TheHouse of Romanov^[b] (also transliterated asRomanoff;Russian:Рома́новы,romanized: Romanovy,IPA:[rɐˈmanəvɨ]) was the reigningimperial house ofRussia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence afterAnastasia Romanovna marriedIvan the Terrible, the first crownedtsar of all Russia.Nicholas II, the lastEmperor of Russia, and his immediate family wereexecuted in 1918, but there are still living descendants of other members of the imperial house.

House of Romanov Романовы
Argent, a griffin gules, holding in its right paw a sword, in the left an oval buckler or, on it an eagle displayed sable; the whole within a bordure of the last charged with eight lion's heads erased, alternately of the first and the third.[1]
Parent house	Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (since 1762)[a]
Country	List Russian Empire Tsardom of Russia Congress Kingdom of Poland Grand Duchy of Lithuania Grand Duchy of Finland Grand Duchy of Oldenburg Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Duchy of Holstein Order of Malta
Founded	21 February 1613 (1613-2-21)
Founder	Michael I
Current head	Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia (great-great-granddaughter ofAlexander II of Russia, disputed[2] Prince Alexis Romanoff, (great-great-grandson ofAlexander III of Russia), disputed[3][4][5] Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, under the regnal name Nicholas III (great-great-great-grandson of Alexander II of Russia), disputed[6]
Final ruler	Elizabeth I (agnatic line) Nicholas II (cognatic line)
Titles	Tsar of all Russia (1613–1721) Emperor of all Russia (1721–1917) Other titles...
Connected families	House of Windsor,House of Glücksburg
Dissolution	1762 (1762) (inagnatic line after death ofElizabeth I)
Deposition	15 March 1917 (February Revolution)
Cadet branches	See list

The house consisted ofboyars in Russia (the highest rank in theRussian nobility at the time) under the reigningRurik dynasty, which became extinct upon the death ofFeodor I in 1598. TheTime of Troubles, caused by the resultingsuccession crisis, saw severalpretenders andimposters lay claim to the Russian throne during thePolish-Lithuanian occupation. On 21 February 1613, theZemsky Sobor electedMichael Romanov astsar, establishing the Romanovs as Russia's second reigning dynasty.

Michael's grandson,Peter I, who took the title ofemperor and proclaimed theRussian Empire in 1721, transformed the country into agreat power through a series of wars and reforms. The direct male line of the Romanovs ended whenElizabeth died childless in 1762. As a result, her nephewPeter III, anagnatic member of theHouse of Holstein-Gottorp (acadet branch of the GermanHouse of Oldenburg that reigned inDenmark), ascended to the throne and adopted his Romanov mother's house name.^[7] Officially known as members of the House of Romanov, descendants after Elizabeth are sometimes referred to asHolstein-Gottorp-Romanov.^[8]

Paul I became the first heir to the throne, having the titletsesarevich, which was subsequently used for all main heirs.^[9]

Theabdication of Nicholas II on 15 March [O.S. 2 March] 1917 as a result of theFebruary Revolution ended 304 years of Romanov rule and led to the establishment of theRussian Republic under theRussian Provisional Government in the lead-up to theRussian Civil War of 1917–1922. In 1918, theBolsheviksexecuted Nicholas II and his family. Of the House of Romanov's 65 members, 47 survivors went intoexile abroad.^[10] In 1924, Grand DukeKirill Vladimirovich, the senior survivingmale-line descendant ofAlexander II of Russia byprimogeniture, claimed the headship of the defunct Imperial House of Russia.

Legally, it remains unclear whether anyukase ever abolished the surname of Michael Romanov (or of his subsequent male-line descendants) after his accession to the Russian throne in 1613, although by tradition members of reigning dynasties seldom use surnames, being known instead by dynastic titles ("Tsarevich Ivan Alexeevich", "Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich", etc.). From January 1762 [O.S. December 1761], the monarchs of theRussian Empire claimed the throne as relatives ofGrand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (1708–1728), who had marriedCharles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Thus they were no longer Romanovs bypatrilineage, belonging instead to the Holstein-Gottorpcadet branch of the GermanHouse of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark. The 1944 edition of theAlmanach de Gotha records the name of Russia's ruling dynasty from the time of Peter III (reigned 1761–1762) as "Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov".^[11] However, the terms "Romanov" and "House of Romanov" often occurred in official references to the Russian imperial family. The coat-of-arms of the Romanovboyars was included in legislation on the imperial dynasty,^[12]and in a1913 jubilee, Russia officially celebrated the "300th Anniversary of the Romanovs' rule".^[13]

After theFebruary Revolution of 1917, a special decree of theProvisional Government of Russia granted all members of the imperial family the surname "Romanov".^{[citation needed]} The only exceptions, themorganatic descendants of theGrand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (1891–1942), took (in exile) the surnameIlyinsky.^[11][14]

