RUSSIA: REMAINS OF GRAND DUKE GEORGY REBURIED AFTER BEING EXHUMED AS PART OF AN INVESTIGATION INTO TSAR NICHOLAS II'S MURDER

Record ID: 643499

  • Title: RUSSIA: REMAINS OF GRAND DUKE GEORGY REBURIED AFTER BEING EXHUMED AS PART OF AN INVESTIGATION INTO TSAR NICHOLAS II'S MURDER
  • Date: 23rd September 1994
  • Summary: ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 23, 1994) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. WV PETER-AND-PAUL FORTRESS SEEN ACROSS NEVA RIVER 0.04 2. GV CATHEDRAL IN FORTRESS GROUNDS 0.07 3. PAN FROM DECORATIVE CEILING TO PEOPLE IN CATHEDRAL 0.13 4. PAN FROM COFFIN CONTAINING REMAINS OF GRAND DUKE GEORGY TO OPEN TOMB 0.18 5. GVS FUNERAL PARTY, NUNS (2 SHOTS) 0.25 6. GV BURNING INCENSE AND LIT CANDLE ON TABLE 0.29 7. GV FUNERAL PARTY ENTERS CATHEDRAL, LED BY MARIA GRIGORIEVNA, CLOSEST LIVING RELATIVE OF TSAR NICHOLAS II 0.36 8. GVS PRIEST BLESSING COFFIN, FUNERAL PARTY LOOKING ON (3 SHOTS) 0.49 9. GVS COFFIN LOWERED INTO TOMB AS FUNERAL PARTY LOOK ON (2 SHOTS) 0.58 10. GV COFFIN LYING AT BOTTOM OF TOMB 1.01 11. GV LID PLACED ON TOMB 1.12 12. CU MARIA GRIGORIEVNA OUTSIDE CATHEDRAL SAYING IT HAD BEEN A VERY DIFFICULT DECISION BUT THEY AGREED TO THE ANALYSES BECAUSE IT WAS NECESSARY. SAYS IT WAS A WISE DECISION. IT WAS GOD'S WILL (RUSSIAN) 1.34 13. GV MARIA GRIGORIEVNA'S CAR DRIVEN AWAY 1.45 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 8th October 1994 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAEORW8ZNYB1KCEMGYOXU706VUT
  • Story Text: The remains of the Grand Duke Georgy, younger brother of murdered Tsar Nicholas II, were reburied in Russia on Friday (September 23) after being exhumed as part of an investigation into the tsar's murder.

    The bones and skull of Georgy, who died in 1898 of tuberculosis, were laid to rest in their original site in a new coffin and tomb in St Petersburg's Peter and Paul Cathedral.

    Georgy's body was exhumed in July as part of a scientific probe to allow Russian experts to establish conclusively the identity of the remains of the last tsar, murdered by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg in 1918.

    But the investigation did not succeed. Scientists said Georgy's bones were in such poor condition because the coffin was partly water-logged that it had been impossible to draw clear conclusions from samples taken.

    The reburial ceremony was attended by members of the Romanov royal family, including Maria Grigorievna, the closest living relative of Tsar Nicholas II.

    Afterwards, she said: "It was a very difficult decision but we agreed to the analysis, we accepted it because it was necessary...It was a wise decision. It was God's will." The tsar, his wife Alexandra and three of their five children were shot, on the orders of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin, in the cellar of a house in Yekaterinburg and their bodies dumped in a forest pit 32 km (20 miles) away.

    Their remains are to be given a solemn burial in Petersburg, provisionally next March 5, which is Absolution Sunday in the Orthodox calendar.


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