ロマノフ家

ロマノフ家は、他の20数軒のロシア貴族家と共通の起源を持つ。彼らの最も古い共通の祖先は、1347年頃にモスクワ公でありウラジーミル大公であったシメオンに仕えるボヤールとして記録されているアンドレイ・コビラである。^{[ 11 ]}後世の人々は、コビラに輝かしい家系を帰した。18世紀の系図では、彼は13世紀後半に侵略してきたドイツ人から逃れてロシアに来た古プロイセン公グランダ・カンビラの息子であるとされている。実際、1260年から1274年にかけてのドイツ騎士団に対する古プロイセンの反乱の指導者の一人はグランダという名前だった。ロマノフ家の起源に関するこの伝説的なバージョンは、ノヴゴロドのボヤール家からの子孫であるという別のバージョンによって異議を唱えられている。^{[ 15 ]}

コビラの息子の一人、ドミトリー・ドンスコイのボヤール・ドゥーマの議員であったフョードルは、コシュカ（「猫」）というあだ名で呼ばれていた。彼の子孫はコシュキンという姓を名乗り、後にザハリン（ザハリの子孫）に改名し、さらにザハリン＝ヤコブレフ（ヤコフ・ザハリエヴィチの子孫）とザハリン＝ユーリエフ（ユーリー・ザハリエヴィチの子孫）の2つの系統に分かれた。^{[ 11 ]}イヴァン雷帝の治世中、前者はヤコブレフ（アレクサンドル・ゲルツェンもその一人）として知られるようになり、一方、ロマン・ユーリエヴィチ・ザハリイン＝ユーリエフの孫たちは「ロマノフ」という姓に改名した。^{[ 11 ]}

フョードル・ニキティチ・ロマノフは、リューリク朝の女系子孫である。彼の母エヴドキヤ・ゴルバタヤ＝シュイスカヤは、リューリク朝のシュイスキー家の王女で、アレクサンドル・ゴルバティイ＝シュイスキーの娘であった。ミハイル1世ロマノフの9代前の祖先は、ドミトリー・コンスタンチノヴィチである。

1547年2月3日（13日）にロマンの娘アナスタシア・ザハリイナがイヴァン4世（「雷帝」）と結婚したことで、一家の財産は急増した。 ^{[ 7 ]}夫が1547年1月16日に「カエサル」の称号に由来する全ロシア皇帝の称号を名乗ったため、彼女はロシア初のツァーリツァとして戴冠した。1560年の彼女の謎の死はイヴァンの性格を悪化させた。ボヤールたちが愛する妻を毒殺したと疑ったイヴァンは、彼らに対して恐怖政治を開始した。アナスタシアとの間に生まれた子供たちのうち、長男のイヴァンは口論で皇帝に殺された。次男のフョードルは敬虔だが怠惰な王子で、1584年に父の死後、王位を継承した。

フョードルの治世（1584年～1598年）を通して、皇帝の義弟であるボリス・ゴドゥノフと彼のロマノフ家の従兄弟たちは、ロシアの事実上の支配権を争った。フョードルが子孫を残さずに亡くなると、700年続いたリューリク朝は終焉を迎え、動乱の時代が始まった。長い闘争の末、ボリス・ゴドゥノフの派閥がロマノフ家に勝利し、 1598年にゼムスキー・ソボルはゴドゥノフを皇帝に選出した。短い平和期間の後、1600年にゴドゥノフは一族の指導者であるフョードル・ニキティチ・ロマノフとその兄弟たちを反逆罪と魔術の罪で告発した。ゴドゥノフによるロマノフ家への復讐は、一族とその親族全員がロシア北部やウラルの辺境に追放される結果となり、そのほとんどが飢餓や鎖につながれて死んだ。フョードルはアントニエフ・シイスキー修道院に追放され、フィラレートという修道名で修道誓願を立てることを強いられた。一方、彼の兄弟のうち3人は、おそらく皇帝の命令で暗殺されたと思われる死を遂げた。^{[ 16 ]}

ロマノフ家の運命は、1605年6月のゴドゥノフ王朝の崩壊とともに再び劇的に変化した。反ゴドゥノフ派の元指導者であり、最後の正統なツァーリの従兄弟であったフィラレート・ロマノフは、動乱の時代にリューリク朝の遺産と王位を主張しようとした複数の偽者によって認められようとした。偽ドミトリー1世は彼をロストフ・ナ・ドヌの府主教にし、偽ドミトリー2世は彼を総主教の地位にまで高めた。^{[ 17 ]}彼の兄弟イヴァン・ロマノフは、ロシアのヴァシリー4世の打倒に参加した。^{[ 18 ]} 1612年にポーランド軍 がモスクワから追放されると、ゼムスキー・ソボルは数人のリューリク朝とゲディミニア朝の公にロシアの王冠を提供したが、全員がその栄誉を辞退した。^{[ 11 ]}結局、フィラレートの16歳の息子ミハイル・ロマノフがコサックと貴族の間の妥協候補として選ばれ、1613年2月13日に皇帝に即位した。^{[ 19 ]}

