The Suspicious Deaths of the Romanovs

Profile: Tatiana Romanov

Date of birth: 10 June 1897

Date of death: 17th July 1918 (aged 21)

Location of death: Yekaterinburg, Russia

Cause of death: Murder, by the Bolsheviks

Titles: Grand Duchess

Father: Tsar Nicholas II

Mother: Empress Alexandra

Siblings: Olga, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei

Personality traits: refined, elegant, beautiful, devoted to family, practical, natural leader, understanding, reserved, well-balanced, cautious, diligent, practical, diplomatic, deeply religious, theosophical, patriotic, romantic,

During the revolution: She was captured with her parents, held for a while in Tobolsk and then in Yekaterinburg. During her time in captivity she was initially restless, as she could no longer nurse the wounded soldiers. When the family had to be split apart briefly, Tatiana convinced her mother to travel with her father and younger sister, and that she herself would make sure Alexei was safe. In Yekaterinburg she would often talk to the guards on behalf of her parents, to clarify the rules of engagement.

When the family was taken to the basement to be executed, none of them knew what was happening. They believed they were preparing to be transported elsewhere. Instead, Tatiana stood behind her mother, beside her sister Olga, and faced the Bolshevik soldiers. When the soldiers read out the proclamation of the execution, the girls had a second to protest before the shooting began. Within moments the basement of Ipatiev House was filled with smoke, forcing the soldiers to step outside. In those moments, Tatiana and Olga clung to each other, their relationship in death as close as it was in life. When the soldiers returned, the girls watched, sobbing, as the killing continued. One soldier attempted to shoot Alexei, their thirteen-year-old brother, in the chest again and again, not knowing that there were diamonds sewn into his clothes. The soldier tried stabbing him, but nothing could get through. In the end the girls witnessed another soldier shoot their baby brother through the head, a couple of steps away from where they sat.

The first soldier turned his attention towards the girls. Lifting his bayonet, he aimed at their chests, but like their brother, they were wearing diamonds within their clothes. As the girls struggled to get to their feet, holding onto each other with all their might, everything fell black for Tatiana.

The second soldier had shot her in the back of the head.

Some say that this is a lie. They argue that she escaped, and lived out her days as Larissa Tudor in the UK – the very place that Tatiana had dreamt of moving to during the revolution.

With differing accounts and studies with conflicting results, the truth behind the fate of Tatiana Romanov and her family seems as murky as that smoke-filled basement.