Woman Claims To Be Royalty For 32 Years, Then A Detective Digs Up The Real Story

 

In 1918, all seven members of the royal Romanov family — a mother, father, four daughters, and a son — were brutally murdered by Communist revolutionaries. Their horrifying deaths left the world reeling, but it wasn’t long before a tantalizing rumor started to spread: Perhaps the youngest daughter, Anastasia, had escaped. And when a woman named Anastasia Tschaikovsky claimed to be the lost duchess, it took decades for the twisted truth to come out.

Mysterious Royalty

In 1928, a woman with sunken eyes and a crooked smile arrived in New York. It was clear that she didn’t fit the traditional idea of what "royalty” should be. And yet, when she spoke, she immediately gained the world’s attention.

Anastasia/20th Century Fox

"I am the lost heir"

“I am the lost heir of the Romanov family,” she announced. But instead of being greeted with gasps, the American press responded with skepticism. After all, she wasn’t the first woman to claim to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov of Russia.

Anastasia/Fox Animation Studios/20th Century Fox

So Many Impostors

In fact, in the ten years since the Romanov family was executed, at least six women — probably more — had come forward falsely claiming to be Anastasia, so when this tattered woman showed up in New York City, people couldn’t help but scoff.

She Needed Proof

They wanted proof that she was the real deal, something all those other imposters had always failed to do. If this woman really was the lost princess, she had to prove it...which she did, by simply pointing to her jaw.

Anastasia's Past

She alleged that her jaw had been broken nearly ten years earlier when she made her escape from the Communist soldiers who had murdered her entire family. The way she told this story was so genuine that people believed her...including someone from Anastasia’s past.

Anastasia/20th Century Fox

Gleb Botkin

The man was Gleb Botkin, the son of the Romanov family’s physician, who was also murdered by the Communist revolutionaries. Gleb had played with Anastasia as a child, and something mysterious about this woman made him believe her story.

Covered In Scars

Gaining the support of Gleb Botkin, a respected member of high society, convinced the public that she was truly Anastasia. The fact that she was covered in scars, which she claimed to have gotten during her escape, only helped clinch the public’s belief.

Anastasia/Fox Animation Studios/20th Century Fox

Introducing Anna Anderson

She became known as Anna Anderson, the lost Grand Duchess and a fixture of New York high society. She was no longer tattered and pale, but wrapped up in expensive clothes with access to the best products and services money could buy.

Anastasia/20th Century Fox

Met With "Family" Members

As she hopped from one luxurious hotel to the other, she met with many Romanov relatives and former acquaintances of the Romanov family. Most were astounded with how much Anna resembled the young Anastasia they once knew…

Things Didn't Add Up

Others, however, weren’t so easily convinced. Though she looked like Anastasia, other things just didn’t add up. She had trouble recalling certain details about her childhood, and her grasp on languages that Anastasia had been fluent in was shaky at best.

Anastasia/Fox Animation Studios/20th Century Fox

Benefit of the Doubt

But still — the lost Romanov, safe and sound in New York City? It was too amazing of a prospect to be fake. She had been through so much, endured such violence and trauma, that some degree of mental illness was to be expected.

Anna On Display

Anna spent months at a time in the homes of society’s most respected men and women. It didn’t seem to matter that Anna’s accent was decidedly German, and that her behavior was erratic at best. People loved the idea of having Russia’s Grand Duchess in their home…

Jan Thijs/Amazon Studios

Anna "Anastasia" Anderson

Inconsistencies aside, Anna’s most ardent supporters all had one goal in mind: to have Anna’s status as Grand Duchess Anastasia legally recognized. Doing so would have benefits that go beyond whatever fortune her family had left — a fortune eyed by many of her supporters.

One Man Wasn't Convinced

Anastasia’s survival would also be a symbol to Russia’s communist leaders of the strength and resilience of Imperial Russia. These both sounded like great ideas to Anna and her supporters, and if one man hadn’t intervened, things would’ve turned out much differently.

