spunky princess who survived execution only to fight to prove her identity. Until 2008, when DNA tests proved conclusively that the entire family of Tsar Nicholas II had indeed been murdered by Bolsheviks, many people at least considered it a possibility that one or more of the Romanov children had survived, creating an entire cottage industry of movies and books about the “Romanov mystery.” It also inspired a whole lot of people to come out of the woodwork, claiming that they were or knew an escaped Romanov—from Anastasia to Alexei to a secret Romanov baby—and it provided work and notoriety for the forensic experts, documentarians and writers willing to help them prove it. And even as the imposters have slowly petered out, our fascination remains. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( The future of everything is user-first --------------------------------------------------------------- This podcast shows you how. [Usable]( a new podcast from Quartz Creative, explores the surprising user experience design decisions behind some of life’s most common objects, places, and experiences—from haunted houses to meatless burgers. [Listen to Usable here.]( Reuters/Alexander Demianchuk By the digits [$293-$352 billion:]( Tsar Nicholas’s estimated wealth in 2019 dollars [900:]( Rooms in the Romanovs’ palace [15,000:]( Headcount of their royal servants [$14.3 million:]( Box office gross for 1956’s Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner ($137 million today) [1:]( Well-deserved best-actress Oscar for Ingrid Bergman’s performance in the movie [$140 million]( Box office gross for the 1997 animated film Anastasia [300,000:]( Attendees of a 2013 exhibition about the Romanovs in Moscow [32]( Years Anna Anderson spent in a German court trying to sue a newspaper that claimed she was not Anastasia [18]( Age Tsarevich Alexei would have been the year that one of his many impostors, CIA agent Michael Goleniewski, was born Reuters/Peter Nicholls Explain it like I’m 5! The Romanov mystique --------------------------------------------------------------- Who were the Romanovs, and why would anyone want to be one? Their dynasty ruled Russia for just over three centuries, and included such figures as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. Nicholas II wasn’t considered so great; in National Geographic, Toby Saul describes “Nicholas the Bloody” as [“unimaginative,” “limited,” and “chronically indecisive,”]( and Greg King, author of a book on the family, argues that no country would save the family because of his status as a [“pariah.”]( But they were also rich and glamorous, thanks in part to the new media of the time, [photography and the tabloid press](. And because of their fate—disappeared by the Bolsheviks, [erased from history by the Soviet Union]( with many members outside the immediate family left to pick up the pieces—stories and impostors could fill the gap. Time has winnowed those claims, but the family’s star is on the rise in post-Communist Russia: the [Russian Orthodox Church canonized]( Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children in 2000, and in 2008 the Russian supreme court [officially declared]( they were the victims of “unfounded repression.” Have you tried the Quartz app? --------------------------------------------------------------- “Quartz is an incredible app for intellectuals who want real conversations without name-calling and nonsense that fills up other alternatives.” [Try the Quartz app]( Quotable “History has known quite a few pretenders, but it is highly unlikely that an entire family would lie about this and painstakingly fabricate a legend.” —[Igor Lysenko, Georgy Egorov, and Vadim Petrov in The Escape of Alexei, Son of Tsar Nicholas II: What Happened The Night The Romanov Family Was Executed]( Giphy Pop quiz Who accepted Ingrid Bergman’s Best Actress Oscar for Anastasia? Cary GrantIngrid BergmanYul BrynnerHumphrey Bogart Correct. Bergman had self-exiled to Europe after a controversial affair with Roberto Rossellini, and had a stage role at the time; the Oscar led to her return to the US. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with Romanov impostors? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – Giphy Brief history [1918:]( Nicholas II and his entire family are executed by Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg. [1920:]( Anna Anderson is institutionalized in Berlin after a suicide attempt. [1922:]( A fellow patient at the institution is released and tells people she met Grand Duchess Tatiana. After an acquaintance of the family says she is too short to be Tatiana, Anderson is then “revealed” to actually be Anastasia. [1957:]( Marga Boodts, who claims to be Grand Duchess Olga, meets Prince Sigismund of Prussia, who “verifies” her identity. Boodts had an ongoing rivalry with Anderson, whom she [dismissed as a fake](. [1960:]( The real Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, Nicholas II’s sister, dies in a Toronto apartment. [1968:]( Suzanna Catharina De Graaff tells the Daily Telegraph that she is the secret daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra. Her claims are supported by both Anna Anderson and Marga Boodts. [1977:]( Heino Tammet dies in British Columbia, Canada and the name Alexei Tammet-Romanov is inscribed on his grave. [1979:]( A Russian geologist locates the Romanovs’ grave. [1984:]( Anna Anderson dies in Charlottesville, Virginia. [1991:]( The bodies found in the Romanovs’ grave are disinterred for DNA testing, but the bodies of Prince Alexei and Princess Maria are still missing. [1998:]( The Escape of Alexi, which attempts to prove that a Leningrad airport worker is the Tsar’s grandson, is published. [2007:]( A Russian archaeologist discovers the remains of two bodies, believed to be Alexei and Maria, near the site of the assassination. [2008:]( DNA tests prove that the remains belong to Alexei and one of his sisters. Fun fact! Anna Anderson’s most devoted supporter, Gleb Botkin, also started his own neo-pagan religion, which he called [“The Church of Aphrodite.”]( Watch this! Leonard Nimoy searches for Anastasia --------------------------------------------------------------- In 1978, Leonard Nimoy’s In Search Of… series did an episode on Anna Anderson and her claims, featuring interviews with her and her husband John Eacott “Jack” Manahan (who often referred to himself as “The Grand Duke In Waiting”), when they were living in Charlottesville, Virginia. The episode included a “forensic expert” who determined that Anderson must have been Anastasia due to the similarity of their ears. take me down this 🐰 hole! 10 Romanov Impostors, ranked: --------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Prince Michael Romanoff: [Successful restaurateur]( of Hollywood’s golden age who turned his transparently false claim into a [“glorious glitzy fraud,”]( dubbed “the most wonderful liar of the 20th-century US” by Life magazine. 9. Anatoly Ionov: Claimed to be Anastasia’s son, [sent multiple letters]( to Putin demanding his mom be buried in the Tsar’s tomb. 8. Granny Alina: “[M]ysteriously [showed up in South Africa]( and supposedly told her family there that she was a princess,” leading her grandson to try to prove the claim. 7. Natalya Petrovna Bilikhodze: In 2002, [a video of the 101-year-old]( was released in which she claimed to be the Anastasia and would soon be moving back to Russia from Georgia to claim her fortune. Awkwardly, by the time the video was released, she [had been dead for two years](. 6. Eugenia Smith: A Chicago-based Anastasia claimant who wrote her own “autobiography,” and got pieces of it published in Life magazine. [A book of her art]( was published posthumously. 5. Michael Gray (AKA William Lloyd Lavery): Adopted as a child, later “figured out” that [his real parents]( were obviously Alexei Romanov, who had escaped execution, and Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, whom he married in secret. 4. Marga Boodts: Anna Anderson’s rival got a [remarkable number of prominent figures]( to recognize her as Nicholas II’s sister—including, allegedly, Pope Pius XII. 3. Michael Goleniewski: A spy who started out in Poland’s Ministry of Public Security, became a spy for the Soviets, and then became a triple agent, working for both and reporting back to the CIA. After joining US intelligence, he began claiming he was Alexei Romanov, which [cost him his job](. Both he and Eugenia Smith claimed to recognize each other as brother and sister, though she later denounced him as a fraud. 2. Anna Anderson: Well, she is the most famous. 1. Suzanna Catharina de Graaff: The [con-artist’s daughter]( claimed that the hysterical pregnancy or miscarriage the Tsarina was reported to have had in 1903 was her real birth, after which she was given up for adoption because she wasn’t a male heir. Her claim, technically, has never been disproven. Giphy Poll Did you ever believe any of the impostors' claims? [Click here to vote]( YesNoI did not even know this was a thing 💬let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [Jell-O]( 47% of you say you enjoy it sometimes. Bill writes: “A little correction to the Tom Lehrer/Jell-O shot story. The actual location was not a naval base, but actually Arlington Hall Station, the then-home of the National Security Agency. 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