Larissa Tudor
Encyclopedia
Larissa Feodorovna Tudor (died July 18, 1926) was the wife of Owen Frederick Morton Tudor
, an officer of 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars
. Following her death, it was rumoured that she was in truth Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia
, the second daughter of Nicholas II of Russia
, and of Tsarina Alexandra
.
Following World War I
, she met and married her husband. Upon her death at roughly the age of 28 in Lydd
, Kent
, England
, due to pulmonary tuberculosis
and spinal caries
, she bequeathed to him an unusually large inheritance equivalent to a local resident's yearly earnings. This fact, combined with irregularities in the available information about her, such as the different ages given on her marriage certificate, her tombstone, and her death certificate, the differences in the names given for her, the conflicting stories about her background, Tudor's inexplicable income and return to the 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars and promotion in rank following Larissa's death, and certain physical details, led to speculation by author Michael Occleshaw that she was in reality the Grand Duchess and had escaped the assassination of the Romanov
s after the Russian Revolution of 1917
.
Historians believe that the imperial family were all assassinated on July 17, 1918; however, rumors of the survival of one or more Romanov family members have persisted for nearly 90 years.
, an officer of 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussar
s, in 1923 at the Register Office of St George's, Hanover Square, in London
, England
. Her marriage certificate listed her address as the York Hotel, Mayfair
, and her father as Adolph Haouk. Her age in 1923 was given as 27 on her marriage certificate, though her death certificate in 1926 gave her age as 29 and her tombstone gave her age at death as 28.
in 1921. Larissa was said to be a belly-dancer at a night club in Constantinople. A second account of her early life was that she was a woman of good family from St. Petersburg. The colonel of Tudor's regiment reportedly sent brother officers either to teach him some Russian before his marriage or to try to persuade Tudor not to marry Larissa. Tudor, who was in love with Larissa, went ahead with the marriage and was forced to leave the regiment. One of Tudor's first cousins was told that Larissa had escaped from Russia and had been "earning her living the only way she could."
, Kent
, England
. Larissa was ill with pulmonary tuberculosis
and spinal
caries
and was unable to sit up straight. She spent her days reclining in an elongated bath chair. The couple lived privately, but were often overheard laughing in the garden of their house. Though Tudor's income had been reduced when he left the Hussars and he had no personal fortune, he had enough money to pay for a nurse for Larissa and to keep a horse stabled at a nearby farm.
Following her death, some women in Lydd became fascinated by Larissa's story and contacted author Michael Occleshaw about her. Occleshaw saw irregularities in the available information about Larissa, such as the different ages given on her marriage certificate, her tombstone, and her death certificate, the differences in the names given for her, the conflicting stories about her background, and Tudor's inexplicable income and return to the 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars and promotion in rank following Larissa's death. There was no record of a woman named Larissa Haouk entering England between 1918 and 1923.
Occleshaw showed portraits of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, along with portraits of unrelated women from the same period, to people who had known Larissa. More than 60 years after Larissa's death, her former neighbors identified portraits of the grand duchess as Larissa. Larissa was described as "being tall, amazingly thin and very beautiful, having brown hair with an auburn tinge to it." This physical description was similar to descriptions of the Grand Duchess Tatiana, wrote Occleshaw.
, who was traveling from Japan to Canada aboard the Japanese battle cruiser Kirishima in July 1918. With the prince's party, the rescued grand duchess allegedly traveled across Canada before she sailed to the United Kingdom on the Canadian Pacific Ocean Service Ltd. vessel Corsican, which arrived in the United Kingdom in August 1918.