Digging Up Anna's Past

The Grand Duke of Hesse, Anastasia’s uncle, was one of the visiting relatives who doubted Anna’s identity. To learn more about her, he hired a private investigator...and what the investigator uncovered left the Duke infuriated.

Who Is Franziska?

The investigator made a startling claim: Anna, he said, was actually a woman named Franziska Schanzkowska, and she didn’t exactly have royal roots. Franziska was a Polish-German factory worker who had randomly disappeared in 1920.

What's The Truth?

Franziska not only had a history of mental illness, but a 1916 factory explosion left her covered with scars, both physical and mental. These allegations about Anna made some ripples in the press, but they didn’t amount to much, and Anna continued to be regarded as Anastasia.

New Haven Register Archive

Anna Playing Dress-Up

Not that the court system was quite ready to recognize her as such. Years passed, Anna lost multiple court cases about her identity, and it slowly but surely became public knowledge that Anna probably wasn’t Anastasia. Still, people loved to watch her pretend.

Ocean's 8/Warner Bros. Pictures

Anastasia's Enduring Story

They loved it so much that a French play, Anastasia, debuted in 1954, followed by the 1956 film starring Ingrid Bergman. For decades, Anna tried to prove her royal status despite mounting doubts from the public. She died in 1984...seven years before the truth finally came out.

Anastasia/20th Century Fox

Burial Site Discovered

In 1991, a group of amateur Russian investigators discovered what they thought was the Romanovs’ burial site. To be sure, scientists tested the human remains and identified five females and four males. But were they all related?

The Missing Bodies

The science couldn’t lie: The remains showed a mother, father, and three daughters, all of whom were identified as the Romanovs. Four other bodies were identified as servants. Two key elements were missing, however: A son and daughter. 

Where's Anastasia?

When news broke that a Romanov daughter was missing from the burial site, people were floored. Could Anna Anderson (or any of the other imposters, for that matter) have truly been an escaped Anastasia? In 1994, DNA analysis answered this question once and for all.

Anna "Franziska" Anderson

When Anna Anderson’s DNA was compared to that of the Romanov family, it didn’t take long for scientists to conclude that Anna was not a Romanov. Her DNA did, however, match with that of a man named Karl Maucher — the great nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska.

Centuries of Mysteries

Anna Anderson isn’t remembered as the great Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, but as one of the most enduring mysteries of the 20th century. But royal mysteries go far beyond the last century, and there was no one more mysterious than the eccentric 1800s Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie

Born on Christmas Eve in 1837, Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie was immediately considered eccentric. Her father was known for his odd ways, including his decision to teach her horseback riding instead of sending her to school. 

Empress

Elisabeth wouldn’t have become empress if she hadn’t met and married Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, something we’re sure her sister, Helene, stewed about for years: Helene was meant to marry Franz, but when he met Elisabeth, he switched sisters.

Sissi (1955)

Adventure

Like her father, Elisabeth loved adventure and freedom more than anything else, even when she became Empress. She once said, “If I arrived at a place and knew that I could never leave it again, the whole stay would become hell despite being paradise."

Sissi

Pregnant

Franz Joseph and Elisabeth married eight months after their official meeting, meaning Elisabeth took the crown at just 16 years old. With no ready access to birth control, however, she discovered she was a few months pregnant...one month after the wedding.

The Princess Diaries 2 (2004)

The Archduchess Sophie of Bavaria

Elisabeth’s mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie of Bavaria, was called “the only man in the Hofburg palace” — naturally, she was a force to be reckoned with, especially when Elisabeth was involved...and especially after Elisabeth gave birth to her first child.

Sissi

Gisela

Sophie called Elisabeth “a silly young mother” and named the baby after herself without consulting Elisabeth. She refused to let her daughter-in-law care for or see her newborn, and she did the same with Elisabeth’s second daughter, Gisela. 

