Anna Stepanovna Demidova (26 January 1878 – 17 July 1918) was a lady's maid in the service of Empress Alexandra of Russia. She stayed with the Romanov family when they were arrested, and was murdered together with Alexandra and the Romanov family on 17 July 1918. She had shared the Romanov family's exile at Tobolsk and Ekaterinburg following the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

before their murder. She is remembered for staying with the Romanovs to the end. In 1981 she was canonized as an Orthodox

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

by the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...

(ROCOR) but not by the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

Life

Anna Demidova, whose nickname was "''Nyuta''," was described in adulthood as a "tall, statuesque blonde."King, Greg, and Wilson, Penny, ''The Fate of the Romanovs,'' John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2003, , pp. 63–64 She was the daughter of Stepan Demidov and his wife. Her father was a well-off merchant in Cherepovets, where he also served on the Cherepovets City Duma, and was a member of the House of Demidov, a Russian noble family. Demidova graduated from the Yaroslavl Institute for Maids with a teaching certificate. She was a good friend of Elizaveta Ersberg, a parlormaid at the court, and was once engaged to Ersberg's brother Nikolai. About 1905 Ersberg secured her friend a position at the court as a governess. In his memoirs, Charles Sydney Gibbes, the Romanov children's English tutor, described Demidova as "of a singularly timid and shrinking disposition."

Exile and death

Later Demidova began working more directly in service to Tsarina Alexandra and followed her into captivity. In April 1918, after the Russian Revolution, she accompanied her mistress, Tsar Nicholas II, and

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova; Russian: Великая Княжна Мария Николаевна, 17 July 1918) was the third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (Ali ...

when they were transferred by Bolsheviks from Tobolsk to

Ekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

. The remaining four Romanov children and other members of their retinue stayed behind in Tobolsk for a month because the Tsarevich Alexei was ill as a result of his hemophilia. As her group left Tobolsk, Demidova said to Gibbes, "I am so frightened of the Bolsheviks, Mr. Gibbes. I don't know what they will do to us." On the night of the murders, the family was awakened and told to dress. Demidova carried two pillows into which gems had been sewn. After the first volley of fire by the firing squad, Demidova, who had fainted after being wounded, revived and, finding herself still alive, exclaimed "Thank God! God has saved me!" Hearing her, the killers turned on her. Crying, she attempted to defend herself, but was stabbed to death with bayonets.

Discovery of remains

The Bolsheviks, followed by the Soviet Union government, tried to suppress information about the murders of the Romanov family and their retainers. In 1979 the gravesite containing most of the bodies was found by an amateur, but the government did not acknowledge this until 1989, in the period of ''

glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...

.'' DNA analysis and forensics were used to identify the Romanov members. The remains of Tsarevich Alexei and one of his sisters were missing from this gravesite, but were finally discovered in 2007 in another, nearby, unmarked gravesite. Their identities were confirmed by DNA analysis, but the

asked to retain Alexei's remains for more testing and, as of 2015, still held them.

Funeral

A state funeral was held on 17 July 1998, in Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg for the Romanov family, Demidova, and the other victims killed by the Bolsheviks 80 years earlier. Demidova's grandniece, Natalie Demidova, was among the attendees. At the time, leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church did not attend because they disputed the identification of victims.

Canonization

In 2000, the

canonized all seven members of the Russian Imperial Family: Nicholas and Alexandra, and their five children. Anna and other members of the court who stayed with the royal family until their last moments, ending up being murdered by the Bolsheviks, were also canonized.

In literature and drama

Demidova is featured as a character in the play, ''Ekaterinburg'' (2013) by D. Logan. It explores the time in captivity of the Romanovs and their retainers in the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg.Logan, D., ''Ekaterinburg: A Play'' (2013)