The Romanovs share their origin with two dozen other Russian noble families. Their earliest common ancestor is oneAndrei Kobyla, attested around 1347 as aboyar in the service ofSimeon, theprince of Moscow andgrand prince of Vladimir.^[15] Later generations assigned to Kobyla an illustriouspedigree. An 18th-centurygenealogy claimed that he was the son of theOld Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing theinvading Germans. Indeed, one of the leaders of theOld Prussian rebellion of 1260–1274 against theTeutonic order was named Glande. This legendary version of the Romanov's origin is contested by another version of descent from a boyar family from Novgorod.^[16]

His actual origin may have been less spectacular. Not only isKobyla Russian for "mare", some of his relatives also had as nicknames the terms for horses and other domestic animals, thus suggesting descent from one of theroyal equerries.^{[citation needed]} One of Kobyla's sons,Feodor, a member of theboyar duma ofDmitry Donskoy, was nicknamed Koshka ("cat"). His descendants took the surname Koshkin, then changed it to Zakharin (descendants ofZakhary), which later split into two branches: Zakharin-Yakovlev (descendants of Yakov Zakharyevich) and Zakharin-Yuriev (descendants of Yuri Zakharyevich).^[11] During the reign ofIvan the Terrible, the former became known as Yakovlev (Alexander Herzen among them), whereas the grandchildren ofRoman Yurievich Zakharyin-Yuriev changed their name to "Romanov".^[11]

Feodor Nikitich Romanov was descended from theRurik dynasty through the female line. His mother, Evdokiya Gorbataya-Shuyskaya, was a Rurikid princess from theShuysky branch, daughter ofAlexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky. A ninth generation ancestor ofMichael I Romanov isDimitri Konstantinovich.

The family fortunes soared when Roman's daughter,Anastasia Zakharyina, marriedIvan IV ("the Terrible") on 3 (13) February 1547.^[7] Since her husband had assumed the title ofTsar of all Russia, which derives from the title "Caesar", on 16 January 1547, she was crowned as the firsttsaritsa of Russia. Her mysterious death in 1560 changed Ivan's character for the worse. Suspecting the boyars of having poisoned his beloved, Ivan launched areign of terror against them. Among his children by Anastasia, the eldest,Ivan, was murdered by the tsar in a quarrel; the youngerFeodor, a pious but lethargic prince, inherited the throne upon his father's death in 1584.

Throughout Feodor's reign (1584–1598), the tsar's brother-in-law,Boris Godunov, and his Romanov cousins contested thede facto rule of Russia. Upon the childless death of Feodor, the 700-year-old line of theRurik dynasty came to an end, ushering in theTime of Troubles. After a long struggle, the party of Boris Godunov prevailed over the Romanovs, and theZemsky Sobor elected Godunov as tsar in 1598. Godunov's revenge on the Romanovs led to all the family and its relations being deported to remote corners of the Russian North andUrals, where most of them died of hunger or in chains. The family's leader,Feodor Nikitich Romanov, was exiled to theAntoniev Siysky Monastery and forced to take monastic vows with the nameFilaret.

The Romanovs' fortunes again changed dramatically with the fall of the Godunov dynasty in June 1605. As a former leader of the anti-Godunov party and cousin of the last legitimate tsar, Filaret Romanov's recognition was sought by severalimpostors who attempted to claim the Rurikid legacy and throne during theTime of Troubles.False Dmitriy I made him ametropolitan, andFalse Dmitriy II raised him to the dignity ofpatriarch. Upon the expulsion of thePolish army from Moscow in 1612, theZemsky Sobor offered the Russian crown to several Rurikid andGediminian princes, but all declined the honour.^[11]

On being offered the Russian crown, Filaret's 16-year-old sonMikhail Romanov, then living at theIpatiev Monastery ofKostroma, burst into tears of fear and despair. He was finally persuaded to accept the throne by his motherKseniya Ivanovna Shestova, who blessed him with the holy image ofOur Lady of St. Theodore. Feeling how insecure his throne was, Mikhail attempted to emphasize his ties with the last Rurikid tsars^[17] and sought advice from theZemsky Sobor on every important issue. This strategy proved successful. The early Romanovs were generally accepted by the population as in-laws ofIvan the Terrible and viewed as innocent martyrs of Godunov's wrath.^{[citation needed]}

Mikhail was succeeded by his only sonAlexei, who steered the country quietly through numerous troubles. Upon Alexei's death, there was a period of dynastic struggle between his children by his first wifeMaria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (Feodor III,Sofia Alexeyevna,Ivan V) and his son by his second wifeNataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, the futurePeter the Great. Peter ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725.^[7] In numerous successful wars he expanded the tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political system with a modern,scientific,Europe-oriented, andrationalist system.^[18]

