The Kitchen Boy & the Grand Duchess

Final preparations seem to have been completed by Tuesday, July 16. On that day the boy Leonid Sednev, a playmate of the Tsarevitch, was removed from the house and transferred to an adjoining building. He was never seen again, except for a brief moment next day as he sat in tears at an open window.

The heart will go where the heart will go

The heart will go where the heart will go. In all of the intrigue of the Russian revolution there have been many renditions, understandings, and explanations that have arisen concerning the events of July 17, 1918, as the new rulers sought to justify murder. But, among these was the hidden story of two hearts. Two young people from two different worlds, yet of one spirit, one soul, forever apart in this life yet as one as history swirled around them. One was a Grand Duchess of the Russian Empire, and the other a simple kitchen boy, hopelessly in love with someone he could never be with, giving his love in a pocket full of figs.

Hiding in the shadow of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna

Over the years The Kitchen Boy hides in the shadow of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. His job was to bring the Army rations that the Czar’s family was served each day when somehow his eyes met with the Grand Duchess, but to him she was none other than the love of his life, and the life beyond the grave. After the discovery of the remains of the family two were missing, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and Anastasia, and the boy, both placed some distance from the mine shaft where the others were dumped. One of the Kitchen Boy’s jobs was to look after the future Czar which would have put him in close proximity of the big sister, the over protective Grand Duchess, Anastasia! And the heart will go where the heart will go.

The World of 1918

Leonid was a peasant. That made him less than a man in pre-Soviet Russia, but in the lies perpetrated by the likes of Lenin, Stalin, and others, a better world awaited him and others after the revolution was complete. At sixteen, he was charged with being a kitchen boy in a place known as the house of special purpose. The Czar Nicholas and his family were kept there while the new powers that be tried to figure out their fate. And their fate had been long since decided. The Czar had to go. And his family, his servants, doctors and anyone else the Bolsheviks took exception to including the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia!

A fig, a peach, a smile

As the wheels of destiny turned the kitchen boy did his appointed rounds, and he and Anastasia grew closer and closer. Such a relationship. No touching, no talking, just bring the army rations the family was allowed. But, perhaps her highness would like a smile . . . and a fig. He dare not be too familiar because that would cause her problems. And her life was bad enough as it was. The epitome of charm and poise, to young Leonid she was a Goddess, and he was more than happy to worship her at a distance. At first across a court yard, and then across the universe.

On that fateful day the two met as she took her walk but she was admonished by her father, the Czar not to speak to the boy. As she continued her walk Leonid watched her disappear from sight. He would never see her alive again.

But he did not sit on the steps and cry!

The Kitchen Boy had been sent away for a day, and when he returned Anastasia was no more, and she was already moved. Destined for a remote mine shaft in a Siberian forest, but that would not be her final resting place. Young Leonid looked at the room she died in and dipped his handkerchief in what he was told was her blood, but he did not sit on the steps and cry! Then, beyond all odds he found her because of a simple mistake made by the men charged with disposing of her body.

Well laid by someone’s loving hands

When the family was found many years later The Grand Duchess was not there. After a century of wild ideas of what became of her the grave was found. And not down a mine shaft, but well laid by someone’s loving hands. Laid with a bloody handkerchief, beside her little brother, the Kitchen Boy’s charge. The beautiful Anastasia never saw the mine shaft? The Kitchen Boy had held her that one and only time in a lonely forest in Siberia? Even in death. We will never know. There are some things modern science cannot reveal, because they walk with the angels now.

Together at last

There is no record of the kitchen boy, save legend and rumor. He disappeared from history and died in anonymity many years later. Speculations, artful guesses about the boy with a pocket of figs for his lady. An undying love between two kids who were not allowed to love. Yet they did! Beyond all politics. All history, two world wars. Beyond all human understanding. Communist Russia rose and fell. History moved on. And through it all The Grand Duchess lay waiting for her Kitchen Boy. Laying where he had lovingly placed her until, with a rag, and after all the years, and all the suppositions he died of age and brought her figs again. And the world finally knew where The Grand Duchess, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov really was and they were together at last! The Grand Duchess, and her beloved kitchen boy!