Larissa Feodorovna Tudor (d. July 18, 1926)^[1], was the wife of Owen Frederick Morton Tudor, an officer of 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars. Following her death, it was rumoured that she was in truth Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last autocratic ruler of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Location within the British Isles Arms of Lydd Town Council Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Raqs Sharqi dancer Chryssanthi Sahar Scharf, Heidelberg. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna of Russia (Tatiana Nikolaievna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Татьяна Николаевна), (May 29 (O.S.)/June 10 (N.S.), 1897 - July 17, 1918), was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. ... Nicholas II of Russia (18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July [O.S. 4 July] 1918) (Russian: , Nikolay II) was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Poland,[1] and Grand Duke of Finland. ... Alexandra and her daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria, 1913 Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (German: ) or Saint Alexandra, 6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918, under the title Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (Russian: ), was Empress consort of the Russian Empire and the wife of Nicholas II of Russia, the...

Following World War I, she was reportedly a belly-dancer in Constantinople, where she met her husband. Upon her death at roughly the age of 28 in Lydd, Kent, England, due to pulmonary tuberculosis and spinal caries, she bequeathed to him an unusually large inheritance equivalent to a local resident's yearly earnings.^[2] This fact, combined with irregularities in the available information about her, such as the different ages given on her marriage certificate, her tombstone, and her death certificate, the differences in the names given for her, the conflicting stories about her background, Tudor's inexplicable income and return to the 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars and promotion in rank following Larissa's death,^[3] and certain physical details, led to speculation by author Michael Occleshaw that she was in reality the Grand Duchess and had escaped the assassination of the Romanovs after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... Raqs Sharqi dancer Chryssanthi Sahar Scharf, Heidelberg. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Location within the British Isles Arms of Lydd Town Council Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. ... This article is about the county in England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis. ... Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, the ribs and other bones. ... The House of Romanov (Рома́нов, pronounced ) was the second and last imperial dynasty of Russia, which ruled the country for five generations from 1613 to 1762. ... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ...

Historians believe that the imperial family were all assassinated on July 17, 1918; however, rumors of the survival of one or more Romanov family members have persisted for nearly 90 years.^[4]. hellotyle=float:right; |- | |- | |} July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...

Marriage

Larissa married Owen Frederick Morton Tudor, an officer of 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars, in 1923 at the Register Office of St. George's, Hanover Square in London, England. Her marriage certificate listed her address as the York Hotel, Mayfair, and her father as Adolph Haouk. Her age in 1923 was given as 27 on her marriage certificate, though her death certificate in 1926 gave her age as 29 and her tombstone gave her age at death as 28.^[5] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Polish Hussars. ... St George Hanover Square is a Church of England church in what now the City of Westminster, built in the early 18th century. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Mayfair is an area in the City of Westminster London, named after the fortnight-long May Fair that took place there from 1686 until it was banned in that location in 1764. ...

Early life

There is little available information about her nationality or early life. According to the wife of one of Tudor's brother officers, there were two accounts about Larissa's background. One was that she was the daughter of a pork butcher, whom Tudor met when he was posted at Constantinople in 1921. Larissa was said to be a belly-dancer at a night club in Constantinople. A second account of her early life was that she was a woman of good family from St. Petersburg. The colonel of Tudor's regiment reportedly sent brother officers either to teach him some Russian before his marriage or to try to persuade Tudor not to marry Larissa. Tudor, who was in love with Larissa, went ahead with the marriage and was forced to leave the regiment.^[6] One of Tudor's first cousins was told that Larissa had escaped from Russia and had been "earning her living the only way she could."^[7] Map of Constantinople. ... A nightclub (often dance club or club, particularly in the UK) is an entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and...

Illness

Following the marriage, Tudor transferred to the 3rd Battalion, the Royal Tank Corps, which was based at Lydd, Kent, England. Larissa was ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and spinal caries and was unable to sit up straight. She spent her days reclining in an elongated bath chair.^[8] The couple lived privately, but were often overheard laughing in the garden of their house.^[9] Though Tudor's income had been reduced when he left the Hussars and he had no personal fortune, he had enough money to pay for a nurse for Larissa and to keep a horse stabled at a nearby farm.^[10] Location within the British Isles Arms of Lydd Town Council Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. ... This article is about the county in England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The heart and lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) The lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis. ... Spine is a word with several meanings. ... Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, the ribs and other bones. ...

Death

When Larissa died, she left an inheritance that amounted to a year's pay for the majority of Britain's population.^[11] Larissa's husband was devastated by her death and had to be held up by other men at her gravesite.^[12] Larissa was buried in a cemetery in Lydd. Her gravestone bore the inscription "To My Very Beloved Larissa Feodorovna Who Died July 18th, 1926 Aged 28 Years The Wife of Owen Tudor, 3rd The King's Own Hussars".^[13] Tudor brought flowers to her grave every year on June 10 up until a few years before his own death. Occleshaw pointed out in his book The Romanov Conspiracy: The Romanovs and the House of Windsor that Grand Duchess Tatiana's birthday was June 10.^[14]

Claims made that she was a grand duchess

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia aboard the imperial yacht in 1914. Courtesy: Beinecke Library.

