Claimant of Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaevna - Marga Boodts

There's not much to tell, she lived on Lake Como, few people believed in her, and she has presumably passed on by now.

Me too Laura. This is the first I heard of her. Does anyone have any information to share?

Look at the Imperial claimants thread, "claimants-list,facts,history". There´s some info on Marga Boodts. She died in 1977. Very few people took her claim seriously.

Thank you, Helen and Stepen. Actually is not that I think that Magda (or Margda, as I saw wrote in some books) Boodts was Olga Nicolaievna. I only wanted to know in which was her claim, and of course, her "story". Anna Anderson had her "story" (she changed it several times, but she had it, anyway   ), as Eugenia Smith-Smetisko had hers, and of course Heino Tammet had his own story.

  I like to know all the impostors (or not impostors) stories, for they are part of Romanov family's legend.

  
  RealAnastasia.

Thanks guys. I like to read the claimant stories too. So I appreciate the information.

                    Marga Boodts          

"A woman calling herself Grand Duchess Olga was living from the twenties in various parts of Europe and in 1939 she settled in nortern Italy under the name of Marga Boodts. she said she was rescued by a loyal officer and then taken to Vladivostok,across China and on by sea to Hamburg,Germany.She was then recognized,she claimed, by the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm,who assured her financial independence during his lifetime. Later on her fortune foundered, but she had an enduring supporter in the shape of prince Sigismund of Prussia,the Kaiser´s nephew and first cousin of the real Grand Duchess Olga. In an interview at his home in Costa Rica in 1974 Prince Sigismund confirmed that he was still convinced of "Olga´s" authenticity. He had met her and said: "We spoke of so many familiar matters that an outsider could not have known about,because they were things that had happened between us two." When we visited Mrs Boodts at her Italian home in 1975 she declined to speak about herself or past events. nothing at all emerged during the to support the notion that she was either the Grand Duchess Olga or even a Romanov."  
This is a quotation from "The file on the Tsar" by Mangold and Summers.  It seems that this woman got some support and was taken seriously by some people.  After Prince Sigismund  recognized her in 1957 he introduced her to the hereditary grand Duke of Oldenburg who was a godson of the tsar. He took a keen interest and supplied her with funds until his death in 1970.  It seems that Marga Boodts lived a very withdrawn life and avoided publicity. I haven´t seen a photo of her and it seems very little has been written about her. It would be interesting if anybody had any more information on her.  She was certainly one of the more intersting claimants.
   

p. 192 Summers and Mangold's book THE FILE ON THE TSAR.


In their notes on p. 374 they tell their source:  "Mrs Boodts claims the Kaiser asked Frau von Schevenbach, the daughter of a friend, to look after her.  This arrangement was interrupted by the war in 1939, and "Olga" was in penury after Frau von Schevenbach's death.  After prince Sigismund reconized her in 1957, he introduced her to the Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg, a godson of the tsar.  He took a keen interst and supplied Mrs. Boodts with funds until his own death in 1970."

AGRBear

According to Massie in the ROMANOVS, THE FINAL CHAPTER p. 147 he tells us that Marga Boodts lived in a villa on Lake Como in Italy.  Massie claims that she claimed she was recieving money from the Pope and the Kaiser.

AGRBear

How interesting, Bear! I didn't read this book yet, for I can't find it in my country, but it sounds really interesting. His "Nicholas and Alexandra" is excellent. As French's would said a real "chef-d'oeuvre". I don't know anything - or almost anything- about Margda, Magda or now "Marga"   Boodts, but two little details: she lived in Italy, near Como's lake and she never made official claims.

  And, thank you for the "photo's explanation"! Now I understand what happened with them.

   RealAnastasia-

In the "strange" Blair Lovell's book about Anastasia (to name it without use awful words  ) the author claims that Anna Anderson said that "Margda Boodts could have been her sister"   Later in her life, when she was senile and more excentric than ever, she also "recognized" this Dutch lady (I guess it was Alexandra de Graaf) as her "lost fifth sister".

  We may also recall that Eugenia Smith "recognized" Michael Goloniewsky, as being her "brother", the Tsarevitch Alexis..."I scratch your back; your scratch mine"  

   It would have been hilarious that AA would travel to Como to see "Olga", and would recognize her. Pretty strange she didn't do so.  

  RealAnastasia.

I find this whole Marga Boodts story absolutely ridiculous, especially now that the bones have been found, and Olga has been positively identified.

Is the story that Penny told of Marga Boodts gone?

It was gone, but Bear reposted it for us in a thread I've open not-long ago: "Margda Boodts Again". You'll see her name wrote in three differents ways: "Margda", "Magda" and "Marga"...LOL.  

RealAnastasia.

I'm wondering why Penny dissapeared completely from this forum, as well as Greg. They both are excellent historians, and they must keep fighting for that they believes that it's the right theory ( I said this, "theory", for in history almost nothing is for sure, nor forever. Theories are not forever) . They seems to have "escaped" from the Alexander Palace Discussion Board, only for a couple of people shouted to them "..I saw it in History Channel", "You must accept AA was FS for DNA said it", and so...

   You are good historians guys! I admire you sincerily! You have evidence, you have theories and facts to answer the constant "DNA...DNA..." thing, and you have no right to leave us without your golden interventions here. We NEED you, Penny and Greg!

