Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1899–1918)

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, c. 1914.
Born	(1899-06-26)June 26, 1899 Peterhof Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	July 17, 1918(1918-07-17) (aged 19) Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, Russian SFSR
Burial	Yet to be buried
Full name Maria Nikolaevna Romanova
House	Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Father	Nicholas II of Russia
Mother	Alexandra Feodorovna
Religion	Russian Orthodox
Signature

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova; Russian: Великая Княжна Мария Николаевна, June 26 [O.S. June 14] 1899 – July 17, 1918) was the third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse). Her murder following the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in her canonization as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.

During her lifetime, Maria, too young to become a Red Cross nurse like her elder sisters during World War I, was patroness of a hospital and instead visited wounded soldiers. Throughout her lifetime she was noted for her interest in the lives of the soldiers. The flirtatious Maria had a number of innocent crushes on the young men she met, beginning in early childhood. She hoped to marry and have a large family.

She was an elder sister of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, whose alleged escape from the assassination of the imperial family was famously rumored for nearly 90 years. However, it was later proven that Anastasia did not escape. In the 1990s, it was suggested that Maria might have been the grand duchess whose remains were missing from the Romanov grave that was discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia and exhumed in 1991. However, further remains were discovered in 2007, and DNA analysis subsequently proved that the entire Imperial family had been murdered in 1918.

Maria was named after her paternal grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark) and her deceased aunt, Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. Contemporaries described Maria as a pretty, flirtatious girl, broadly built, with light brown hair and large blue eyes that were known in the family as "Marie's saucers". Her French tutor Pierre Gilliard said Maria was tall and well-built, with rosy cheeks. Tatiana Botkina thought the expression in Maria's eyes was "soft and gentle." As an infant and toddler, her physical appearance was compared to one of Botticelli's angels by Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia nicknamed her "The Amiable Baby" because of her good nature. Maria, along with her elder sister Tatiana, were considered to be the most beautiful of the sisters.