Editing House of Romanov (section)

== Dynastic crisis ==
[[File:Peter der-Grosse 1838.jpg|thumb|[[Peter the Great]] (1672–1725)]]
[[File:Emperors (or Tsars) of Russia - lifespan age (1721-1918).png|thumb|Lifespan age of all the Russian emperors (1721–1918). The House of Romanov was noted for its succession of short-lived royals.]]
Mikhail was succeeded by his only son [[Alexis I of Russia|Alexei]], 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 wife [[Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya]] ([[Feodor III of Russia|Feodor III]], [[Sofia of Russia|Sofia Alexeyevna]], [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]]) and his son by his second wife [[Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina]], the future [[Peter the Great]]. Peter ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725.<ref name="burkeI"/> 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 revolution|scientific]], [[Eurocentric|Europe-oriented]], and [[rationalist]] system.<ref>James Cracraft, ''The Revolution of Peter the Great'' (Harvard University Press, 2003) [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=115404966 online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508065607/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia?a=o&d=115404966 |date=8 May 2021 }}</ref>

New dynastic struggles followed the death of Peter. His only son to survive into adulthood, Tsarevich [[Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia|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 I of Russia|Catherine]], who ruled until her death in 1727.<ref name="burkeI"/> [[Peter II of Russia|Peter II]], the son of Tsarevich Alexei, took the throne but died in 1730, ending the Romanov male line.<ref name="gotha"/> He was succeeded by [[Anna I of Russia|Anna I]], daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother and co-ruler, [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]]. Before she died in 1740 the empress declared that her grandnephew, [[Ivan VI of Russia|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 of Russia|Elizabeth Petrovna]], a [[legitimation#Family law|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.

===Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov===
[[File:COA Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov chivalric.svg|thumb|right|Arms of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov]]
The [[Holstein-Gottorp]]s of Russia retained the Romanov surname, emphasizing their [[matrilineality|matrilineal descent]] from Peter the Great, through [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia|Anna Petrovna]] (Peter I's elder daughter by his second wife).<ref name="gotha"/> In 1742, [[Empress Elizabeth of Russia]] brought Anna's son, her nephew [[Peter III of Russia|Peter of Holstein-Gottorp]], to St. Petersburg and proclaimed him her heir. In time, she married him off to a German princess, Sophia of [[Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst|Anhalt-Zerbst]].<ref name="burkeI"/> 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 as [[Catherine the Great]]. Catherine's son, [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]], who succeeded his mother in 1796,<ref name="burkeI"/> 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 lover [[Sergei Saltykov]], rather than her husband, Peter. Painfully aware of the hazards resulting from battles of succession, Paul decreed [[house law]]s for the Romanovs – the so-called [[Pauline Laws]], among the strictest in Europe – which established [[Primogeniture#Semi-Salic law|semi-Salic primogeniture]] as the rule of succession to the throne, requiring [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox faith]] for the monarch and dynasts, and for the consorts of the monarchs and their near heirs. Later, [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]], responding to the 1820 [[morganatic marriage|morganatic]] marriage of his brother and heir,<ref name="burkeI"/> 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 or [[sovereignty|sovereign]] dynasty).

===Age of Autocracy===
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 of Russia|Nicholas I]], succeeded him on the throne<ref name="gotha"/> in 1825. The succession was far from smooth, however, as hundreds of troops took the oath of allegiance to Nicholas's elder brother, [[Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia|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]].<ref name="burkeI"/> 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 of Russia|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 [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]], and [[Emancipation reform of 1861|freeing 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, Tsarevich [[Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia|Nicholas]], died suddenly. His wife, Empress [[Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse)|Maria Alexandrovna]], who suffered from tuberculosis, spent much of her time abroad. Alexander eventually turned to a mistress, Princess [[Catherine Dolgorukova]]. Immediately following the death of his wife in 1880, he contracted a [[morganatic marriage]] with Dolgorukova.<ref name="gotha"/> 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 was [[Alexander II of Russia|assassinated]] by a hand-made bomb hurled by [[Ignacy Hryniewiecki]]. Slavic patriotism, cultural revival, and [[Panslavist]] ideas grew in importance in the latter half of this century, evoking expectations of a more Russian than [[cosmopolitanism|cosmopolitan]] dynasty. Several marriages were contracted with members of other reigning Slavic or Orthodox dynasties ([[Greek royal family|Greece]], [[Petrović-Njegoš dynasty|Montenegro]], [[Karađorđević dynasty|Serbia]]).<ref name="gotha"/> 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.<ref name="gotha"/>

[[File:The Romanovs 1892.jpg|thumb|300px|A gathering of members of the Romanov family in 1892, at the summer military manoeuvres in [[Krasnoye Selo]].]]

