Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark - Prince Christopher On Anna Anderson

Prince Christopher On Anna Anderson

In 1927, Prince Christopher paid a visit to the Long Island home of William and Xenia Leeds, who were his step-son and niece, respectively. Xenia had taken an interest in the strange case of a woman, Anna Anderson, who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II.

As Prince Christopher explained, "That was her story, and, fantastic as it was, there were many who believed then - and still believe - in her, among them one or two members of the Imperial Family." He went on, "Dozens of people who had known the Grand Duchess Anastasia were brought to see the girl in the hope that they might be able to identify her, but none of them could come to any definite conclusion." Prince Christopher described her, "In the first place she was unable to speak Russian, which the Grand Duchess Anastasia, like all the Czar's children, had talked fluently -- and would only converse in German."

Summing up, he said of her, "The poor girl was a pathetic figure in her loneliness and ill health, and it was comprehensible enough that many of those around her let their sympathy over-rule their logic... She was unable to recognise people whom the Grand Duchess Anastasia had known intimately, and her descriptions of rooms in the different palaces and of other scenes familiar to any of the Imperial Family were often inaccurate."