Princess Anastasia Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (4 January [O.S. 23 December 1867] 1868 – 25 November 1935) 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" (Princess Milica), 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.
Life
Early life
Princess Anastasia was born in Cetinje, Montenegro, on 4 January 1868, the third child and third daughter of her parents. Although named Anastasia at birth, after her paternal grandmother, she was often known as Princess Stana Petrovich Njegosh of Montenegro. Her father obtained the style of Royal Highness in 1900.[1] She retained her childhood nickname of Stana to close relations.
Elena Georgievna, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, Princess Romanovskaya (1892–1971). She married on 18 July 1917, in Yalta, Count Stefan Tyszkiewicz (1894–1976, London). He was son of Count Władysław Tyszkiewicz and his wife, Princess Krystyna Maria Lubomirska. By birth he was a member of powerful and wealthy Tyszkiewicz family, one of few families which belonged to Magnates of Poland and Lithuania.[3]
Second marriage
On 29 April 1907, at the age of 39, Anastasia was married to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929). The marriage was childless. Both her husbands were descendants of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855): the first one was his grandson through a maternal line, and the second one was his grandson through a direct male line.[4]
Anastasia and her sister were intrigued by the more mystical side of the Eastern Orthodox religion; they were early supporters of the French seer "Dr." Philippe Vachot[6] and of the staretsRasputin, and introduced both in turn[2] to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Tsarina of Russia.[2] According to popular Russian belief, the influence of Rasputin was instrumental in the downfall of the Romanov family.
Anastasia's husband, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929), was Commander in Chief of the Russian Army during the first year of World War I, carrying out campaigns on the Austro-German front and in the Caucasus. His Supreme Commandership was terminated by Tsar Nicholas on 21 August 1915.[7]
Post-revolution
In March 1917, the last Tsar was overthrown and the ruling Romanov family removed from power by the Bolsheviks. Anastasia and her husband lived from 1917 to 1919 first in the Caucasus, then in the Crimea. From Yalta in the Crimea, Anastasia and her husband escaped Russia in 1919 aboard a British battleship, HMS Marlborough. They settled briefly in Italy, living with her sister Elena, Queen of Italy and later in France, spending winters on the Riviera.
