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Shooting Tsar

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So on Wednesday, you told Andre about great places to visit where you live. Now he'd like to know about the people who live or have lived where you do.

Sundays's prompt; Tell us about a famous person or persons who lives or came from your Home Sweet Home

When I was at college, the dorms were arranged with several dorm rooms around a common area. Someone had done a country-looking cross stitch as a throw pillow: "Suite sweet suite."

That always pops back in my mind whenever I see "home sweet home."

Anyway. I've talked enough about Jefferson, and I mentioned Dave Matthews last time. I've also noted before that Poe spent some time here. Then there was the one lady who claimed to be the last Romanov...

You know what? I'm going to go with that one.

Hopefully you all know that in 1918, some revolting Russians rounded up some revolting Russians. That is to say, the revolutionary Bolsheviks executed the entire former royal family of Russia, who, let's face it, were pretty revolting, being autocrats and all. The youngest was Anastasia Romanova, also known as Grand Duchess Anastasia   despite being, like, totally a teen.

A couple of years later, a woman in a mental institution in Germany (should have been the first clue) claimed to be Anastasia. Apparently, some people believed her, but certainly not everyone. Personally, I'd figure that claiming to be the last royal Russian in early 1920s Europe couldn't possibly be good for one's health, but okay, whatever, there were enough believers that her claims were taken seriously by a bunch of people.

Apparently, she spent the next few decades in and out of asylums, which I suppose could be ordinary mental illness, or it could have been, I don't know, watching a bunch of revolting peasants destroy your entire family.

It wasn't until the late 60s that she became associated with Charlottesville, having married a history professor here (should have been the second clue).

I never met the lady; she died shortly after I came to town (not my fault). My ex-wife's father claimed to know her, but he claimed to know everyone (and, to be fair, he knew a whole lot of people). Apparently, Anna and her husband were described as "eccentric," which is code for "crazy, but rich enough to get away with it."

It was only after her death that the final nails were driven into the coffin of her claims to royalty. I mean that metaphorically; she was cremated and didn't have a coffin.

First, DNA testing became a thing, and apparently there was enough of her left (ew) to test, and behold, she was not Russian.

And second, after the end of the USSR, archeologists found the remains of the Tsar's entire family, including Anastasia.

A local brewery occasionally makes a beer called Anastasia's Chocolate Fantasy, which is a Russian Imperial Stout brewed with cocoa, because of this local connection. It is absolutely delicious. But Russian Imperial Stout is, as I've noted before, not actually Russian... much like Anna Anderson herself

So Anna Anderson was just a crazy lady, but apparently she made the best life out of it as she could, and, Duchess or not, she's absolutely a part of Charlottesville history. Though few people here actually believed she was Romanova, they humored her anyway, because that's what we do here. It really should have been blindingly obvious in retrospect, though.

I mean.

If you're the only heir to the Russian throne, and you saw a bunch of peasants rise up and grind your family into borscht, and you need to find a place to live...

...would you really choose the state whose motto is "sic semper tyrannis?"