New dynastic struggles followed the death of Peter. His only son to survive into adulthood, TsarevichAlexei, did not support Peter's modernization of Russia. He had previously been arrested and died in prison shortly thereafter. Near the end of his life, Peter managed to alter the succession tradition of male heirs, allowing him to choose his heir. Power then passed into the hands of his second wife, EmpressCatherine, who ruled until her death in 1727.^[7]Peter II, the son of Tsarevich Alexei, took the throne but died in 1730, ending the Romanov male line.^[11] He was succeeded byAnna I, daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother and co-ruler,Ivan V. Before she died in 1740 the empress declared that her grandnephew,Ivan VI, should succeed her. This was an attempt to secure the line of her father, while excluding descendants of Peter the Great from inheriting the throne. Ivan VI was only a one-year-old infant at the time of his succession to the throne, and his parents, Grand DuchessAnna Leopoldovna andDuke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, the ruling regent, were detested for their German counselors and relations. As a consequence, shortly after Empress Anna's death,Elizabeth Petrovna, alegitimized daughter of Peter I, managed to gain the favor of the populace and dethroned Ivan VI in acoup d'état, supported by thePreobrazhensky Regiment and the ambassadors of France and Sweden. Ivan VI was murdered in 1764 while imprisoned, and his parents died from illness during their captivity.

TheHolstein-Gottorps of Russia retained the Romanov surname, emphasizing theirmatrilineal descent from Peter the Great, throughAnna Petrovna (Peter I's elder daughter by his second wife).^[11] In 1742,Empress Elizabeth of Russia brought Anna's son, her nephewPeter of Holstein-Gottorp, to St. Petersburg and proclaimed him her heir. In time, she married him off to a German princess, Sophia ofAnhalt-Zerbst.^[7] In 1762, shortly after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Sophia, who had taken the Russian name Catherine upon her marriage, overthrew her unpopular husband, with the aid of her lover,Grigory Orlov. She reigned asCatherine the Great. Catherine's son,Paul I, who succeeded his mother in 1796,^[7] was particularly proud to be a great-grandson of Peter the Great, although his mother's memoirs arguably insinuate that Paul's natural father was, in fact, her loverSergei Saltykov, rather than her husband, Peter. Painfully aware of the hazards resulting from battles of succession, Paul decreedhouse laws for the Romanovs – the so-calledPauline Laws, among the strictest in Europe – which establishedsemi-Salic primogeniture as the rule of succession to the throne, requiringOrthodox faith for the monarch and dynasts, and for the consorts of the monarchs and their near heirs. Later,Alexander I, responding to the 1820morganatic marriage of his brother and heir,^[7] added the requirement that consorts of all Russian dynasts in the male line had to be of equal birth (i.e., born to a royal orsovereign dynasty).

Paul I was murdered in his palace in Saint Petersburg in 1801. Alexander I, succeeded him on the throne and later died without leaving a son. His brother, crownedNicholas I, succeeded him on the throne^[11] in 1825. The succession was far from smooth, however, as hundreds of troops took the oath of allegiance to Nicholas's elder brother,Constantine Pavlovich who, unbeknownst to them, had renounced his claim to the throne in 1822, following his marriage. The confusion, combined with opposition to Nicholas's accession, led to theDecembrist revolt.^[7] Nicholas I fathered four sons, educating them for the prospect of ruling Russia and for military careers, from whom the last branches of the dynasty descended.

Alexander II, son of Nicholas I, became the next Russian emperor in 1855, in the midst of theCrimean War. While Alexander considered it his charge to maintain peace in Europe and Russia, he believed only a strong Russian military could keep the peace. By developing theImperial Russian Army, giving increased autonomy toFinland, andfreeing the serfs in 1861, he gained much popular support for his reign.

Despite his popularity, however, his family life began to unravel by the mid-1860s. In 1864, his eldest son, and heir, TsarevichNicholas, died suddenly. His wife, EmpressMaria Alexandrovna, who suffered from tuberculosis, spent much of her time abroad. Alexander eventually turned to a mistress, PrincessCatherine Dolgorukova. Immediately following the death of his wife in 1880, he contracted amorganatic marriage with Dolgorukova.^[11] His legitimization of their children, and rumors that he was contemplating crowning his new wife as empress, caused tension within the dynasty. In particular, the grand duchesses were scandalized at the prospect of deferring to a woman who had borne Alexander several children during his wife's lifetime. Before Princess Catherine could be elevated in rank, however, on 13 March 1881 Alexander wasassassinated by a hand-made bomb hurled byIgnacy Hryniewiecki. Slavic patriotism, cultural revival, andPanslavist ideas grew in importance in the latter half of this century, evoking expectations of a more Russian thancosmopolitan dynasty. Several marriages were contracted with members of other reigning Slavic or Orthodox dynasties (Greece,Montenegro,Serbia).^[11] In the early 20th century, two Romanov princesses were allowed to marry Russian high noblemen – whereas, until the 1850s, practically all marriages had been with German princelings.^[11]