Occleshaw speculated that a rescue mission by air might have been considered by the British at the behest of King George V
. An entry in the journal of Col. Richard Meinertzhagen
asserts that the rescue took place on July 1, 1918, a date that might have been inaccurate. Meinertzhagen wrote that the rescue was not a complete success because not all the family was rescued. "One child was literally thrown into the plane at Ekaterinburg, much bruised and brought to England where she still is." Critics say that Meinertzhagen's diaries were fantasy. Meinertzhagen's wife, Amorel, traveled from Canada to the United Kingdom aboard the Canadian ship Corsican in August 1918, while the war was still taking place. In the adjoining cabin was a 22-year-old masseuse named Marguerite Lindsay, for whom Occleshaw could find no birth or permanent address records. Occleshaw identified Marguerite Lindsay as a possible cover name for a rescued grand duchess. However, the Ellis Island Web site has two separate listings for travel to New York by passengers named Marguerite Lindsay in 1915 and again in 1923. The Marguerite Lindsay who traveled in 1915 gave her age as 18 and her place of residence as Montreal
, Canada
; the Marguerite Lindsay who traveled in 1923 gave her age as 27 and her residence as New York City
. The Bolsheviks were also reportedly alarmed by an airplane flying over the Ipatiev House in mid-July 1918, Sir Charles Eliot
, the British High Commander for Siberia, later reported. When interrogated by White Russian Army investigators in January 1919, a Red Guard named George Nikolaevich Biron, the Chief Military Communications Officer of the Bolshevik Third Army at Perm
, claimed Tatiana had "run away or disappeared with a Red Army officer, a commander of the guard," before the murder of the Tsar.
A photograph that appeared September 4, 1918 in the Harrogate Herald depicts a group of exiled royalty and aristocrats including Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna
, who was living at Harrogate
. Occleshaw speculates that a young woman in the photo whose face is half-hidden behind Lady Radcliffe, the wife of Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Baronet, might be the escaped grand duchess. In his opinion, the photograph bears "an uncanny resemblance to the Grand Duchess Tatiana." The woman was the only person in the group who was not identified in the newspaper photo caption. Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna founded four hospitals in the area. A sanitarium for treatment of tuberculosis was located near Harrogate at Knaresborough
. Spinal caries often developed following an injury, such as that caused by being thrown from a horse or thrown into an airplane, as Meinertzhagen wrote that the rescued grand duchess had been. Occleshaw also speculated that the conditions under which the Romanovs were held would have been "ideal" for a member of the imperial family to contract tuberculosis. Guards at the Ipatiev House
, where the imperial family was held captive at Ekaterinburg, later commented on the sickly appearance of Grand Duchess Tatiana and her elder sister Olga
. Tatiana had grown extremely thin and "looked as if she was not far from the morgue
," recalled one guard.
Since Larissa had mentioned to neighbors that her happiest time in England had been spent in Yorkshire
, Occleshaw speculated that the escaped grand duchess might have spent time in a medical facility near Harrogate under the patronage of Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna. Owen Tudor's uncle was Sir Frederick Tudor
, a British admiral who was the Commander of the China Station in 1918. Frederick Tudor was responsible for arranging the escape of refugees from Siberia to Japan and then on to Canada. Occleshaw speculated that Owen Tudor might have met Larissa during a visit to his uncle. Occleshaw also noted that the patronymic on Larissa's gravestone was Feodorovna, which was also the patronymic adopted by Grand Duchess Tatiana's mother, Tsarina Alexandra, and that the surname Haouk bears close resemblance to the surname of Countess Julia von Hauke
, an ancestress of the Mountbatten
family and closely associated with Tatiana's Hessian
relatives.
and one of the four grand duchesses, generally thought by Russians to be Maria and by Americans to be Anastasia
. Historians believe that all of the Romanovs, including Tatiana, were assassinated at Ekaterinburg.
In July 2007, 46-year-old builder Sergei Pogorelov (part of a team from an amateur history group who spent free summer weekends looking for the lost Romanovs) said that after stumbling on a small burned area of ground covered with nettles near Yekaterinburg he had discovered bones that belonged to "a boy and a young woman roughly the ages of Nicholas’ 13-year-old hemophiliac son, Alexei, and a daughter whose remains also never have been found."
On 30 April 2008, DNA tests were performed on the two bodies. A U.S. laboratory compared DNA from the bodies to a DNA sample given by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
, whose first cousins, once removed were the Romanov children. The test confirmed that the bodies belonged to members of the imperial family: Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and Grand Duchess Maria, according to Russian news agencies. Therefore, all the Romanovs have now been accounted for, disproving claims of survival.
Owen Frederick Morton Tudor
Owen Frederick Morton Tudor, , was an officer in 3rd The King's Own Hussars and the husband of Larissa Tudor, a woman some claimed could have been Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia.-Early life and education:...
