28 Facts About Gleb Botkin

Gleb Yevgenyevich Botkin was the son of Dr Yevgeny Botkin, the Russian court physician who was murdered at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks with Tsar Nicholas II and his family on 17 July 1918.

In later years, Botkin became a lifelong advocate of Anna Anderson, who claimed to be the surviving Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.

Gleb Botkin was born on 30 July 1900 in Ollila, Hyrynsalmi Municipality, Kainuu, Finland.

Gleb Botkin's parents divorced in 1910, when Botkin was 10, due to his father's demanding position at court and his mother's affair with his German tutor, Friedrich Lichinger, whom she later married.

Yevgeny Gleb Botkin retained custody of the children following the divorce.

Gleb Botkin used to amuse the grand duchesses on holidays and when they were all in exile at Tobolsk with his stories and caricatures of pigs dressed in human clothing acting like stuffy dignitaries at court.

Gleb Botkin took with him the illustrations and stories that he created in exile for the young Romanovs The manuscript was donated to the Library of Congress in 1995 and published by Random House Value Publishing in 1996 as 'Lost Tales: Stories for the Tsar's Children'.

Gleb Botkin was described by one historian as "articulate, sensitive, with pallid skin and soulful green eyes" and as "a talented artist, a wicked satirist, and a born crusader".

Gleb Botkin later spent a summer at a Russian Orthodox monastery in Siberia and briefly considered becoming a priest, but decided against the religious life.

Gleb Botkin married Nadezhda Mandrazhi-Konshina, widow of Ensign of the Dragoons regiment, nobleman Mikhail Nikolaevich Mandrazhi, who was the chevalier of the Order of Saint George and was killed in battle in June 1915 at Grodno in Belarus.

Gleb Botkin worked as a photo engraver and attended art classes at the Pratt Institute in New York City.

Gleb Botkin first visited Anna Anderson in May 1927 at Seeon Abbey, where Anderson was a guest.

Anderson had asked Gleb Botkin to bring along "his funny animals".

Gleb Botkin wrote later that he immediately recognized Anderson as Anastasia because she shared memories of their childhood play.

Historian Peter Kurth wrote that Gleb Botkin tended to overlook some of the more unattractive aspects of Anderson's personality, such as her stubbornness and rapid changes in mood, or to view them as manifestations of her royal heritage.

Gleb Botkin was Anderson's friend even when other supporters abandoned her.

Gleb Botkin, following his father's murder, had considered becoming a priest, but he eventually turned away from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Gleb Botkin eventually turned his interest in religion towards his own nature-based religion, which he started first in West Hempstead, New York and later in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Gleb Botkin was of the opinion that patriarchal society had caused many of the problems plaguing humankind.

Gleb Botkin had argued his case before the New York State Supreme Court in 1938 and won the right to an official charter for the religion.

Gleb Botkin held regular church services in front of a statue of Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of love, and presided over them dressed in the regalia of an archbishop.

Gleb Botkin later published a book, at his own expense, arguing that Aphrodite was the supreme deity and creation had been much like a woman giving birth to the universe.

Gleb Botkin told a reporter for The Cavalier Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, that his religion pre-dated Christianity.

Gleb Botkin thought his church would expand in coming years.

Rev Gleb Botkin passed away at home from a heart attack in December 1969.

Gleb Botkin was buried alongside his wife Nadine in Monticello Memorial Park, Albemarle County, Virginia, on the outskirts of Charlottesville.

Gleb Botkin had a stepdaughter, Kira, from Nadine's previous marriage.

Scientists in the early 1990s were unable to identify Dr Gleb Botkin using mitochondrial DNA, or DNA that is passed down from mother to child, as they used it to identify the Romanovs Schweitzer was descended from Dr Gleb Botkin in the paternal line and didn't share mitochondrial DNA with her father and grandfather.