5 impostors who argued their affiliation to the royal Romanov family

Some people are willing to go to great lengths to become famous, but this group of people has truly surpassed everyone. They claimed to have been the victims of the infamous execution of the Romanov family in 1918. Despite all their efforts, the Russian crown remained inaccessible to them, writes Russia beyond the headlines.

Photo: Wikipedia, public domain

1. Anna Anderson, claiming the role of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova

This imposter, known as Anna Anderson, argued that she was the fourth and youngest daughter of the Romanov family. However, despite the fact that she was able to deceive the imperial elite, it recognized the Polish woman Francis Shankovskaya. It is known that she received serious injuries while working at a Berlin plant producing explosives.^. Her belonging to the Shankovskys' family was confirmed by two independent DNA tests made after her death.

Anna's Story began in 1920, when she attempted suicide and was sent to a mental health center in Berlin. She refused to give her name. One of the patients took her for the Grand Duchess, and later this legend was supported by Russian immigrants.

Two years later, Anna began to tell people that she really was Grand Duchess Anastasia.

In 1928, Anna Anderson, at the invitation of Princess Xenia Georgievna, who was remotely connected with the Romanov family, moved to the USA, where she lived for some time in her house. However, after an unsuccessful attempt to prove her blue blood, Anna returned to Germany.

For more than 20 years, she struggled to prove her royal identity, but to no avail. In 1968, she returned to the United States, where she married a rich man and received American citizenship.

Anderson died in Virginia's 1984.

2. Eugenia Smith also claimed that she was Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova

Another notorious contender for the title of Anastasia was Eugene Smith, the real name of Eugene Drabek Smetisko. She was an artist and writer of Ukrainian origin who emigrated to the United States in 1929 from Bukovina.

Smith moved to Chicago in 1963. In the Windy City, she presented manuscripts to a publisher that she claimed belonged to the Grand Duchess Romanova. The publisher doubted the veracity of the story and suggested taking a lie detector test, which Smith failed. After this, the woman announced that she was Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia and, surprisingly, was able to pass a lie detector test.

Fashion for Eugene Smith was, however, pretty soon. In 1970, Smith moved to New Port in Rhode Island, where she attended a local congrential church until her death. Founded the fund of sv. Nicholas, to whom, in particular, the money received from the sale of her numerous paintings, depicting her childhood surrounded by the royal family, among the palace interiors, went. With this money she was going to build a Museum of Russian Painting in the USA.

Later, Smith began to distance herself from any allegations that the Grand Duchess and regularly refused to undergo any examinations that could establish the identity of her personality and the personality of Anastasia, including the DNA examination offered to her in 1994, shortly before her death.

Eugene Smith died in oblivion on 31 on January 1997 of the year in the Lafayette Sanatorium in North Kingstown and was buried in an orthodox rite at a cemetery owned by Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. Many newspapers, when printing the obituary, used the date of birth of Anastasia Nikolaevna as the date of birth.

3. Marga Budts claiming to be the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna from Russia

Marga Budts is considered one of the least successful applicants for communication with the Romanov family. She claimed that she was Olga, the first daughter of Tsar Nicholas II.

Marga first appeared in France after World War II. She collected money from the general public for the Grand Duchess, who, she claimed, miraculously managed to avoid the execution of the Romanov family. Later Budts was arrested for fraud. In court, she claimed that she was Polish gentry (legally privileged noble class).

A few years later, in 1950, Marga reappeared, but refused to make any statements about her previous fraudulent activities. Budts somehow managed to convince Nicolaus, hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg, and Wilhelm (German prince), who supported her financially until his death, in her royalties.

For a long time Marga was silent, but Anna Anderson became famous, and she also announced her publicity. Budts did her best to expose Anderson. She wrote a book to tell the story of her "family", but she never published it.

Budts died in 1976 year in Sala Comasine, Italy, where she lived the rest of her days alone, refusing to meet with journalists.

4. Mikhail Golenevsky, posing as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolayevich

Mikhail Golenevsky was a Polish officer and counterintelligence agent who collaborated with the Soviet KGB at the end of the 50s when he worked in the secret service of his country.

Golenevsky became a triple agent, giving the CIA Polish and Soviet secrets. In January, 1961, he moved to the United States and officially began working for the CIA. In the same year, the Polish court declared him dead in absentia.

Some time later, while working in the USA, he claimed that he was Tsarevich Alexei, the youngest child and the only son of Tsar Nicholas II. According to Golenevsky, the whole family survived. Few believed him.

To prove his blue blood, Golenevsky tried to find his sisters. He “reunited” with the aforementioned impostor Eugenia Smith, claiming that she was his sister. Smith recognized her brother in Golenevsky.

However, Golenevsky’s documents showed that he was born in Poland, 18 years after the birth of Tsarevich Alexei. In response, the applicant showed that he suffers from hemophilia (Alexey was born with this genetic disorder), so he looks younger than he really is. Few people believed him, so he was fired from the CIA because of the lies.

Golenevsky fought for recognition by Tsarevich Alexei until his death in 1993, but he was not lucky.

5. Cheslava Shapska claimed that she was Maria Nikolaevna

Cheslava Shapska was first seen in 1919 in Bucharest, where she married Prince Nikolai Dolgorukov, and it was claimed that the Romanian queen Maria was present at the marriage. According to Cheslav, all members of the royal family, except for her “father” Nicholas II and the servants, escaped execution. Cheslava officially recognized the authenticity of the aforementioned Anna Anderson and Margi Budts (she knew the latter personally).

She died in 1970 in Rome from intestinal cancer and was buried in the Roman cemetery Flaminio. On the gravestone, thanks to the efforts of her grandson, Alexis Brimeyer, “SAI (Son Altesse Impériale) Maria Nicolaïevna Romanov Dolgorouky 1899 — 1970"(That is," Her Imperial Highness Maria Nikolaevna Romanova-Dolgorukaya, 1899 — 1970 ”. The DNA test denied any connection with the royal family.

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