Princess Or Impostor?

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 276, 11 February 1928, Page 1

Princess Or Impostor?

CLAIMANT FOR TSAR’S MILLIONS Big Controversy in Germany FOLLOWING on the report from Paris that the Russian Grand Duke Vladimiroviteh, first cousin to the late Tsar, had an affectionate reunion with the Grand Duchess Anastasia, the Tsar’s youngest daughter, copies a declaration by Mr. Frederick A. Mackenzie, a former war correspondent, that the girl claiming to be the Grand Duchess is a peasant . and an impostor.

By Cable. — Press Association. — Copyright.

LONDON, Friday. Mr. Mackenzie, who lived in Russia from 1921 to 1926, in an article published in the “Daily News,” says that the girl’s claims were originally advanced in 1923 when they were rejected by the leading survivors of the Romanoff family. Mr. Mackenzie says he twice visited Ekaterinburg, where he saw the scene of the Tsarist murders. He also examined Communist records, which

stated that Anastasia feigned death, but the soldiers accompanying the murderers smashed her head with the butts of their rifles. The “Daily Mail” says that, in view of the possibility of Anastasia’s claim to the Tsar’s fortune, it is interesting to note that in addition to the considerable amount the Bolsheviks confiscated, there are several millions of pounds in foreign banks, and in British and American institutions. The Tsar’s income from all sources in 1913 was estimated at £6,000,000. The private fortune he had inherited from his father was increased by judicious investments. The Berlin correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says the supporters and the opponents of Anastasia will be brought face to face next week at the hearing of a libel action by the editor of the extreme Nationalist paper “Nachtausgabe” against the editor of the “Tagliche Rundschau,” Herr Stresemann’s organ. The “Naehtausgabe” published a series of articles in which it favoured Anastasia’s claims, but suddenly it recanted, declaring that she was merely a Mechlenburg farm girl. The “Tagliche Rundshau,” which has consistently championed Anastasia, immediately stated that the other paper’s volte face was due to the receipt of a handsome payment to a member of its staff by the Grand Duke Hesse, t}ie late Tsar’s brother. The editor of the “Tagliche Runschau” announces that he will bring forward evidence to prove that the Grand Duke Hesse actually made a payment. A message from Moscow says members of the Soviet ridicule the story that the youngest daughter of the Tsar is still alive. They state that all the members of the Russian Royal Family are extinct. The official list of those executed at Ekaterinburg in 1918 includes the name of Anastasia.—Sun Cables. The Berlin correspondent of the “Daily Mail” reported on Wednesday that the Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovitch, a first cousin of the late Tsar of Russia, had an affectionate meeting: in Paris with the latter’s youngest daughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia, while she was on her way to America. The Grand Duke authorised the Duke of Leuchtenberg to state that he acknowledges her as the youngest daughter of the Tsar. The message went on:—“The Grand Duchess Anastasia is still unable to tell a connected story. She does not remember even recent events.” A message from New York says a girl who claims to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia arrived there on the Berengaria.