Following her death, some women in Lydd became fascinated by Larissa's story and contacted author Michael Occleshaw about her. Occleshaw saw irregularities in the available information about Larissa, such as the different ages given on her marriage certificate, her tombstone, and her death certificate, the differences in the names given for her, the conflicting stories about her background, and Tudor's inexplicable income and return to the 3rd Battalion of The King's Own Hussars and promotion in rank following Larissa's death.^[15] There was no record of a woman named Larissa Haouk entering England between 1918 and 1923.^[16] Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaievna of Russia (Tatiana Nikolaievna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Татьяна Николаевна), (May 29 (O.S.)/June 10 (N.S.), 1897 - July 17, 1918), was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. ...

Occleshaw showed portraits of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, along with portraits of unrelated women from the same period, to people who had known Larissa. More than 60 years after Larissa's death, her former neighbors identified portraits of the grand duchess as Larissa.^[17] Larissa was described as "being tall, amazingly thin and very beautiful, having brown hair with an auburn tinge to it."^[18] This physical description was similar to descriptions of the Grand Duchess Tatiana, wrote Occleshaw.^[19]

Speculation about the rescue of a grand duchess

In his 1993 book The Romanov Conspiracies: The Romanovs and the House of Windsor, Occleshaw speculates that Tatiana was flown out of Siberia by British agents in mid-July 1918 and, with assistance from the Japanese, transferred into the hands of Prince Arthur of Connaught, who was traveling from Japan to Canada aboard the Japanese battle cruiser Kirishima in July 1918. With the prince's party, the rescued grand duchess allegedly traveled across Canada before she sailed to Great Britain on the Canadian Pacific Ocean Service Ltd. vessel Corsican, which arrived in Great Britain in August 1918.^{[20] [21]} Prince Arthur of Connaught (Arthur Frederick Patrick Albert; 13 January 1883 - 12 September 1938) was a member of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. ...

Author Michael Occleshaw believes this woman, pictured in a September 4, 1918 photo in the Harrogate Herald, might have been Tatiana.

Occleshaw speculated that a rescue mission by air might have been considered by the British at the behest of King George V.^[22] An entry in the journal of Col. Richard Meinertzhagen asserts that the rescue took place on July 1, 1918, a date that might have been inaccurate. Meinertzhagen wrote that the rescue was not a complete success because not all the family was rescued. "One child was literally thrown into the plane at Ekaterinburg, much bruised and brought to England where she still is."^[23] Critics say that Meinertzhagen's diaries were fantasy.^[24] Meinertzhagen's wife, Amorel, traveled from Canada to Great Britain aboard the Canadian ship Corsican in August 1918, while the war was still taking place. In the adjoining cabin was a 22-year-old masseuse named Marguerite Lindsay, for whom Occleshaw could find no birth or permanent address records. Occleshaw identified Marguerite Lindsay as a possible cover name for a rescued grand duchess.^[25] However, the Ellis Island Web site has two separate listings for travel to New York by passengers named Marguerite Lindsay in 1915 and again in 1923. The Marguerite Lindsay who traveled in 1915 gave her age as 18 and her place of residence as Montreal, Canada; the Marguerite Lindsay who traveled in 1923 gave her age as 27 and her residence as New York City.^[26] The Bolsheviks were also reportedly alarmed by an airplane flying over the Ipatiev House in mid-July 1918, Sir Charles Eliot, the British High Commander for Siberia, later reported. ^[27] When interrogated by White Russian Army investigators in January 1919, a Red Guard named George Nikolaevich Biron, the Chief Military Communications Officer of the Bolshevik Third Army at Perm, claimed Tatiana had "run away or disappeared with a Red Army officer, a commander of the guard," before the murder of the Tsar.^[28] September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 - 20 January 1936) was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, as a result of his creating it from the British branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ... Richard Henry Meinertzhagen (March 3, 1878 - June 17, 1967) was a British soldier and intelligence officer with an interest in birds, bird lice and Zionism. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Nickname: City of Mary (Ville-Marie) Motto: Concordia Salus (salvation through harmony) Coordinates: Country Canada Province Quebec Founded 1642 Established 1832 Government  - Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area [1] [2] [3]  - City 365. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... Sir Charles Norton Edgecumbe Eliot (born January 8, 1862 at the village of Sibford Gower near Banbury, Oxfordshire, England; died March 16, 1931 at sea in the Straits of Malacca) was educated at Cheltenham College. ... Location Position of Perm in Russia Government Country Federal district Federal subject Russia Volga Federal District Perm Krai Mayor Igor Nikolayevich Shubin Geographical characteristics Area  - City    - Land    - Water 799. ...