, an officer of 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars
3rd The King's Own Hussars
The 3rd Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Own Hussars in 1958.-The Glorious Revolution:...
. Following her death, it was rumoured that she was in truth Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia , , was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra...
, the second daughter of Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
, and of Tsarina Alexandra
Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse
Alix of Hesse and by Rhine later Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova , was Empress consort of Russia as spouse of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire...
.
Following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she met and married her husband. Upon her death at roughly the age of 28 in Lydd
Lydd
Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger towns on the Marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Actually located on Denge Marsh, Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called the Romney Marsh...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, due to pulmonary tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and spinal caries
Caries
Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, ribs and other bones, or the teeth. Caries can be caused by osteomyelitis, which is a microorganism disease. A disease that involves caries is mastoiditis, an inflammation of the mastoid process, in which the...
, she bequeathed to him an unusually large inheritance equivalent to a local resident's yearly earnings. This fact, combined with irregularities in the available information about her, such as the different ages given on her marriage certificate, her tombstone, and her death certificate, the differences in the names given for her, the conflicting stories about her background, Tudor's inexplicable income and return to the 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars and promotion in rank following Larissa's death, and certain physical details, led to speculation by author Michael Occleshaw that she was in reality the Grand Duchess and had escaped the assassination of the Romanov
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
s after the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
.
Historians believe that the imperial family were all assassinated on July 17, 1918; however, rumors of the survival of one or more Romanov family members have persisted for nearly 90 years.
Marriage
Larissa married Owen Frederick Morton TudorOwen Frederick Morton Tudor
Owen Frederick Morton Tudor, , was an officer in 3rd The King's Own Hussars and the husband of Larissa Tudor, a woman some claimed could have been Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia.-Early life and education:...
, an officer of 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
s, in 1923 at the Register Office of St George's, Hanover Square, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Her marriage certificate listed her address as the York Hotel, Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
, and her father as Adolph Haouk. Her age in 1923 was given as 27 on her marriage certificate, though her death certificate in 1926 gave her age as 29 and her tombstone gave her age at death as 28.
Early life
There is little available information about her nationality or early life. According to the wife of one of Tudor's brother officers, there were two accounts about Larissa's background. One was that she was the daughter of a pork butcher, whom Tudor met when he was posted at ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 1921. Larissa was said to be a belly-dancer at a night club in Constantinople. A second account of her early life was that she was a woman of good family from St. Petersburg. The colonel of Tudor's regiment reportedly sent brother officers either to teach him some Russian before his marriage or to try to persuade Tudor not to marry Larissa. Tudor, who was in love with Larissa, went ahead with the marriage and was forced to leave the regiment. One of Tudor's first cousins was told that Larissa had escaped from Russia and had been "earning her living the only way she could."
Illness
Following the marriage, Tudor transferred to the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Tank Corps, which was based at LyddLydd
Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger towns on the Marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Actually located on Denge Marsh, Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called the Romney Marsh...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Larissa was ill with pulmonary tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and spinal
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
caries
Caries
Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, ribs and other bones, or the teeth. Caries can be caused by osteomyelitis, which is a microorganism disease. A disease that involves caries is mastoiditis, an inflammation of the mastoid process, in which the...
and was unable to sit up straight. She spent her days reclining in an elongated bath chair. The couple lived privately, but were often overheard laughing in the garden of their house. Though Tudor's income had been reduced when he left the Hussars and he had no personal fortune, he had enough money to pay for a nurse for Larissa and to keep a horse stabled at a nearby farm.
Death
When Larissa died, she left an inheritance that amounted to a year's pay for the majority of Britain's population. Larissa's husband was devastated by her death and had to be held up by other men at her gravesite. Larissa was buried in a cemetery in Lydd. Her gravestone bore the inscription "To My Very Beloved Larissa Feodorovna Who Died July 18th, 1926 Aged 28 Years The Wife of Owen Tudor, 3rd The King's Own Hussars". Tudor brought flowers to her grave every year on June 10 up until a few years before his own death. Occleshaw pointed out in his book The Romanov Conspiracy: The Romanovs and the House of Windsor that Grand Duchess Tatiana's birthday was June 10.Claims made that she was a grand duchess
Occleshaw showed portraits of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, along with portraits of unrelated women from the same period, to people who had known Larissa. More than 60 years after Larissa's death, her former neighbors identified portraits of the grand duchess as Larissa. Larissa was described as "being tall, amazingly thin and very beautiful, having brown hair with an auburn tinge to it." This physical description was similar to descriptions of the Grand Duchess Tatiana, wrote Occleshaw.