His son [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander 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, strengthened [[autocracy|autocratic]] 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 as ''[[Tsesarevich]]'', but also his brother's Danish fiancée, Princess Dagmar. Taking the name [[Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)|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 of Denmark|Frederik VIII]] and [[George I of Greece]], as well as of Britain's Queen [[Alexandra of Denmark|Alexandra]], consort of [[Edward VII]].<ref name="burkeI"/> 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.<ref name="burkeI"/> Seen as distant and severe, unfavorable comparisons were drawn between her and her popular mother-in-law, Maria Fyodorovna.<ref name="burkeI"/> 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]], [[Haemophilia in European royalty|inherited from her maternal grandmother]], Queen Victoria.<ref name="burkeI"/> Her son, [[Tsarevich Alexei of Russia|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 [[Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia|Olga]], [[Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia|Tatiana]], [[Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1899–1918)|Maria]] and [[Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia|Anastasia]].<ref name="burkeI"/>

The six crowned representatives of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line were: [[Paul of Russia|Paul]] (1796–1801), [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] (1801–1825), [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] (1825–1855), [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] (1855–1881), [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]] (1881–1894), and [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] (1894–1917).<ref name="gotha"/>

[[Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia|Constantine Pavlovich]] and [[Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia|Michael Alexandrovich]], both morganatically married, are occasionally counted among Russia's emperors by historians who observe that the Russian monarchy did not legally permit [[interregnum]]s. 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.

===Downfall===
[[File:Nicholas II and children with Cossacks of the Guard, cropped.jpg|thumb|{{center|1=The Romanovs visiting a regiment during World War I. From left to right, Grand Duchess Anastasia, Grand Duchess Olga, Tsar [[Nicholas II]], Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Grand Duchess [[Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1899–1918)|Maria]], and [[Kuban Cossacks]]}}]]

The [[February Revolution]] of 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia|Michael Alexandrovich]].<ref name="burkeI"/> The latter declined to accept imperial authority save to delegate it to the [[Russian Provisional Government|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 16–17 July 1918, the entire Russian Imperial Romanov family, along with several of their retainers, were [[Execution of the Romanov family|executed]] by Bolshevik revolutionaries, most likely on the orders of [[Vladimir Lenin]].

===Executions===
{{Further|Execution of the Romanov family|Canonization of the Romanovs}}
[[File:Ipatjew-Haus2.jpg|thumbnail|right|Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, (later Sverdlovsk) in 1928]]

[[File:ChurchOn Blood.jpg|thumb|[[Yekaterinburg]]'s "[[Church of All Saints, Yekaterinburg|Church on the Blood]]", built on the spot where the last Tsar and his family were killed]]

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-scientists-identified-the-remains-of-the-romanovs |title=How Scientists Identified the Remains of the Romanovs |last=Lucchesi |first= Emilie Le Beau |date=15 April 2022 |website=Discover |publisher=Kalmbach Media |access-date=28 December 2024 |quote="The mtDNA test proved Anderson was a fraud. She was not a Romanov. Instead, her DNA matched with the Schanzkowska family."}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Parkland College |last=Jamie |first=Hendrickson |title=The End of a Dynasty: The Death of the Romanov Family |url=https://spark.parkland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1162&context=ah}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":0" />

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 "[[Church of All Saints, Yekaterinburg|on the blood]]" has been built on the spot where the Ipatiev House once stood.

