90 Years Ago Today, Russian Royal Children Executed

[Admin]

Per CNN Article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/17/russia.anniversary/index.html

It was 90 years ago Thursday that Russia's last royal family was executed -- but this year's anniversary comes with scientific proof ending years of speculation that some of the Romanovs managed to survive.

Medical, forensic and ballistic tests conducted in several U.S., Russian and Austrian laboratories identified bone and tooth fragments unearthed last summer as belonging to two missing children of Czar Nicholas II.

Chemically damaged and burnt remains found outside the city of Yekaterinburg in 2007 are those of Crown Prince Alexei, 13, the last emperor's only son and heir to the throne, and his sister Grand Duchess Maria, about 19, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

"The remains that were found belong to Alexei and Maria. We can say that with certainty," Vladimir Solovyov, a senior investigator with the committee, told a news conference Wednesday.

Bolsheviks executed the czar's family and a few servants July 17, 1918 in the basement of a home in Yekaterinburg. But the two children's bodies were missing for decades, leading to persistent hopes among royal supporters that one or both of them had survived.

......more

- Dan