A photograph that appeared September 4, 1918 in the Harrogate Herald depicts a group of exiled royalty and aristocrats including Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna, who was living at Harrogate. Occleshaw speculates that a young woman in the photo whose face is half-hidden behind Lady Radcliffe, the wife of Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Baronet, might be the escaped grand duchess. In his opinion, the photograph bears "an uncanny resemblance to the Grand Duchess Tatiana." The woman was the only person in the group who was not identified in the newspaper photo caption.^[29] Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna founded four hospitals in the area. A sanitarium for treatment of tuberculosis was located near Harrogate at Knaresborough. Spinal caries often developed following an injury, such as that caused by being thrown from a horse or thrown into an airplane, as Meinertzhagen wrote that the rescued grand duchess had been.^[30] Occleshaw also speculated that the conditions under which the Romanovs were held would have been "ideal" for a member of the imperial family to contract tuberculosis.^[31] Guards at the Ipatiev House, where the imperial family was held captive at Ekaterinburg, later commented on the sickly appearance of Grand Duchess Tatiana and her elder sister Olga. Tatiana had grown extremely thin and "looked as if she was not far from the morgue," recalled one guard.^[32] September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Maria Georgievna, Princess of Greece and Denmark (March 3, 1876-December 14, 1940), was the fifth child and second daughter of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia and thus a family member of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. ... Statistics Population: 85,128 (with Knaresborough) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SE306553 Administration District: Harrogate Shire county: North Yorkshire Region: Yorkshire and the Humber Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: North Yorkshire Historic county: Yorkshire (West Riding) Services Police force: North Yorkshire Police Fire and rescue... Map sources for Knaresborough at grid reference SE3557 Knaresborough is an historic market town and spa town in North Yorkshire, England, located four miles east of Harrogate. ... Spine is a word with several meanings. ... Caries is a progressive destruction of any kind of bone structure, including the skull, the ribs and other bones. ... It was in the Ipatiev House that former tsar Nicholas II, his wife Aleksandra, their four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, Tsarevich Alexei, and their faithful Doctor, lady-in-waiting, cook and footman were executed. ... Photograph of snow-covered Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburgs Church on the Blood, built on the spot where the Tsar and his family were murdered. ... Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (Olga Nikolaevna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Ольга Николаевна), (November 3 (O.S.)/November 15 (N.S.) 1895 – July 17, 1918), was the oldest daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra of Russia. ... Mortuary, a film directed by Tobe Hooper, see Mortuary (film). ...

Since Larissa had mentioned to neighbors that her happiest time in England had been spent in Yorkshire, Occleshaw speculated that the escaped grand duchess might have spent time in a medical facility near Harrogate under the patronage of Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna.^[33] Owen Tudor's uncle was Sir Frederick Tudor, a British admiral who was the Commander of the China Station in 1918. Frederick Tudor was responsible for arranging the escape of refugees from Siberia to Japan and then on to Canada. Occleshaw speculated that Owen Tudor might have met Larissa during a visit to his uncle.^[34] Occleshaw also noted that the patronymic on Larissa's gravestone was Feodorovna, which was also the patronymic adopted by Grand Duchess Tatiana's mother, Tsarina Alexandra, and that the surname Haouk bears close resemblance to the surname of Countess Julia von Hauke, an ancestress of the Mountbatten family and closely associated with Tatiana's Hessian relatives.^[35] Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A patronymic is a personal name based on the name of ones father. ... Julia von Hauke (November 12, 1825 (O.S.) = November 24, 1825 (N.S.) - September 19, 1895) was wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse-Darmstadt (1823-1888), mother of Alexander of Bulgaria, and ancestor of the house of Mountbatten and the British royal House of Windsor. ... Mountbatten is the family name adopted by two branches of the Battenberg family due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I. On 14 July 1917, Prince Louis of Battenberg assumed the surname Mountbatten (a literal translation of the German Battenberg) for himself and his... The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt came into existence in 1568, as the portion of George, youngest of the four sons of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse. ...

Romanov grave

Two bodies were missing from the mass Romanov grave found in Siberia and exhumed in 1991. Those bodies were identified as Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia and one of the four grand duchesses, generally thought by Russians to be Maria and by Americans to be Anastasia. Historians believe that all of the Romanovs, including Tatiana, were assassinated at Ekaterinburg. ^[36] Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov (Russian: ), full title: Heir, Tsesarevich and Grand Duke (Russian: ) (12 August [O.S. 30 July] 1904 — July 17, 1918), of the House of Romanov, was Tsesarevich - the heir apparent - of Russia, being the youngest child and the only son of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and... Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (1899-1918) Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova) (In Russian Великая Княжна Мария Николаевна), also known as Marie or Mashka (June 26, 1899 - July 17, 1918) was the third daughter of Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra of Hesse. ... Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (Anastasia Nikolayevna Romanova, (Russian: , Velikaya Knyazhna Anastasiya Nikolayevna Romanova), (June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 — July 17, 1918), was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, the last autocratic ruler of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna. ...

Notes

February 19 is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

References

• King, Greg, and Wilson, Penny, The Fate of the Romanovs, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., ISBN 0-471-20768-3
• Massie, Robert K. The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. 1995. ISBN 0-6794-3572-7
• Occleshaw, Michael, The Romanov Conspiracies: The Romanovs and the House of Windsor, Orion, 1993, ISBN 10-1855925184

External References

• Find a Grave, Larissa Feodorovna Tudor