His sonAlexander III succeeded Alexander II. This tsar, the second-to-last Romanov emperor, was responsible for conservative reforms in Russia. Not expected to inherit the throne, he was educated in matters of state only after the death of his older brother, Nicholas. Lack of diplomatic training may have influenced his politics as well as those of his son, Nicholas II. Alexander III was physically impressive, being not only tall (1.93 m or 6'4", according to some sources), but of large physique and considerable strength. His beard hearkened back to the likeness of tsars of old, contributing to an aura of brusque authority, awe-inspiring to some, alienating to others. Alexander, fearful of the fate which had befallen his father, strengthenedautocratic rule in Russia. Some of the reforms the more liberal Alexander II had pushed through were reversed.

Alexander had inherited not only his dead brother's position asTsesarevich, but also his brother's Danish fiancée, Princess Dagmar. Taking the nameMaria Feodorovna upon her conversion to Orthodoxy, she was the daughter of KingChristian IX of Denmark and the sister of the future kingsFrederik VIII andGeorge I of Greece, as well as of Britain's QueenAlexandra, consort ofEdward VII.^[7] Despite contrasting natures and backgrounds, the marriage was considered harmonious, producing six children and acquiring for Alexander the reputation of being the first tsar not known to take mistresses.

His eldest son, Nicholas, became emperor upon Alexander III's death due to kidney disease at age 49 in November 1894. Nicholas reputedly said, "I am not ready to be tsar...." Just a week after the funeral, Nicholas married his fiancée,Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, a favorite grandchild ofQueen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Though a kind-hearted man, he tended to leave intact his father's harsh policies. For her part, the shy Alix, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna, became a devout convert to Orthodoxy as well as a devoted wife to Nicholas and mother to their five children, yet avoided many of the social duties traditional for Russia's tsarinas.^[7] Seen as distant and severe, unfavorable comparisons were drawn between her and her popular mother-in-law, Maria Fyodorovna.^[7] When, in September 1915, Nicholas took command of the army at the front lines during World War I, Alexandra sought to influence him toward an authoritarian approach in government affairs even more than she had done during peacetime. His well-known devotion to her injured both his and the dynasty's reputation during World War I, due to both her German origin and her unique relationship withRasputin, whose role in the life of her only son was not widely known. Alexandra was a carrier of the gene forhaemophilia,inherited from her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria.^[7] Her son,Alexei, the long-awaited heir to the throne, inherited the disease and suffered agonizing bouts of protracted bleeding, the pain of which was sometimes partially alleviated by Rasputin's ministrations. Nicholas and Alexandra also had four daughters: the Grand DuchessesOlga,Tatiana,Maria andAnastasia.^[7]

The six crowned representatives of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line were:Paul (1796–1801),Alexander I (1801–1825),Nicholas I (1825–1855),Alexander II (1855–1881),Alexander III (1881–1894), andNicholas II (1894–1917).^[11]

Constantine Pavlovich andMichael Alexandrovich, both morganatically married, are occasionally counted among Russia's emperors by historians who observe that the Russian monarchy did not legally permitinterregnums. Yet neither was crowned; Constantine renounced the throne before his brother's death, and Michael deferred his acceptance of the throne, effectively ending the monarchy.

TheFebruary Revolution of 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand DukeMichael Alexandrovich.^[7] The latter declined to accept imperial authority save to delegate it to theProvisional Government pending a future democratic referendum, effectively terminating the Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia.

After the February Revolution, Nicholas II and his family were placed under house arrest in theAlexander Palace. While several members of the imperial family managed to stay on good terms with the Provisional Government and were eventually able to leave Russia, Nicholas II and his family were sent into exile in the Siberian town ofTobolsk byAlexander Kerensky in August 1917. In theOctober Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks ousted the Provisional Government. In April 1918, the Romanovs were moved to the Russian town ofYekaterinburg, in the Urals, where they were placed in theIpatiev House. Here, on the night of 16–17 July 1918, the entire Russian Imperial Romanov family, along with several of their retainers, wereexecuted by Bolshevik revolutionaries, most likely on the orders ofVladimir Lenin.

Late on the night of 16 July, Nicholas, Alexandra, their five children and four servants were ordered to dress quickly and go down to the cellar of the house in which they were being held. There, the family and servants were arranged in two rows for a photograph they were told was being taken to quell rumors that they had escaped. Suddenly, a dozen armed men burst into the room and gunned down the imperial family in a hail of gunfire. Those who survived the shooting were stabbed to death.