Speculation about the rescue of a grand duchess
In his 1993 book The Romanov Conspiracies: The Romanovs and the House of Windsor, Occleshaw speculates that Tatiana was flown out of Siberia by British agents in mid-July 1918 and, with assistance from the Japanese, transferred into the hands of Prince Arthur of ConnaughtPrince Arthur of Connaught
Prince Arthur of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. Prince Arthur held the title of a British prince with the style His Royal Highness...
, who was traveling from Japan to Canada aboard the Japanese battle cruiser Kirishima in July 1918. With the prince's party, the rescued grand duchess allegedly traveled across Canada before she sailed to the United Kingdom on the Canadian Pacific Ocean Service Ltd. vessel Corsican, which arrived in the United Kingdom in August 1918.
Occleshaw speculated that a rescue mission by air might have been considered by the British at the behest of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. An entry in the journal of Col. Richard Meinertzhagen
Richard Meinertzhagen
Colonel Richard Henry Meinertzhagen CBE DSO was a British soldier, intelligence officer and ornithologist.- Background and youth :Meinertzhagen was born into a socially connected, wealthy British family...
asserts that the rescue took place on July 1, 1918, a date that might have been inaccurate. Meinertzhagen wrote that the rescue was not a complete success because not all the family was rescued. "One child was literally thrown into the plane at Ekaterinburg, much bruised and brought to England where she still is." Critics say that Meinertzhagen's diaries were fantasy. Meinertzhagen's wife, Amorel, traveled from Canada to the United Kingdom aboard the Canadian ship Corsican in August 1918, while the war was still taking place. In the adjoining cabin was a 22-year-old masseuse named Marguerite Lindsay, for whom Occleshaw could find no birth or permanent address records. Occleshaw identified Marguerite Lindsay as a possible cover name for a rescued grand duchess. However, the Ellis Island Web site has two separate listings for travel to New York by passengers named Marguerite Lindsay in 1915 and again in 1923. The Marguerite Lindsay who traveled in 1915 gave her age as 18 and her place of residence as Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
; the Marguerite Lindsay who traveled in 1923 gave her age as 27 and her residence as New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The Bolsheviks were also reportedly alarmed by an airplane flying over the Ipatiev House in mid-July 1918, Sir Charles Eliot
Charles Eliot (diplomat)
Sir Charles Norton Edgecumbe Eliot GCMG, PC was a British knight diplomat, colonial administrator and botanist. He served as Commissioner of British East Africa in 1900-1904. He was British Ambassador to Japan in 1919-1925.He was also known as a malacologist and marine biologist...
, the British High Commander for Siberia, later reported. When interrogated by White Russian Army investigators in January 1919, a Red Guard named George Nikolaevich Biron, the Chief Military Communications Officer of the Bolshevik Third Army at Perm
Perm
Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov ....
, claimed Tatiana had "run away or disappeared with a Red Army officer, a commander of the guard," before the murder of the Tsar.
A photograph that appeared September 4, 1918 in the Harrogate Herald depicts a group of exiled royalty and aristocrats including Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna
Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark
Maria or Marie Georgievna, Princess of Greece and Denmark , was the fifth child and second daughter of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia and thus a family member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.-Early life and family: She was born in Athens as a younger...
, who was living at Harrogate
Harrogate
Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England. The town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters, RHS Harlow Carr gardens, and Betty's Tea Rooms. From the town one can explore the nearby Yorkshire Dales national park. Harrogate originated in the 17th...
