DNA evidence has conclusively put to rest one of the legends spawned by the Russian revolution, proving once and for all that the entire Romanov family--Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and all of their five children--were killed by members of the Red Guard in 1918. A genetic analysis of bone fragments from a grave discovered in 2007 has revealed the remains to be those of Romanov crown prince Alexei and one of his four sisters, thus ending the romantic speculation that two children survived the execution and fled the country to start a new life.
The gunshot-and-bayonet murders took place in July 1918 in a cellar in the city of Ekaterinburg, central Russia. Since then, about 200 people have claimed to descend from one or other of the Romanovs who had somehow survived the slaughter in the basement of Ipatiev House [Telegraph].
In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet ...