Wandering Eyes

Franz was head-over-heels for Elisabeth, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. She was quick-witted and adventurous, and she thought Franz was a spineless mommy’s boy. Because of this, she never minded Franz’ wandering eye — and even encouraged his affairs.

Sissi

Beautiful

Elisabeth was renowned for her natural beauty, and she thought her weight — which was a steady 110 — was essential to her looks. She even outsourced rigid corsets from Paris, which took up to an hour to tightly lace up.

Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)

Heir Scare

Elisabeth was under enormous stress to produce an heir to the throne, so after two daughters, she was feeling the pressure. She once entered her study to find that someone had underlined a vicious passage in a book, just for her to read…

Little Women (1994)

Duty

It read, “If the Queen bears no sons, she is merely a foreigner in the State,” among other cruel paragraphs about how it’s the Queen’s “duty” to produce an heir. Elisabeth immediately knew who had left the messages: Sophie. 

Gaslight (1944)

Biscuits

We’ve established how Elisabeth was a free-spirited woman, and this shone through in her love of horses. She was even one of the most celebrated horseback riders in the world during her heyday!

The Empress was certainly eccentric, but some speculate that her mental health status was far more serious. This belief likely stems from something she quipped to Franz, who had asked what she wanted for a gift: “A...lunatic asylum would please me most.”

Sissi

At the ripe old age of 21, Elisabeth finally gave birth to a baby boy, which lead to Elisabeth’s full political power. Still, she had very little say in little Rudolf’s upbringing, just like with her daughters before — that responsibility was again taken up by Sophie. 

Elisabeth is famous for many things, and this one just about tops the list: Her hair was her most prized possession, and it grew to such epic lengths that it took hours each morning to groom and style. She was often left with killer headaches afterward.

Sissi-The Young Empress (1956)

Her beauty was probably a cover for her true internal struggles: It’s widely believed that she suffered from an eating disorder, and that her frequent bouts of illness were due to deep seated unhappiness about her constricting royal status. 

Though Elisabeth and her son were never close, they shared many of the same qualities: Both were stubborn, adventurous people who disliked the pomp and circumstance of the throne. They also shared liberal political views.

When Elisabeth’s last child, Marie, was born, Elisabeth was determined to raise her without help...which ultimately backfired. Marie grew to be known as “The Only Child” because of how her mother spoiled and doted on her.  

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Turning 32 was apparently a sign to Elisabeth that she was over the hill, as she refused to sit for any more portraits and photos. She claimed that she wanted to remain youthful and beautiful in the public’s imagination forever. 

Sissi (1955)

From 1888-1892, Elisabeth lost important loved ones: Her parents, her sister, and even the man she was rumored to have had an affair with. When she heard of her lover's death, she reportedly cried out, “My last and only friend is dead.”

Her son, Rudolf, died in what is today known as the Mayerling Incidient: He and his teenage mistress committed suicide together in an apparent love pact. Though she and her son had never been close, she wore black every day for the rest of her life. 

It was Elisabeth’s refusal to abide by palace rules that ultimately led to her death. When she traveled through Geneva with an entourage, an anarchist peered under her veil before stabbing her with a four-inch needle file.

While surrounded by her rescuers, Elisabeth’s tight corset prolonged her life long enough for her to utter her final words: “What happened?” Chilling last words from one of the most unique — and tragic — rulers in history...

Every monarchy has its unforgettable leaders, and in the same vein as Empress Elisabeth was Russia's Catherine II. But where Elisabeth struggled, Catherine II excelled — unlike Elisabeth, Catherine's political ambition put her on a rocky path towards domination.

Just months after taking the throne in January 1762, Emperor Peter III had made far more enemies than friends. By midyear, a coup was being plotted against him, orchestrated by none other than his wife, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst.

On the morning of July 9, Sophie put her plan into action, rallying allies to overthrow the unpopular tsar. Dressed in a guardsman uniform and with an army at her back, Sophie stood ready at the gates of the Winter Palace before realizing she'd forgotten her sword-knot.

