Russian royal family mystery 'solved'
Updated on 17 July 2008
British scientists believe they have helped solve a 90-year mystery surrounding the massacre of Russia's last royal family.
For decades there was speculation that some members of the Romanov family escaped the 1918 Bolshevik massacre.
However, the theory was challenged recently when the remains of two people were discovered in a grave in Siberia.
They were found close to the remains of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra and three of their four daughters, which were discovered in the 1990s.
DNA tests by scientists from the US and Austria earlier this year suggested they were the missing family members, the fourth daughter Maria and the heir apparent Alexei.
Dr Peter Gill, from Strathclyde University's Centre for Forensic Science, said he had "close to definite proof" that the remains were those of the two children.
Dr Gill said his job had been to ensure correct protocol had been followed during the research, and that the findings from Austria and the US were "consistent with each other in every detail".
He said: "We now have close to definite proof that the entire family was executed by the Bolsheviks and no one escaped.
"There is overwhelming evidence to support the contention that the remains found in the second grave are those of Alexei and one of the Romanov princesses."
The scientists were able to confirm the original remains to be found as those of the tsar and his family by using blood samples from living people.
They include Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who is a direct maternal descendant of the Tsarina.
Russian pathologists last year also investigated the remains and expressed confidence that they were those of the children.
Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra were killed with several of their children and servants during the Bolshevik massacre.
In Moscow, ceremonies are being held to mark the 90th anniversary of the murder of the last tsar and his family.
The family have been canonised as saints, and the remains identified as those of Nicholas II, his wife and three of their daughters were buried in 1998 in the former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg.
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