Nicholas II and his family were proclaimed [[passion-bearer]]s 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====
[[File:Tsar Nicholas II Family Remains.jpg|thumb|right|Tombstones marking the burial of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in St. Catherine's Chapel at [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]]]]
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.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kolesnikov |first1=Lev L. |last2=Pashinyan |first2=Gurgen A. |last3=Abramov |first3=Sergey S. |date=2001-02-15 |title=Anatomical appraisal of the skulls and teeth associated with the family of Tsar Nicolay Romanov |journal=The Anatomical Record |language=en |volume=265 |issue=1 |pages=15–32 |doi=10.1002/ar.1037 |pmid=11241207 |s2cid=34826923 |issn=0003-276X|doi-access=free }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coble |first1=Michael D. |last2=Loreille |first2=Odile M. |last3=Wadhams |first3=Mark J. |last4=Edson |first4=Suni M. |last5=Maynard |first5=Kerry |last6=Meyer |first6=Carna E. |last7=Niederstätter |first7=Harald |last8=Berger |first8=Cordula |last9=Berger |first9=Burkhard |last10=Falsetti |first10=Anthony B. |last11=Gill |first11=Peter |last12=Parson |first12=Walther |last13=Finelli |first13=Louis N. |date=2009-03-11 |editor-last=Hofreiter |editor-first=Michael |title=Mystery Solved: The Identification of the Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=e4838 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0004838 |pmid=19277206 |pmc=2652717 |bibcode=2009PLoSO...4.4838C |issn=1932-6203|doi-access=free }}</ref> However, "[[conspiracy theories]]"<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/5340985/romanov-century-dna-myths/ |title=The Romanov Family Died a Century Ago. It's Time to Lay the Myths About Them to Rest, Too |last=Rappaport |first=Helen |date=17 July 2018 |magazine=Time |access-date=28 December 2024}}</ref> 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"<ref name="Daly">{{cite book |last1=Daly |first1=Jonathan |last2=Trofimov |first2=Leonid |date=2023 |title=Seven Myths of the Russian Revolution |location=Indianapolis |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company |pages=97–98 |isbn=978-1-647-92105-7}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Daly"/>

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,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nicholas and Alexandra (February 5, 1996) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin |url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9602/romanov.html |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref> 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, Saint Petersburg|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=17 July 1998: The funeral of Tsar Nicholas II |url=https://www.romanovfamily.org/funeral.html |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=www.romanovfamily.org}}</ref>

====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 [[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864–1918)|Elisabeth Feodorovna]], a granddaughter of [[Queen Victoria]] and elder sister of [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Tsarina Alexandra]]. Following the 1905 assassination of her husband, Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia|Sergei Alexandrovich]], Elisabeth Feodorovna had ceased living as a member of the Imperial family and took up life as a [[nun|serving nun]], but was nonetheless arrested and slated for death with other Romanovs.<ref name="timemag">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762269-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604141845/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762269-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 June 2008 |title=Books: Death at Ekaterinburg  |work=Time magazine |date=22 April 1935 |access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> They were thrown down a mine shaft into which explosives were then dropped, all being left to die there slowly.<ref>''Nicholas and Alexandra, The Last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia'', 1998, Booth-Clibborn, London</ref>
[[File:Алапаевская шахта.jpg|thumb|Mine shaft in Alapaevsk where remains of the Romanovs killed there were found]]

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 [[canonization|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.<ref name="orphcn">{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodox.cn/news/050623alapayevsk_en.htm |title=The Representative of Romanov family in the Russian Federation does not exclude the possibility of transferring from China to Russia the remains of Alapayevsk martyrs.|work=Orthodox News China |date=23 June 2005 |access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref>{{better source|reason=website with no author nor references|date=August 2022}} 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, Russia|Perm]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGoTEQAAQBAJ&q=grand+duke+michael+perm |title=The Disappearance of Michael Romanov |date=2023 |publisher=Susan Appleyard |isbn=979-8-215-25659-6 |page=194 |language=en}}</ref> Their bodies have never been found.{{Cn|date=June 2023}}

The exiled [[Grand 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 the [[Russian Civil War]].{{Cn|date=June 2023}}

In January 1919, revolutionary authorities killed Grand Dukes [[Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Russia|Dmitry Konstantinovich]], [[Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia|Nikolai Mikhailovich]], [[Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia|Paul Alexandrovich]] and [[Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863–1919)|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.<ref name="King & Wilson 184">King & Wilson, ''Gilded Prism'', p. 184</ref>

===Exiles===

====Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna====
In 1919, Maria Feodorovna, widow of Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II, managed to escape Russia aboard {{HMS|Marlborough|1912|6}}, which her nephew, King [[George 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 with [[Queen Alexandra]], she returned to her native Denmark, first living at [[Amalienborg Palace]], with her nephew, King [[Christian X of Denmark|Christian X]], and later, at Villa [[Hvidøre]]. Upon her death in 1928, her coffin was placed in the crypt of [[Roskilde Cathedral]], the burial site of members of the [[Danish royal family]].

