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Early August can be extremely humid in the Northeast of the United States. Just days after terrible flooding and extreme rainfall in the Hudson Valley of New York State, this author traveled from still soggy Hudson (Columbia County), New York with two friends, actually DNA relatives. Restaurateurs Moises Ortiz and Carlos Gomez, owners of La Mision Mexican Restaurant on Warren Street in Hudson, New York, have profound knowledge of the saga of Russia’s youngest grand duchess and had already arranged two presentations on the subject in two of their establishments. Would they enjoy a trip to Newport, Rhode Island where the woman who had claimed to be Anastasia Romanov had spent her last decades? Without hesitation, we were all ready to go. We would begin with a visit to The Breakers, the grand manse built by Cornelius Vanderbilt, a distant cousin to the author.
We would end the first day leisurely at The Reef
(https://thereefnewport.com) for seafood feet from the ocean. The weather, although humid, was sunny with a delightful breeze until late in the day when the clouds rolled in.
The next day would be dedicated by the author to meeting friends of the venerable Evgenia (Eugenia) Smetisko (Smith) who humbly claimed to be HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov, Grand Duchess of Russia. After a quarter century of research into her claim, and fully convinced between a shadow of a doubt that she was truly the noblewoman who she had claimed to be, the first-hand knowledge by those who knew her well would be enlightening. Would they concur that her claim was valid? As a researcher one is open to listen to all points of view as there are gems of information sprinkled along the way no matter the conclusion.
An early Monday morning meeting was planned in the suburb of Middletown centrally located and easily accessible by all. L and L Loranger along with D. Duggan appeared with good cheer and insights new to this author. We had been brought together via the auspices of Mr. W. Aulenbacher who with Mr. Duggan had known her from the Congregational Church (renowned for orientalist interior design by John LaFarge) which Evgenia (to whom they referred more often with the English variant, Eugenia) also attended.
First Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island where the first meeting occurred in 1695. In the form designed by renowned John LaFarge, it resembled an Orthodox Church more than Congregational Congregation.
A church and Christianity is a good point from which to begin this narrative as the name “Anastasia” means “Resurrection.” In a sense we were all resurrecting her legacy and allowing her story to reveal itself on her terms rather than those of “official” historians, mavens of Romanovia, and Soviet era allegations. The first refutation of her claim had come from Orthodox sources who insisted that an Orthodox member of the Imperial Family would NEVER attend a Protestant church. This author had always explained to those who used this non-sequitur, was that her family background was steeped in Anglicanism and more profoundly in confessional Lutheranism. Her mother had been born Lutheran. Her paternal grandmother had been born a Danish Lutheran princess. Her great grandmother, Victoria, was defender of the Christian faith in the Church of England, while her great grandfather, Prince Consort Albert von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, had been baptised and confirmed in the Lutheran Church (to which this author also belongs in its confessional American form of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod). While historical Anastasia was certainly very steeped in Russian Orthodoxy in which her Christian faith was formed, she would have been totally at ease with “protestantism” even if the Congregational Church was not really “Lutheran” in its theology. The simple reason why Evgenia attended it was that it was walkable from her residence, the third floor flat reached by a private elevator, at 25 Bowery in Newport. The florid interior design by LaFarge is highly evocative of Eastern Orthodox decoration, while the congregants, which included Mr. A and Mr. D., were friendly, Christian, and welcoming! All of Evgenia’s friends gave evidence that when she could she did, indeed, attend Orthodox services, including at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Stratford, Connecticut. She is seen at an Orthodox Liturgy in an article from October 18, 1963 in Life Magazine.
St. Nicholas Church in Connecticut was in great part subsidized via the philanthropy of a great friend of Nicholas II, namely Igor Sikorsky, known for his contributions to aeronautics. Luckily, he was able to flee Bolshevism making his way to the United States. Why are members of the Sikorsky family important to the claims of aka “Evgenia/Eugenia/Anastasia?” One questions whether a friend of the Tsar would make a pilgrimage to visit an impostress in Newport, Rhode Island. All of Evgenia’s friends recalled visits by Igor’s son, Nikolai, to E.S. ‘s Bowery residence while one recalled spending an entire afternoon with them, described as very pleasant and convivial.
Mrs. L. Loranger recalled meeting E.S. in a unique way. At a Yoga class in Newport she saw a diminutive elderly lady watching the class sitting on a sofa at the back of the classroom. The instructor, of Swiss German heritage, asked her to please drive her home. She did, and they became close and trusted friends. Evidently, E.S. alias Grand Duchess Anastasia, loved to cook and was adept at it. She was, perhaps surprisingly, vegetarian. It must be noted that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was also a vegetarian. One speculates that the origins of these imperial vegetarians might lie in Orthodox Christianity as monks and nuns are obligatorily vegetarian as a routine of their spiritual discipline. Empress Alexandra was very pious and such eating habits may have been a way of approximating a strict monastic exercise even while she remained secular. What did she prepare for her guests (whom she treated, to which all attested, with grace, courtesy and impeccable manners)? Borscht was almost always on the menu! Cold and meatless, while some other Eastern Europeans eat it warm, with meat and a healthy dollop of “smetana” or sour cream! L. Loranger reported that the beet-based recipe was not a favorite dish personally, but that Eugenia/Evgenia/Anastasia used apples liberally in its creation, making it naturally sweet and more palatable. Evidently E.S. also enjoyed preparing a side dish of mixed vegetables with lima beans, sauteed on the stove and served with the borscht. W. Aulenbacher added that she often prepared candied orange rinds as an appetizer.
Mr. D remarked on E.S.’s absolute kindness and loyalty to her Newport friends. She had gifted him a marble paperweight of two clasped hands symbolic of peace and harmony. She also had bestowed him with a painting done in the German technique called Hinterglasmalerei, painting on the reverse side of glass. This author has a piece of her Hinterglasmalerei which can be viewed in his book The Art of the Authoress of Anastasia (https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/610844-The-Art-of-the-Authoress-of-Anastasia-The-Autobiography-of-H-I-H-The-Grand-Duchess-Anastasia-Nicholaevna-of-Russia).
L Loranger surprised us all with a photocopy of the original postcard sent by George to Evgenia with Christmas greetings on an undated card. The card, seen here, depicts Gibbes as an Orthodox Monk-priest, which he became after converting from Anglicanism upon his departure from revolutionary Russia.
More information becomes known on an almost daily basis which will be shared in subsequent articles. The revelation of resurrection of a personage deemed “dead” while still living is not new, one must confess. One need only recall the example of Tsar Alexander I who seems to have staged his own death and burial, to leave a freer life under an assumed identity. He would have mirrored Smetisko’s reality, being and not being at the same time, but always being exactly what God had created in divine uniqueness. The word “enigma” is used often when speaking of Evgenia, id est Anastasia. She is at some level the absolute personification of the term.
More about the enigmatic Evgenia/Eugenia/Anastasia can be found in histriabooks.com/product/grand-duchess-anastasia.