. Occleshaw speculates that a young woman in the photo whose face is half-hidden behind Lady Radcliffe, the wife of Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Baronet, might be the escaped grand duchess. In his opinion, the photograph bears "an uncanny resemblance to the Grand Duchess Tatiana." The woman was the only person in the group who was not identified in the newspaper photo caption. Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna founded four hospitals in the area. A sanitarium for treatment of tuberculosis was located near Harrogate at Knaresborough
Knaresborough
Knaresborough is an old and historic market town, spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located on the River Nidd, four miles east of the centre of Harrogate.-History:...
. Spinal caries often developed following an injury, such as that caused by being thrown from a horse or thrown into an airplane, as Meinertzhagen wrote that the rescued grand duchess had been. Occleshaw also speculated that the conditions under which the Romanovs were held would have been "ideal" for a member of the imperial family to contract tuberculosis. Guards at the Ipatiev House
Ipatiev House
Ipatiev House was a merchant's house in Yekaterinburg where the former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his family and members of his household were executed following the Bolshevik Revolution...
, where the imperial family was held captive at Ekaterinburg, later commented on the sickly appearance of Grand Duchess Tatiana and her elder sister Olga
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia ; , November 16 after 1900 – July 17, 1918) was the eldest daughter of the last autocratic ruler of the Russian Empire, Emperor Nicholas II, and of Empress Alexandra of Russia....
. Tatiana had grown extremely thin and "looked as if she was not far from the morgue
Morgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
," recalled one guard.
Since Larissa had mentioned to neighbors that her happiest time in England had been spent in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, Occleshaw speculated that the escaped grand duchess might have spent time in a medical facility near Harrogate under the patronage of Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna. Owen Tudor's uncle was Sir Frederick Tudor
Frederick Charles Tudor Tudor
Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Charles Tudor Tudor KCB KCMG was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Sea Lord.-Naval career:Tudor joined the Royal Navy in 1876. He was Commanding Officer of HMS Prometheus, HMS Challenger and HMS Superb. In 1910 he was given command of the Gunnery School at...
, a British admiral who was the Commander of the China Station in 1918. Frederick Tudor was responsible for arranging the escape of refugees from Siberia to Japan and then on to Canada. Occleshaw speculated that Owen Tudor might have met Larissa during a visit to his uncle. Occleshaw also noted that the patronymic on Larissa's gravestone was Feodorovna, which was also the patronymic adopted by Grand Duchess Tatiana's mother, Tsarina Alexandra, and that the surname Haouk bears close resemblance to the surname of Countess Julia von Hauke
Julia von Hauke
Princess Julia of Battenberg was the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, the mother of Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, and ancestress to the current generations of the British and the Spanish royal families.-Life:Julie Therese Salomea Hauke was born in Warsaw, in Congress Poland, then...
, an ancestress of the Mountbatten
Mountbatten
Mountbatten is the family name originally adopted by a branch of the Battenberg family due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I...
family and closely associated with Tatiana's Hessian
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
relatives.
Romanov grave
Two bodies were missing from the mass Romanov grave found in Siberia and exhumed in 1991. Those bodies were identified as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of RussiaTsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia
Alexei Nikolaevich of the House of Romanov, was the Tsesarevich and heir apparent to the throne of the Russian Empire. In English, his title is usually given as Tsarevich, a title that has a separate meaning in Russia. Alexei was the youngest child and only son of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress...
and one of the four grand duchesses, generally thought by Russians to be Maria and by Americans to be Anastasia
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna....
. Historians believe that all of the Romanovs, including Tatiana, were assassinated at Ekaterinburg.
In July 2007, 46-year-old builder Sergei Pogorelov (part of a team from an amateur history group who spent free summer weekends looking for the lost Romanovs) said that after stumbling on a small burned area of ground covered with nettles near Yekaterinburg he had discovered bones that belonged to "a boy and a young woman roughly the ages of Nicholas’ 13-year-old hemophiliac son, Alexei, and a daughter whose remains also never have been found."
On 30 April 2008, DNA tests were performed on the two bodies. A U.S. laboratory compared DNA from the bodies to a DNA sample given by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, whose first cousins, once removed were the Romanov children. The test confirmed that the bodies belonged to members of the imperial family: Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and Grand Duchess Maria, according to Russian news agencies. Therefore, all the Romanovs have now been accounted for, disproving claims of survival.