Russian Orthodox Church Blocks Funeral for Last of Romanov Remains

Ever since the remains of the last czar, Nicholas II, and most of his family were exhumed 25 years ago from a dirt road in the Urals, investigators, historians and surviving members of the Romanov dynasty have anticipated the day when all the murdered royals would be laid to rest.

They thought that moment had finally arrived when a funeral was scheduled last October for two long-lost children — Czarevitch Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria, whose remains were found in nearby woods many years later.

But it was not to be. The Russian Orthodox Church interceded, questioning — not for the first time — whether any of the remains were authentic, and the service was postponed indefinitely. The nearly 100-year saga of murder, mystery and myth lived on.