The remains of Nicholas, Alexandra and three of their children were excavated in a forest near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and positively identified two years later using DNA analysis. The Crown Prince Alexei and one Romanov daughter were not accounted for, fueling the persistent legend that Anastasia, the youngest Romanov daughter, had survived the execution of her family. Of the several "Anastasias" that surfaced in Europe in the decade after the Russian Revolution, Anna Anderson, who died in the United States in 1984, was the most convincing. In 1994, however, scientists used DNA testing to prove that Anna Anderson was not the tsar's daughter but a Polish woman named Franziska Schanzkowska.^[19]

Initially, gunmen shot at Nicholas who immediately fell dead as a result of multiple bullet wounds. Then the dark room where the family was held filled with smoke and dust from the spray of bullets. With limited visibility, the gunmen shot blindly, often hitting the ceiling and walls, creating more dust and debris. As a result of this many of the gunmen themselves were injured. Alexandra was soon shot in the head by military commissarPeter Ermakov and was killed. It was not until after the room had been cleared of smoke that the shooters re-entered to find the remaining imperial family still alive and uninjured. Maria attempted to escape through the doors at the rear of the room, leading to a storage area, but the doors were nailed shut. The noise produced as she rattled the doors attracted the attention of Ermakov. Some of the family were shot in the head, but several of the others, including the young and frail tsarevich, would not die either from multiple close-range bullet wounds or bayonet stabs. The gunmen then proceeded to shoot each family member once again. Even so, two of the daughters were still alive 10 minutes later, and were then bludgeoned to death with the butt of a rifle. Later it was discovered that the bullets and bayonet stabs had been partially blocked by diamonds sewn into the children's clothing.^[20]

Following the murder of the Romanov family, the Bolsheviks made several attempts to dispose of the bodies. Initially the bodies were to be thrown down a mineshaft; however, the location of the disposal site was revealed to locals, causing them to change the location. Instead of a burial, the Bolsheviks decided to burn two of the corpses of the former royal family. Burning the corpses proved to be difficult as it took significant time, so the group resorted to disfiguring the pair with acid. In a rush, the Bolsheviks threw nine additional bodies into a grave and covered them with acid as well.

The bodies of the Romanovs were then hidden and moved several times before being interred in an unmarked pit where they remained until the summer of 1979 when amateur enthusiasts disinterred and re-buried some of them, and then decided to conceal the find until the fall of the USSR. In 1991 the grave site was excavated and the bodies were given a state funeral under the nascent democracy of post-Soviet Russia, and several years later DNA and other forensic evidence was used by Russian and international scientists to make accurate identifications.^[21]

The Ipatiev House has the same name as theIpatiev Monastery inKostroma, where Mikhail Romanov had been offered the Russian Crown in 1613. The large memorial church "on the blood" has been built on the spot where the Ipatiev House once stood.

Nicholas II and his family were proclaimedpassion-bearers by theRussian Orthodox Church in 2000. In Orthodoxy, a passion-bearer is a saint who was not killedbecause of his faith, like a martyr; but who diedin faith at the hand of murderers.

In the mid-1970s, Dr. Alexander Avdonin discovered the mass grave containing the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, and three of five Romanov children. The remains were found near Old Koptyaki road in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The grave contained 44 heavily degraded bone and tooth fragments. Avdonin released his discovery following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 prompting investigation by the Russian government.^[21]

The area where the remains were found was near the old Koptyaki Road, under what appeared to be double bonfire sites about 70 meters (230 ft) from the mass grave in Pigs Meadow near Yekaterinburg.^[21] The archaeologists stated that the bones were from a boy who approximately between the ages of 10 and 13 years at the time of his death and of a young woman who was between the ages of 18 and 23 years old.^[22] At the time, Anastasia was 17 years old while Maria was 19 years. Their brother Alexei was just a few weeks away from turning 14. Alexei's elder sisters Olga and Tatiana were 22 and 21 years old at the time of the murder respectively. The bones were found using metal detectors and metal rods as probes. Also, striped material was found that appeared to have been from a blue-and-white striped cloth; Alexei commonly wore a blue-and-white striped undershirt.

In mid-2007, a Russian archaeologist announced a discovery by one of his workers. The excavation uncovered the following items in the two pits which formed a "T":

• remains of 44 human bone fragments;
• bullet jackets from short barrel guns/pistols;
• wooden boxes which had deteriorated into fragments;
• pieces of ceramic which appear to be amphoras which were used as containers for acid;
• iron nails;
• iron angles;
• seven fragments of teeth;
• fragment of fabric of a garment.

