Frank Antonowitz (husband) Harry Karadimas (lover) Jacob Coenrad Breytenbach (husband)
Relatives
Gabriel Louis Duval (foster grandson)
Alina Matshievska (also known as Granny Alina; died 12 December 1969) was the foster grandmother of Gabriel Louis Duval, who claimed in his 2004 book A Princess in the Family that she might have been Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.[1] (however photos of Granny Alina depict her looking like an older version of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.[1]) [2]
According to Duval, Granny Alina married a man named Frank Antonowitz (an Anglicised version of his birth name, Francisus Antonievitsk) on 16 February 1914 in Durban, Natal, South Africa, where they started a farrier business together. After Antonowitz's death, she began a relationship with a Greek man named Harry Karadimas, with whom she shared a home. She lived with Duval's family from 1954 until her death.[3] There are also records of her marrying Jacob Coenrad Breytenbach on 6 August 1957 in Empangeni, Natal, South Africa.[4]
Alina died on 12 December 1969 in Pietermaritzburg, in a Greys Hospital, at the age of 75. The record of her death lists her marital status as married, and uses her married name of Alina Breytenbach.[5] The cause of her death is listed as a myocardial infarction from complications of diabetes.
In his book, Duval claimed that Granny Alina told him she was a princess, that her family had been murdered during the Russian Revolution, and that she had been rescued. She did not want to talk about the rescue for fear of being sent back to Russia.[3] Duval had her grave exhumed, but her remains were too decomposed to produce an accurate DNA profile. The story attracted some television news coverage in Australia and in the United States.[3]
Alina had two children, Antony (1914–1921) and John (1917–1974) to Antonowitz. Antonowitz was born in 1864 so was 31 years older than Alina when they married. Antony was born four months after they were married and a judge ordered their marriage.[6]
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. She was born at Peterhof Palace, near Saint Petersburg.
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia was the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine; she was Duchess of Edinburgh and later Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the wife of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She was the younger sister of Alexander III of Russia and the paternal aunt of Russia's last emperor, Nicholas II.
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia was the third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Her murder following the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in her canonization as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Nicholas Romanovich Romanov was a claimant to the headship of the House of Romanov and president of the Romanov Family Association. Although undoubtedly a descendant of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, his claimed titles and official membership in the former Imperial House were disputed by those who maintained that his parents' marriage violated the laws of the Russian Empire.
Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna Romanova of Russia was the consort of Vladimir Kirillovich, Grand Duke of Russia, a pretender to the Russian throne. She was advanced by Vladimir and their daughter, Maria Vladimirovna, to be accepted as the legitimate Heads of the Romanov dynasty and de jure sovereigns of the Russian Empire.
Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark was a daughter of King George I of Greece and his wife Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. She was a sister of King Constantine I of Greece and a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and King George V of the United Kingdom.
Princess Tatiana Constantinovna of Russia was the third child and eldest daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich of Russia and his wife, Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg.
Princess Anastasia Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro was the daughter of King Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (1841–1921) and his wife, Queen Milena (1847–1923). Through her second marriage, she became Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia. She and her sister "Militza", having married Russian royal brothers, were known colloquially as the "Montenegrin princesses" during the last days of Imperial Russia, and may have contributed to its downfall by the introduction of Grigori Rasputin to the Empress Alexandra.
Princess Xenia Georgievna of Russia was the younger daughter of Grand Duke George Mihailovich of Russia and Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark. She is known for recognizing Anna Anderson as Grand Duchess Anastasia.
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia was a daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and sister of Alexander II. In 1839 she married Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg. She was an art collector and President of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.
Princess Helen of Serbia was a Serbian princess. She was the daughter of King Peter I of Serbia and his wife, the former Princess Ljubica of Montenegro. She was the elder sister of George, Crown Prince of Serbia and King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Helen was also a niece of Queen Elena of Italy, Princess Anastasia of Montenegro, wife of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia and of Princess Milica of Montenegro, wife of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia, the women who introduced Grigori Rasputin to Tsarina Alexandra.
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, known as Maria Pavlovna the Younger, was a granddaughter of Alexander II of Russia. She was a paternal first cousin of Nicholas II and Marie of Edinburgh and maternal first cousin of George II, Alexander, and Paul, Helen of Greece and Denmark,, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was also both the first grandchild of George I of Greece and the first great-grandchild of his father Christian IX of Denmark.
Larissa Feodorovna Tudor was the wife of Owen Frederick Morton Tudor, an officer of the 3rd 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.
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia was the elder daughter and fourth child of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Dagmar of Denmark. She was the sister of the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II.
Members of the ruling Russian imperial family, the House of Romanov, were executed by a firing squad led by Yakov Yurovsky in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on July 17, 1918, during both the Russian Civil War and near the end of the First World War.
Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia, was the elder daughter of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna of Russia. A great-granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, she left her native country in 1914, before World War I finished her education in England and spent the rest of her life in exile. In London in 1922, she married Prince Paul Chavchavadze, a descendant of the last king of Georgia. They had one child, Prince David Chavchavadze, born there two years later. In 1927 the family of three moved to the United States and settled in New York. In 1939 they bought a home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Princess Nina was an artist, her husband worked as an author; he wrote five books and translated several others. Their son, Prince David Chavchavadze, served with the U.S. Army during World War II and, thanks in part to his knowledge of Russian, eventually became a CIA officer. After his retirement, he wrote his memoirs and published those of his grandmother, Grand Duchess George, as well as a book about the grand dukes of Russia.
Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, also known as Princess Maria Romanovskya, Maria, Princess Romanovskaja, Maria Herzogin von Leuchtenberg or Marie Maximiliane was the eldest surviving daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. She married Prince Wilhelm of Baden. The couple's son, Prince Maximilian of Baden, was Germany's last Imperial chancellor.
Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg was a daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. Although she was a member of the French House of Beauharnais, she was born and raised in her mother's native country, Russia.
Prince George Maximilianovich Romanowsky, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, also known as Prince Georgii Romanovsky or Georges de Beauharnais, was the youngest son of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia was the eldest child of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, and of his wife Alexandra.
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