Just then, a young sergeant named Grigory Potemkin emerged from the ranks and gifted Sophie his own. By the end of day, Peter signed his abdication, and, on September 22, Sophie was crowned Catherine II, Empress of Russia.

But Catherine never forgot the chivalrous soldier who came to her aid that day, and after taking the throne she ensured Potemkin's promotion to second lieutenant. He was eventually promoted to Kammerjunker, giving him a place within Catherine's court — and within her home at Winter Palace.

While the empress hadn't taken Potemkin as a lover, she encouraged his flirtatious behavior whenever they met. He was fond of kissing her hand, and she never minded his unprompted declarations of love.

Yet Catherine wasn't known to be a one-man kind of woman. She had taken up a number of lovers while Empress consort, and even now, Potemkin wasn't in sole possession of her affections — her general, Grigory Orlov, was her undisputed favorite.

Still, Potemkin was completely devoted to Catherine and served her unyieldingly during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774. He returned to St. Petersburg a war hero, and after casting aside her latest lover, Alexander Vasilchikov, Catherine and Potemkin became intimate.

HBO / YouTube

Their relationship was one of "laughter, sex, mutually admired intelligence, and power," with the empress often referring to Potemkin as her "Twin Soul" and her "Golden Pheasant." The two corresponded regularly while apart, and many of their private rendezvous took place in the saunas of the Winter Palace.

Potemkin's political influence grew substantially with Catherine's blessing, and he was held in high regard for his military acumen. He was granted numerous titles and positions of power, making him fabulously wealthy and a key member of Catherine's court.

HBO

During this time, it's also believed that Catherine and Potemkin were secretly wed. The empress more or less referred to Potemkin as her consort in most of her letters, and as they aged, their conduct began to mirror that of husband and wife.

HBO

Yet around 1775, their relationship began to change. Catherine took her secretary Pyotr Zavadovsky as a lover, and by May of 1776, he'd succeeded Potemkin as Catherine's favorite.

But that didn't spell the end for Potemkin and the empress. He remained one of Catherine's close personal advisors and resumed military campaigns to expand her empire, constructing cities in the newly acquired territories of New Russia and Crimea.

HBO

Potemkin was so consumed with pleasing Catherine that during the empress' visit to the south, he reportedly constructed villages with fake façades to fool her into thinking the area was richer than it was. Though the extent of his deceit has been overstated, the term "Potemkin Village" arose from this incident.

Euromaiden Press

Despite his time away from the Winter Palace, Potemkin also remained considerably involved in Catherine's love life. He would often partake in relations with the empress and her newest paramore and "filled in" when Catherine was between lovers.

HBO

Potemkin even "vetted" prospective candidates to gauge their suitability for the empress. All the while, Potemkin embarked on a number of sexual escapades of his own — including ones with his own nieces.

HBO

Though Catherine and Potemkin never revived the relationship they once had, the two remained incredibly close throughout the remainder of their lives. The empress ensured that Potemkin was well taken care of, gifting him land, serfs, and rubles aplenty.

HBO

But in October of 1791, Potemkin fell ill in the city of Jassy while planning an assault on Poland. He recovered briefly, though just a few days later he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia and died at age 52.

Wikimedia Commons

Russia was saddened by Potemkin's loss, though Catherine took the news the hardest. "A terrible, crushing blow struck me," she wrote to a friend. "A courier brought me the mournful news that my pupil, my friend, one might say my idol, Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky has died."

In the days following his death, the empress put social life in St. Petersburg on hold so that all could mourn Potemkin. She also purchased Potemkin's home, the Tauride Palace, as well as his art collection and even paid off his debts.

Lonely Planet

Catherine ruled five more years before dying of a stroke at age 67. And while the empress continued to take lovers even in the months before her death, many believe that Catherine never fully recovered from the loss of her beloved Potemkin.

HBO