Geneticists used a combination of autosomal STR and mtDNA sequencing to detect relationships between the family members' remains. Using a DNA sample fromPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a grand nephew of Alexandra, scientists matched his DNA to her and her children's remains found in the mass grave. The investigation concluded that Alexei and one Romanov daughter were missing. Experts continue to debate which daughter was missing from the grave; those from the United States believe the missing child to be Anastasia, while those from Russia believe it to be Maria.^[23] However, "conspiracy theories"^[24] persisted throughout the 20th century, with some authors still contending that "somehow the real Anastasia, Maria, or perhaps Aleksei, might have survived the Russian Revolution"^[25] even after the discovery of the bodies and the confirmation of their identities was made public. Additionally, despite their discovery in 2007, the remains of the two bodies found in the separate grave did not "receive a proper burial due to the Russian Orthodox Church's unsubstantiated doubts about their authenticity."^[25]

As for Nicholas II, scientists used mtDNA heteroplasmy using samples from Princess Xenia Cheremeteff Sfiri and the Duke of Fife. In the early 1990s, considerable controversy surrounded the accuracy of mtDNA heteroplasmy for DNA testing particularly for distant relatives. In an attempt to refine the results of the investigation, Russian authorities exhumed the remains of Nicholas II's brother, George Alexandrovich. George's remains matched the heteroplasmy of the remains found in the grave, indicating that they did in fact belong to Tsar Nicholas II.

After the bodies were exhumed in June 1991,^[26] they remained in laboratories until 1998, while there was a debate as to whether they should be reburied in Yekaterinburg or St. Petersburg. A commission eventually chose St. Petersburg. The remains were transferred with full military honor guard and accompanied by members of the Romanov family from Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg remains of the imperial family were moved by a formal military honor guard cortege from the airport to St Petersburg'sSaints Peter and Paul Cathedral where they (along with several loyal servants who were killed with them) were interred in a special chapel near the tombs of their ancestors. At the cathedral, the remaining Romanov family hosted a formal funeral for Tsar Nicholas II attended by many relatives and representatives from nations worldwide.^[27]

On 18 July 1918, the day after the killing atYekaterinburg of the tsar and his family, members of the extended Russian imperial family were killed nearAlapayevsk by Bolsheviks. They included:Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia,Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia,Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia,Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia and PrinceVladimir Pavlovich Paley, Grand Duke Sergei's secretary Varvara Yakovleva, and Grand DuchessElisabeth Feodorovna, a granddaughter ofQueen Victoria and elder sister ofTsarina Alexandra. Following the 1905 assassination of her husband, Grand DukeSergei Alexandrovich, Elisabeth Feodorovna had ceased living as a member of the Imperial family and took up life as aserving nun, but was nonetheless arrested and slated for death with other Romanovs.^[28] They were thrown down a mine shaft into which explosives were then dropped, all being left to die there slowly.^[29]

The bodies were recovered from the mine by theWhite Army in 1918, who arrived too late to rescue them. Their remains were placed in coffins and moved around Russia during struggles between the White and the opposingRed Army. By 1920, the coffins were interred in a former Russian mission inBeijing, now beneath a parking area. In 1981 Grand Duchess Elisabeth wascanonized by theRussian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and in 1992 by theMoscow Patriarchate. In 2006, representatives of the Romanov family were making plans to re-inter the remains elsewhere.^{[30][better source needed]} The town became a place of pilgrimage to the memory of Elisabeth Fyodorovna, whose remains were eventually re-interred inJerusalem.

On 13 June 1918,Bolshevik revolutionary authorities killedGrand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and Nicholas Johnson (Michael's secretary) inPerm.^[31] Their bodies have never been found.^{[citation needed]}

The exiledGrand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia died on 26 January 1918, with some rumors claiming he was killed by the Bolsheviks. His morganatic son Prince Artemy Nikolayevich Romanovsky-Iskander was killed the following year in theRussian Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

In January 1919, revolutionary authorities killed Grand DukesDmitry Konstantinovich,Nikolai Mikhailovich,Paul Alexandrovich andGeorge Mikhailovich, who had been held in the prison of the SaintPeter and Paul Fortress inPetrograd. The four Grand Dukes were buried in a mass grave in the fortress, though Dmitry Konstantinovich's body was collected by his former adjutant, rolled up in a rug and taken away for a private burial in the garden of a house in Petrograd, where he remains to this day.^[32]

In 1919, Maria Feodorovna, widow of Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II, managed to escape Russia aboardHMS Marlborough, which her nephew, KingGeorge V of the United Kingdom, had sent to rescue her, at the urging of his own mother, Queen Alexandra, who was Maria's elder sister. After a stay in England withQueen Alexandra, she returned to her native Denmark, first living atAmalienborg Palace, with her nephew, KingChristian X, and later, at VillaHvidøre. Upon her death in 1928, her coffin was placed in the crypt ofRoskilde Cathedral, the burial site of members of theDanish royal family.

In 2005, the coffin with her remains was moved to thePeter and Paul Fortress to be buried beside that of her husband. The transfer of her remains was accompanied by an elaborate ceremony atSaint Isaac's Cathedral officiated byPatriarch Alexy II of Moscow. Descendants and relatives of the Dowager Empress attended, including her great-grandson PrinceMichael Andreevich,Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia, the last living member of the Imperial Family born before the fall of the dynasty,^[33] and PrinceDmitri and PrinceNicholas Romanov.