コストロマのイパチェフ修道院に住んでいたミハイルは、ロシアの王位を打診されると、恐怖と絶望のあまり泣き崩れた。ゼムスキー・ソボルから派遣された使節団に説得されてようやく王位を受け入れることになり、 7月11日に戴冠した。^{[ 20 ]}王位の不安定さを感じたミハイルは、最後のリューリク朝ツァーリとの繋がりを強調し^{[ 21 ]}、君主制の神聖さを再確立しようと試み、重要な問題すべてについてゼムスキー・ソボルとボヤールに助言を求めた。この戦略は成功した。^{[ 22 ]}

ミハイルは1645年に唯一生き残った息子アレクセイに後を継がれ、数々の困難を乗り越えて静かに国を統治した。1676年にアレクセイが亡くなると、最初の妻マリア・イリイニチナ・ミロスラフスカヤとの間の子供たち（フョードル3世、ソフィア・アレクセーエヴナ、イヴァン5世）と、2番目の妻ナタリヤ・キリロヴナ・ナリシキナとの間の息子、後のピョートル大帝の間で王朝の争いが起こった。ピョートルは1682年から1725年に亡くなるまで統治した。^{[ 7 ]}数々の戦争に勝利し、ツァーリ国をヨーロッパの主要国となる巨大な帝国へと拡大した。彼は文化革命を主導し、伝統的で中世的な社会政治システムの一部を近代的で科学的、ヨーロッパ志向の合理主義的なシステムに置き換えた。^{[ 23 ]}

New dynastic struggles followed the death of Peter. His only son to survive into adulthood, Tsarevich Alexei, 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, Empress Catherine, 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 by Anna 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 Duchess Anna Leopoldovna and Duke 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, a legitimized daughter of Peter I, managed to gain the favor of the populace and dethroned Ivan VI in a coup d'état, supported by the Preobrazhensky 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.^[24]

ロシアのホルシュタイン＝ゴットルプ家はロマノフ姓を保持し、アンナ・ペトロヴナ（ピョートル1世の2番目の妻との間の長女）を通してピョートル大帝からの母系血統を強調した。 ^{[ 11 ]} 1742年、ロシアのエリザベータ女帝はアンナの息子で甥のピョートル・フォン・ホルシュタイン＝ゴットルプをサンクトペテルブルクに連れてきて、彼を後継者と宣言した。やがて彼女は彼をドイツの王女、アンハルト＝ツェルプストのゾフィーと結婚させた。^{[ 7 ]} 1762年、エリザベータ女帝の死後まもなく、結婚時にロシア名エカチェリーナを名乗ったゾフィーは、愛人のグリゴリー・オルロフの助けを借りて不人気な夫を打倒した。彼女はエカチェリーナ大帝として君臨した。1796年に母の後を継いだエカチェリーナの息子、パーヴェル1世^{[ 7 ]}は、ピョートル大帝の曾孫であることを特に誇りに思っていたが、彼の母の回想録は、パーヴェルの実父は夫のピョートルではなく、実際には彼女の愛人セルゲイ・サルティコフであったことを示唆している可能性がある。継承争いから生じる危険を痛切に認識していたパーヴェルは、ロマノフ家のための家法、いわゆるパウリヌス法（ヨーロッパで最も厳格な法律の一つ）を布告し、半サリカ長子相続制を王位継承の規則として確立し、君主と王朝、君主の配偶者と近親者に正教の信仰を要求した。その後、アレクサンドル1世は、1820年の弟で後継者の貴賤結婚に対応して^{[ 7 ]、}ロシアのすべての王朝の男系における配偶者は同等の出自（つまり、王家または主権王朝に生まれた者）でなければならないという要件を追加した。

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, crowned Nicholas 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 the Decembrist 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 the Crimean 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 the Imperial Russian Army, giving increased autonomy to Finland, and freeing the serfs in 1861, he gained much popular support for his reign.

しかし、人気にもかかわらず、1860年代半ばまでに彼の家庭生活は崩壊し始めた。1864年、長男で後継者である皇太子ニコライが急死した。結核を患っていた妻のマリア・アレクサンドロヴナ皇后は、多くの時間を海外で過ごした。アレクサンドルは最終的に愛人であるエカテリーナ・ドルゴルコワ公女に目を向けた。1880年に妻が亡くなるとすぐに、彼はドルゴルコワと貴賤結婚をした。^{[ 11 ]}彼が子供たちを嫡出子と認めたこと、そして新しい妻を皇后に戴冠させることを検討しているという噂は、王朝内に緊張を引き起こした。特に、大公女たちは、妻の存命中にアレクサンドルとの間に何人もの子供を産んだ女性に服従するという見通しに憤慨した。しかし、キャサリン王女が地位を昇格する前に、1881年3月13日、アレクサンドルはイグナツィ・フリニエヴィエツキが投げた手製の爆弾で暗殺された。 スラヴ愛国心、文化復興、汎スラヴ主義の思想は今世紀後半に重要性を増し、コスモポリタン王朝よりもロシア的な王朝への期待が高まった。 他の支配的なスラヴ王朝や正教王朝（ギリシャ、モンテネグロ、セルビア）のメンバーとの結婚がいくつか行われた。^{[ 11 ]} 20世紀初頭には、2人のロマノフ王女がロシアの高位貴族と結婚することが許されたが、1850年代までは事実上すべての結婚がドイツの王子とのものであった。^{[ 11 ]}

