Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna–The “Madcap” and Comforter

The youngest of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia Nikolaevna,might have been composed of quicksilver, instead of flesh and blood; she was most amusing, and she was a very clever mimic. She saw the humorous side of everything and she was very fond of acting; indeed, Anastasie would have made an excellent comedy actress. She was always in mischief, a regular tomboy, but she was not backward in her development, as Mr. Gilliard once stated. Anastasie was only sixteen at the time of Revolution –no great age after all. She was very pretty, but hers was more of a clever face, and her eyes were wells of intelligence”. –Julia Dehn.

Who said that this young girl must go too early and leave the face of the Earth in just a second? But, what if the Lord gave her a different way of life?

This impish girl, “Shvibz’ (as what she was called by her family), perhaps, would also have grown to be an ideal Russian Girl. But, this was not much noticed as her real character was not revealed until the end of her life.

A. Vyrubova recalled that: “All three of these girls (except Tatiana) were more or less of a tomboy type. They had something of the innate brusqueness of their Romanov ancestors, which displayed itself in a tendency to mischief. Anastasia, a sharp and clever child, was a very monkey for jokes, some of them at times almost too practical for the enjoyment of others.”

T. Botkina-Melnik said this of Anastasia: “Most of the time, we saw Anastasia. She came and sat on the sofa beside my father. When the saluting cannon was fired at sunset, Anastasia liked to retreat into a corner, stick her fingers into her ears, widen her eyes, and loll her tongue in mock terror. Sometimes, while she is talking, she would suddenly stand up and trip over us.”

M. Dietrich wrote: "Grand Duchess Anastasia, in spite of her seventeen years, was still much a child. The impression she produced was that of a merry girl. She was a 'monkey box,' as her sisters teased. Her distinguishing feature was her ability to notice the weak sides of people and talentedly imitate them; this was her gift, she was a natural comedian. She amused everyone."

Her parents condoned her every mischief. Nevertheless, the Empress also thought that she must be curbed of her extreme mischievousness for her own good. But once again, unlike her contemporary mothers, The Empress did not want to change entirely the nature of her children and break the protocol. She wanted her daughters to evolve according to the divine qualities of Christianity. As a result, Anastasia’s playfulness, which might have made her unappealing, turned into her an advantage: she grew up very cheerful and able to comfort others.

All loved Anastasia. With her charm, she can turn each gray moment to a cheery atmosphere. She was able to put joy on every dismal face. The Empress, strict as ever, not only once tried to talk to her daughter but also reprimanded her. As usual, those reprimands ended up in laughter and kisses. Her father, mother, brother, elder sisters, teachers, the family doctors, maids, footmen and many others ---love her.

Revolution unexpectedly rattled Russia…She, with her family, were transferred to another house in the remote region of Siberia guarded by many guards. What they brought with them were the things they would really need, leaving a lot of others in Tsarskoe Selo. They had been permitted to go around their garden but were not allowed to go to town anymore.

However, Anastasia remained cheerful. She starred on amateur theatricals they arranged to entertain themselves while in Tobolsk. She played the major roles in most of those plays, and had shown so much of her comical abilities that she made the Empress “dying of laughter”, as the family doctor Botkin, said.

Pierre Gilliard, her French teacher, commented on Anastasia as “… very roguish and almost a wag. She had a very strong sense of humour, and the darts of her wit often found sensitive spots. She was rather an 'enfant terrible', though this fault tended to correct itself with age. She was also extremely idle, though with the idleness of a gifted child. She was so lively, and her gaiety so infectious, that several members of the suite had fallen into the way of calling her "Sunshine," the nickname her mother had been given at the English Court."

I should say that Anastasia Nikolaevna’s being is well hinted in these words by the Apostle Paul: “Do not let your adornment be merely outward– arranging the hair, wearing gold or putting on fine apparel–-Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God”. (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Anastasia was obedient to her parents and elder sisters. She has been a soft and quiet spirit internally rather than outwardly. She was a humble person. Because of humility, she was able to hide her sufferings from the world---she was able to accept what the world was in her time even the Bolshevik men who sneered at them.

It is very impossible not to notice the closeness shared by Anastasia and her brother, Alexei, in the photographs of the Imperial Family. Anastasia lovingly hugged her brother in some of the pictures left of them. Undoubtedly, their closeness was brought by their close age gap and love for each other. When there was no boy to accompany the Tsarevich, Anastasia successfully replaced it.

Ofrosimova wrote: When the Grand Duchesses, in particular the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, there began a terrible fuss and endless lines of pranks. The The Grand Duchess was a desperate ‘minx’ and a loyal friend to others, especially to the tsesarevich. The two elder ones have completed course for being “Sisters of Mercy” while she and the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna worked at sewing clothes for the wounded men and their families, helped prepare bandages and lint, and lamented for being too young to be true Sisters of Mercy like their sisters Olga and Tatiana […] So, the little princess was not able to be very naughty those days. She was given lighter work than that of her two elder sisters. One day, I sat beside the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. Her pretty face is full of life and cheerfulness. Her quick eyes which always sparkle with irrepressible joy and enthusiasm indefatigably look sharply at everything they see and made her naughtiness clear. Her acute, sometime, merciless tongue tells everything she sees. She can enliven any place she sets foot in by her uncontrollable cheerful laughter. In her mischief, she would even dance with the wounded men and once said that she doesn’t like to sit just to sew! While the pale thin hands of Tatiana can quickly knit mittens, the graceful head of Olga bending low to the sewing machine, and Maria Nikolaevna was choosing a new job to do, she would not think of something ‘We need to sit and work..’ Instead, her quick wit would think of devising pranks”.

Truly, she was not only an imp but also a comforter. Her vivacity and nimbleness were of tremendous use to her mother, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, on the early days of Revolution. On the times the Empress was feeling unwell and was forced to rest, she ran errands to Anastasia, subsequently calling her as “my legs”.

Her fate became so terrible that it is impossible to imagine she would end that way. She was only seventeen years old when she died in the basement of Ipatiev House. She died from bullets and bayonets---her death was painful. How many managed to understand this girl who all her life has brought much bliss to people around her? We can say that there is not a drop of hatred in her pure soul even at the last moment of her life.