Among the other exiles who managed to leave Russia were Maria Feodorovna's two daughters, the Grand DuchessesXenia Alexandrovna andOlga Alexandrovna, with their husbands, Grand DukeAlexander Mikhailovich andNikolai Kulikovsky, respectively, and their children, as well as the spouses of Xenia's elder two children and her granddaughter. Xenia remained in England, following her mother's return to Denmark, although after their mother's death Olga moved to Canada with her husband,^[34] both sisters dying in 1960. Grand DuchessMaria Pavlovna, widow of Nicholas II's uncle, Grand DukeVladimir, and her children the Grand DukesKiril,Boris andAndrei, and Kiril's wifeVictoria Melita and children, also managed to flee Russia. Grand DukeDmitri Pavlovich, a cousin of Nicholas II, had been exiled to theCaucasus in 1916 for his part in the murder of Grigori Rasputin, and managed to escape Russia. Grand DukeNicholas Nikolaievich, who was supreme commander of Russian troops during World War I prior to Nicholas II taking command, along with his brother, Grand DukePeter, and their wives, Grand DuchessesAnastasia andMilitza, who were sisters, and Peter's children, son-in-law, and granddaughter also fled the country.

Elizaveta Mavrikievna, widow ofKonstantin Konstantinovich, escaped with her daughterVera Konstantinovna and her sonGeorgii Konstantinovich, as well as her grandson PrinceVsevolod Ivanovich and her granddaughter PrincessCatherine Ivanovna to Sweden. Her other daughter,Tatiana Konstantinovna, also escaped with her childrenNatasha andTeymuraz, as well as her uncle's aide-de-camp Alexander Korochenzov. They fled to Romania and then Switzerland.Gavriil Konstantinovich was imprisoned before fleeing to Paris.

Ioann Konstantinovich's wife,Elena Petrovna, was imprisoned in Alapayevsk and Perm, before escaping to Sweden and Nice, France.

Olga Constantinovna of Russia, Dowager Queen of Greece, who had returned to Russia in her widowhood, was able to escape to Switzerland with the help of the Danish embassy. Her daughterMaria Georgievna, wife of George Mikhailovich, had been vacationing in England with her daughtersNina andXenia when the war broke out and chose not to return to Russia.

There have been numerous post-Revolution reports of Romanov survivors andunsubstantiated claims by individuals to be members of the deposed Tsar Nicholas II's family, the best known of whom wasAnna Anderson. Proven research has, however, confirmed that all of the Romanovs held prisoners inside theIpatiev House inYekaterinburg were killed.^[35][21]

Grand DukeKirill Vladimirovich, a male-line grandson of Tsar Alexander II, claimed the headship of thedeposed Imperial House of Russia, and assumed, aspretender, the title "Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias" in 1924 when the evidence appeared conclusive that all Romanovs higher in the line of succession had been killed.^[36] Kirill was followed by his only sonVladimir Kirillovich, married toPrincess Leonida Bagration of Mukhrani.^[7] Vladimir's only child isMaria Vladimirovna (born 1953), who had one child in her marriage with Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia,George Mikhailovich.^[37] Since 1991, the succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, largely due to disagreements over the validity ofdynasts' marriages.^[38] When Vladimir Kirillovich died on 21 April 1992, his daughter Maria claimed to succeed him as head of the Russian Imperial Family on the grounds that she was the only child of the last male dynast of the Imperial house according to the Romanovs'Pauline laws, which granted succession rights only to the offspring born out of equal unions with other reigning ormediatised houses.^[39] Since then, her son George Mikhailovich has contracted amorganatic marriage with theItalian citizen Rebecca Bettarini,^[40][41] leaving him and his mother as the last remaining members the Imperial House (according to their claims).^[42]

Others have argued in support of the rights of the latePrince Nicholas Romanov, whose brotherPrince Dimitri Romanov was the next male heir of his branch after whom it was passed toPrince Andrew Romanov and then to his son Alexis Romanoff.^{[43][44][45][46]} All of them were born out of unequal marriages and are or were members of theRomanov Family Association formed in 1979, a private organization of most living male-line descendants of EmperorPaul I of Russia (other than Maria Vladimirovna and her son), publicly acknowledges that dynastic claims of family members should not be advanced, and is officially committed to support whichever form of government chosen by the Russian people.^[47]