アレクサンドル2世の後を継いだのは、息子のアレクサンドル3世だった。ロマノフ朝最後の皇帝から2番目のこの皇帝は、ロシアで保守的な改革を主導した。王位継承は期待されていなかったため、兄のニコライの死後になって初めて国政について教育を受けた。外交訓練の不足は、彼自身の政治だけでなく、息子のニコライ2世の政治にも影響を与えた可能性がある。アレクサンドル3世は体格が立派で、身長が高いだけでなく（資料によっては1.93メートル、6フィート4インチ）、体格も大きく、かなりの力を持っていた。彼の髭は昔の皇帝を彷彿とさせ、無骨な権威のオーラを醸し出し、ある者には畏敬の念を抱かせ、ある者には疎外感を与えた。アレクサンドルは父の運命を恐れ、ロシアの専制政治を強化した。より自由主義的だったアレクサンドル2世が推し進めた改革の一部は撤回された。

Alexander had inherited not only his dead brother's position as Tsesarevich, but also his brother's Danish fiancée, Princess Dagmar. Taking the name Maria Feodorovna upon her conversion to Orthodoxy, she was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and the sister of the future kings Frederik VIII and George I of Greece, as well as of Britain's Queen Alexandra, consort of Edward 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 of Queen 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 with Rasputin, whose role in the life of her only son was not widely known. Alexandra was a carrier of the gene for haemophilia, 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 Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.^[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), and Nicholas II (1894–1917).^[11]

Constantine Pavlovich and Michael Alexandrovich, both morganatically married, are occasionally counted among Russia's emperors by historians who observe that the Russian monarchy did not legally permit interregnums. 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.

The February Revolution of 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.^[7] The latter declined to accept imperial authority save to delegate it to the Provisional 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 the Alexander 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 of Tobolsk by Alexander Kerensky in August 1917. In the October Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks ousted the Provisional Government. In April 1918, the Romanovs were moved to the Russian town of Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, where they were placed in the Ipatiev House. Here, on the night of 16–18 July 1918, the entire Russian Imperial Romanov family, along with several of their retainers, were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries, most likely on the orders of Vladimir 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 Tsesarevich 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.^[25]

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 commissar Peter 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.^[26]

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.^[27]

The Ipatiev House has the same name as the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma, 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 proclaimed passion-bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. In Orthodoxy, a passion-bearer is a saint who was not killed because of his faith, like a martyr; but who died in faith at the hand of murderers.

Remains

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.^[27]

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.^[27] 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.^[28] 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 from Prince 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.^[29] However, "conspiracy theories"^[30] 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"^[31] 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."^[31]

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,^[32] 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's Saints 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.^[33]

Other executions

On 18 July 1918, the day after the killing at Yekaterinburg of the tsar and his family, members of the extended Russian imperial family were killed near Alapayevsk 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 Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, Grand Duke Sergei's secretary Varvara Yakovleva, and Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and elder sister of Tsarina Alexandra. Following the 1905 assassination of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Elisabeth Feodorovna had ceased living as a member of the Imperial family and took up life as a serving nun, but was nonetheless arrested and slated for death with other Romanovs.^[34] They were thrown down a mine shaft into which explosives were then dropped, all being left to die there slowly.^[35]

The bodies were recovered from the mine by the White 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 opposing Red Army. By 1920, the coffins were interred in a former Russian mission in Beijing, now beneath a parking area. In 1981 Grand Duchess Elisabeth was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and in 1992 by the Moscow Patriarchate. In 2006, representatives of the Romanov family were making plans to re-inter the remains elsewhere.^[36] The town became a place of pilgrimage to the memory of Elisabeth Fyodorovna, whose remains were eventually re-interred in Jerusalem.

On 13 June 1918, Bolshevik revolutionary authorities killed Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and Nicholas Johnson (Michael's secretary) in Perm.^[37] Their bodies have never been found.^[38]

The exiled Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia died on 26 January 1918, with some rumors claiming he was killed by the Bolsheviks.^[39] His son Prince Artemy Nikolayevich Romanovsky-Iskander died on 8 October 1935 in Paris.^[40]

In January 1919, revolutionary authorities killed Grand Dukes Dmitry Konstantinovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich, Paul Alexandrovich and George Mikhailovich, who had been held in the prison of the Saint Peter and Paul Fortress in Petrograd. 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.^[41]