In 2005, the coffin with her remains was moved to the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]] to be buried beside that of her husband. The transfer of her remains was accompanied by an elaborate ceremony at [[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]] officiated by [[Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow]]. Descendants and relatives of the Dowager Empress attended, including her great-grandson Prince [[Prince Michael Andreevich of Russia|Michael Andreevich]], [[:Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia]], the last living member of the Imperial Family born before the fall of the dynasty,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uruguay.mid.ru/press/07_12_e.html|title=La Embajada de la Federación de Rusia en la República Oriental del Uruguay|access-date=30 November 2016}}</ref> and Prince [[Prince Dimitri Romanov|Dmitri]] and Prince [[Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia|Nicholas Romanov]].

====Other exiles====
Among the other exiles who managed to leave Russia were Maria Feodorovna's two daughters, the Grand Duchesses [[Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia|Xenia Alexandrovna]] and [[Olga Alexandrovna Romanova|Olga Alexandrovna]], with their husbands, Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia|Alexander Mikhailovich]] and [[Nikolai 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,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Harris|first1=Carolyn|title=From St. Petersburg to Toronto: The Life of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882–1960)|url=http://www.royalhistorian.com/from-st-petersburg-to-toronto-the-life-of-grand-duchess-olga-alexandrovna-1882-1960/|website=Carolyn Harris – Historian and Author|date=25 November 2012 |access-date=25 November 2015}}</ref> both sisters dying in 1960. Grand Duchess [[Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Maria Pavlovna]], widow of Nicholas II's uncle, Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia|Vladimir]], and her children the Grand Dukes [[Grand Duke Kiril Vladimirovich of Russia|Kiril]], [[Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia|Boris]] and [[Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia|Andrei]], and Kiril's wife [[Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Victoria Melita]] and children, also managed to flee Russia. Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia|Dmitri Pavlovich]], a cousin of Nicholas II, had been exiled to the [[Caucasus]] in 1916 for his part in the murder of Grigori Rasputin, and managed to escape Russia. Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929)|Nicholas Nikolaievich]], who was supreme commander of Russian troops during World War I prior to Nicholas II taking command, along with his brother, Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia|Peter]], and their wives, Grand Duchesses [[Princess Anastasia of Montenegro|Anastasia]] and [[Princess Milica of Montenegro|Militza]], who were sisters, and Peter's children, son-in-law, and granddaughter also fled the country.

[[Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (1865–1927)|Elizaveta Mavrikievna]], widow of [[Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia|Konstantin Konstantinovich]], escaped with her daughter [[Princess Vera Constantinovna of Russia|Vera Konstantinovna]] and her son [[Prince Georgy Konstantinovich of Russia|Georgii Konstantinovich]], as well as her grandson Prince  [[Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia|Vsevolod Ivanovich]] and her granddaughter Princess [[Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia|Catherine Ivanovna]] to Sweden. Her other daughter, [[Princess Tatiana Constantinovna of Russia|Tatiana Konstantinovna]], also escaped with her children [[Natasha Bagration|Natasha]] and [[Teymuraz Bagration|Teymuraz]], as well as her uncle's aide-de-camp Alexander Korochenzov. They fled to Romania and then Switzerland. [[Prince Gabriel Constantinovich of Russia|Gavriil Konstantinovich]] was imprisoned before fleeing to Paris.

Ioann Konstantinovich's wife, [[Princess Helen of Serbia|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 daughter [[Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark|Maria Georgievna]], wife of George Mikhailovich, had been vacationing in England with her daughters [[Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia|Nina]] and [[Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia|Xenia]] when the war broke out and chose not to return to Russia.