In the years before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Wilhelm II and Nicholas II were third cousins (both were great-great-grandsons of Paul I of Russia) as well as being second cousins once removed (both were descended from Frederick William III of Prussia) and Wilhelm was a first cousin of Nicholas’s wife, Alix of Hesse and the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria.

In the early hours of July 29, 1914, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his first cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, begin a frantic exchange of telegrams regarding the newly erupted war in the Balkan region and the possibility of its escalation into a general European war.

July 28, 1914 – The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Serbia. July 29, 1914 – Britain calls for international mediation to resolve the worsening crisis. July 31, 1914 – Reacting to the Austrian attack on Serbia, Russia begins full mobilization of its troops. Germany demands that it stop.

Kaiser Wilhelm II (Willie) was particularly assiduous in keeping touch with his cousins Georgie and Nicky.

The third major royal player in World War One, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, also had a very personal stake in things. He was another first cousin of George V, whose mother, Alexandra of Denmark, was the sister of the Tsar’s mother, Dagmar of Denmark.

The husband of Queen Elizabeth II is a grandnephew of the last czarina, Alexandra, as well as a great-great-grandson of Nicholas I. His two-part Romanov connection means that his son Prince Charles and his grandsons, Princes William and Harry, are all Romanov relatives.

Finally, they dug another shallow grave, and, after abusing the corpses even more, buried all but two of the family members. Two of the children—likely Maria and Alexei—were burned and the remnants of their bodies buried in another, separate grave nearby.

The 1956 film is based on the true story of a woman in Berlin who was pulled from the Landwehr Canal in 1920 and who later claimed to be Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.

Synopsis. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, Anastasia and her family were executed in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Speculation arose as to whether she and her brother, Alexei Nikolaevich, might have survived. In 1991, a forensic study identified the bodies of her family members and servants, but not hers or Alexei’s.

18 Aboard the Standart, sailors take turns bouncing their shipmates down the deck on mats. 20 Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatyana, and Maria aboard the Standart in 1914. The sisters were 22, 21, and 19 years old when they were killed.

Fifty-three Romanovs were living in Russia when Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia abdicated on March 15, 1917. Eighteen were murdered and thirty-five escaped. Fourteen Romanovs were killed between June 13, 1918 and July 18, 1918.