Alternatively,Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen (a great-nephew of Vladimir Kirillovich through his sister,Maria) has been a claimant to the defunct Russian throne since 2013.^[48] He and his supporters argue that the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna's parents was in contravention of the Pauline Laws. They maintain that theHouse of Bagration-Mukhrani did not possess sovereign status and was not recognized as equal byNicholas II for the purpose of dynastic marriages at the time of the union ofPrincess Tatiana Constantinovna of Russia andPrince Constantine Bagration-Mukhransky in 1911, thirty seven years prior to that ofPrincess Leonida andGrand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich.^[49] Therefore, as thenext of kin to Vladimir (in the exclusion of his daughter), the RussianMonarchist Party recognises Karl Emich as the heir to the Russian throne, since he and his wife converted on 1 June 2013, fromLutheranism toEastern Orthodox Christianity, enabling his accession.^[50]

Main article:Branches of the Russian Imperial Family

TheRussian Imperial Family was split into four main branches named after the sons of EmperorNicholas I:^[51]

• The Alexandrovichi (descendants of EmperorAlexander II of Russia) (with further subdivisions named The Vladimirovichi and The Pavlovichi after two of Alexander II's younger sons)
• The Konstantinovichi (descendants ofGrand Duke Constantine Nicholaevich of Russia)
• The Nikolaevichi (descendants ofGrand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia)
• The Mikhailovichi (descendants ofGrand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia)

Most of the treasures are in the diamond fund of Russia and are the most expensive exhibits in museums.^[52] The collection of jewels and jewelry collected by the Romanov family during their reign are commonly referred to as the "Russian Crown Jewels"^[53] and they include official state regalia as well as personal pieces of jewelry worn by Romanov rulers and their family. After the Tsar was deposed and his family murdered, their jewels and jewelry became the property of the new Soviet government.^[54] A select number of pieces from the collection were sold at auction byChristie's in London in March 1927.^[55] The remaining collection is on view today in theKremlin Armoury in Moscow.^[56]

On 28 August 2009, a Swedish public news outlet reported that a collection of over 60 jewel-covered cigarette cases and cufflinks owned by Grand Duchess Vladimir had been found in the archives of theSwedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and was returned to the descendants of Grand Duchess Vladimir. The jewelry was allegedly turned over to the Swedish embassy inSt. Petersburg in November 1918 byDuchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to keep it safe. The value of the jewelry has been estimated at 20 millionSwedish krona (about 2.6 million US dollars).^[57]

The centerpiece is thecoat of arms of Moscow that contains the iconicSaint George the Dragon-slayer with a blue cape (cloak) attacking golden serpent on red field.

The wings of double-headed eagle contain coat of arms of following lands:

Right wing

• Tsardom of Kazan, the coat of arms of Kazan that contains black crownedZilant with red tongue, wings and tail on white field.

• Tsardom of Poland, thecoat of arms of Poland that contains a crowned white eagle on a red field.

• Tsardom of Tauric Chersoneses, the coat of arms of Byzantine Crimea that contains black crowned double-headed eagle on golden field, which has a smaller coat of arms with triple crossbeam cross on blue field.

• Grand Duchies of Kiev, Vladimir, and Novgorod, the combined coat of arms of three grand duchies:
  • Grand Duchy of Kiev, the coat of arms of Kiev that contains armed archangel (archistrategos) Michael in white on blue field.
  • Grand Duchy of Vladimir, the coat of arms of Vladimir that contains golden crowned leopard holding a cross on red field.
  • Republic of Novgorod, the coat of arms of Novgorod that contains two black bears holding onto a throne on which crossed stand scepter and cross located undertriple candlestick (trikirion) on silver field and two silver fishes on blue field.

Left wing

• Tsardom of Astrakhan, the coat of arms of Astrakhan that contains five arches golden crown over silverscimitar on blue field.

• Tsardom of Siberia, the coat of arms of Siberia that contains two blacksables who hold a crown and a red bow with two crossed arrows pointed down onermine field.

• Tsardom of Georgia, theCoat of arms of Georgia that also contains theSaint George the Dragon-slayer with a red cape (cloak) attacking green serpent on golden field.

• Grand Duchy of Finland, thecoat of arms of Finland that contains golden crowned lion holding straight sword and curved sabre on red field with roses.

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  TheGrand Kremlin Palace, Moscow
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  Throne of the Tsar, the Empress and the Empress Mother in the Grand Kremlin Palace
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  TheWinter Palace, Saint Petersburg
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  ThePeterhof Palace, Saint Petersburg
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  TheCatherine Palace,Tsarskoye Selo
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  Aerial view of thePeter and Paul Fortress withPeter and Paul Cathedral, mausoleum of the Romanovs

• Romanov impostors
• Ancestors of Nicholas II of Russia
• List of monarchs of Russia
• List of grand duchesses of Russia
• List of grand dukes of Russia
• List of films about the Romanovs
• The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage (exhibition)

• Bibliography of Russian history (1613–1917)

• Historical reconstruction series "Romanovs" – First Channel, Star Media, Babich Design (2013).
• The Russian Imperial Collection at theLibrary of Congress has books from the Romanov family.
• Romanov Collection. General Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.