Jacovelli, Averis

Averis Yakovelli (? - 1979 ) - an impostor posing as Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna “miraculously escaped from execution ”.

Averis Yakovelli
Date of death

An unknown, who called herself Averis Yakovelli appeared in one of the Polish villages on January 23, 1919. It was noteworthy that her whole body was covered with scars, and the injuries, according to the latest medical evidence, were quite serious.

Averis flatly refused to talk about her past, which led her neighbor to the assumption that before her was Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna , who had escaped from the Yekaterinburg execution. The whole village immediately found out about the "discovery", and fleeing from gossip, Yakovelli hastened to move further into Poland, but in the new village, which she chose to live in, they immediately "recognized" Grand Duchess Maria.

It is unclear what happened to Yakovelli over the next two years, according to rumors, after her incognito was exposed, she attempted to return to Russia, but eventually in 1921 married a Polish soldier named Karl Dyanogy, and gave birth to her husband a boy named Nicholas.

In 1956, Nikolai Dianogy died of hemophilia , which completely demoralized his mother. Eyewitnesses recalled that she repeated more than once that “the whole family died, every single one”, which was perceived as a belated recognition in “royal origin”.

In 1965, Averis was widowed, and after that she married for the second time to a businessman named Giovanni Ricci and left for Switzerland with him. She died of tuberculosis in 1979, completely flatly refusing to give her real name and origin. The inscription “Maria Romanova 1899-1979.” Was stamped on the grave of Averis. A few supporters managed to find several surviving pages from the diary of Averis, which she kept during her stay in Poland and subjected him to graphological examination. According to them, the handwriting of Averis turned out to be identical to the handwriting of Mary. One of the entries in it read:

Another article about Anna Anderson . I don’t see anything in it except an attempt to cash in by speculating on the name of the Romanovs. Half past nine, I'm tired! Good night, Nikolai. Good night, Carlk. Good night, mom, good night dad, good night OTA, good night A.

Supporters of Averis easily “deciphered” the abbreviations - OTA - Olga , Tatyana , Anastasia (in the usual abbreviation of the four sister names there is no M - that is, “Mary” was the one who wrote it. And - therefore, it should indicate Alexei .