In 1918, Tsar Nicholas II and his family, along with four royal staff members, were murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries in a Yekaterinburg cellar. And now, almost a century after, Russia has exhumed the remains of the Romanovs to confirm the identities of two of two royal children, Alexei and Maria, Yahoo News reported.
In 1991, the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their daughters, Olga, Anastasia, and Tatiana were found in a mass grave in the Urals. These were positively identified in 1998 through DNA testing. The remains of their two other children, Maria and their youngest and only son Alexei, however, were not found until 2007 in a different area in the Urals.
Their graves were some distance from the rest of the family and, for this reason, many had casted doubt on the real identities of these remains. The Russian Orthodox Church requested the exhumation to confirm their identities ahead of their formal burial alongside the rest of the family.
The royal couple and their three daughters were formally buried by the Russian Orthodox Church on July 17, 1998, on the 80th anniversary of the murder. They were canonized in 2000. If the identities of the two other children are confirmed, they are expected to be canonized as well, according to The Week.
The current exhumation and DNA tests will involve samples from Empress Alexandra's sister, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who is buried in Jerusalem. Samples are also being taken from the bloodstained uniform of Nicholas' grandfather, Alexander II. It is only now that Russian investigators were granted access to the Grand Duchess' remains for DNA confirmation.
Additionally, the so-called "White Guards Investigation" is being reexamined. These came to light in the past four years but the Russian Orthodox Church believes that there are still many questions that need to be answered, BBC reported.
Do you think these latest developments are conclusive? Share this article so you and your friends can weigh in!