   RealAnastasia.

Your answer:

Annie

This is PRECISELY the sort of nonsense in which you engage, goading people on, and then flailing about claiming you are being unjustly attacked.  Although Penny can speak for herself, I have to point out that she has never said she does not accept the DNA results; what we have tried to do is reconcile the unanswered questions in the case of FS and AA, and here there are, I repeat, serious issues that have to be investigated before one can make any COMPREHENSIVE judgment.  It doesn't do, in history, to obtain a reasonable answer and then simply ignore that which conflicts with that answer.  One probes, investigates, opposes everything in an effort to seek solutions and try to unravel lingering mysteries.  You take a set of well-known, accepted facts, and you challenge them every possible way you can, to explore all possibilities, before you accept the simple answer.  When doing "Fate of the Romanovs," we spent months going round and round the issue of the four "Officer" letters, trying to work out any scenario under which they might possibly not all have been part of a Cheka plot; in the end, having exhausted all possibilities, we concluded that the present view-that all were forgeries intended to trap the Romanovs-was correct, but we challenged ourselves, as indeed any good historian or investigator would do.

I'm not going to argue with you.  You have made posts claiming you want to stand up for the "truth," but yet you engage in endless, unsubstantiated speculation that has no basis in fact, and cry foul when someone challenges you.  In our work, we rely on hard, intensive research, with original documents and interviews, and a vast collection of papers and books, and I'm more than happy to defend our positions, because they are based in fact, not in speculation or opinion, or "feeling" as you so often phrase it.

Your complete obsession with this issue befuddles me; Penny and myself, according to your insinuations, are pushing some nebulous agenda to promote AA as Anastasia, for a book we haven't written, and to stir up interest in a book that wouldn't even be published for 4-5 years even if we sat down and did nothing else but work on it starting today.  And yet, how many posts have either of us made in these threads?  And what's your last count?  If, as you insist, the issue is settled to you, move on-there are others here who share the same opinions you do and can speak to the issues raised.  And yet, you continue, insisting on the last word, and on this sort of above childish, antagonistic remark, which says much more about you than it does about anything Penny has posted.  Your apparent insecurity over the issue seems to drive you to such juvenile displays.  There's clearly nothing to be done about it.  As such, while I haven't posted here for a while owing to both work on my new book and to the distasteful tone to be found in these AA threads, your remarks this morning have just proven to me that it's better to remove myself completely from further reading or posting of any thread or topic on this board.  I'm sure you won't mourn the loss, but I took pride in bringing various pieces of information here and sharing it with others, and learning from others as well.  But it's time for me to a grown-up, and to leave this sort of antic to you and whatever supporters you undoubtedly will say you have.  Perhaps one day you will reach a point where you can live without your obsession over the issue; until then, I can live nicely without your endless insinuations, ill-informed opinions, and snide remarks.

Greg King

Thank you, Bear! I was not a forum member when Greg King posted this answer to Annie. I missed the whole "affaire"  . Hmmmm...I may understand Greg well now. But we need Penny and him here, all the same!  

RealAnastasia.

And, you were right,  you did stumble over my copying Penny's quote and here it is:

Marga Boodt:  More on her from Penny Wilson.

Now this is a story that is truly a head-scratcher.  Marga claimed to be Grand Duchess Olga, rescued from the Ipatiev House through secret arrangements made by her mother.  She said that she was at prayer one day in a Church near the Ipatiev House (yes, I KNOW!   )  She was kneeling at a prie-dieu, praying away, when a young girl in "peasant dress" came and knelt at the prie-dieu next to her.  She whispered to "Olga" that they should exchange missals.  "Olga" handed hers over, and received the young girl's in turn.  Opening it, she read a short note telling her to go into the sacristy when she was done praying.  A little while later, she wandered over to the sacristy, where the young girl joined her.  They then exchanged clothes, and "Olga" -- now dressed as a peasant -- left with a pair of monarchist officers who were hiding outside the side door of the Church.  It was explained to her that her mother Alexandra had arranged through a series of secret notes, to effect "Olga"'s rescue because she knew that Alexei was not likely to live to adulthood, and therefore "the hope and future of the dynasty" rested on "Olga"'s shoulders.  The young girl had volunteered to die in "Olga"'s place, which she allegedly did on the night of 16/17 July.

The interesting thing about this Marga Boodts is that she tried to run this story twice, the first time in the 1930's, when she was arrested, charged with fraud, convicted, and expelled from France.  At this trial, her possible true identity as a minor Polish Countess was tentatively established -- though she might also have been a Dutch woman from Utrecht. She spent the war years there, living with apparent relatives. She then resurfaced in the late 40s or early 50's, this time in Italy, where she had some increased success with her story, convincing, for example, Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Altenburg of her veracity.

The conviction of the 30s haunted her to an extent, but ironically, she denied her identity as the 1930's Marga Boodts, all the while affirming her identity as Grand Duchess Olga.

There is a lot more detail about her, but this is the gist of the story.  There are two photographs of truly appalling quality that I have sent to Rob for him to kindly post.  They are photocopies from newspapers, one from the thirties, and one from the fifties.  I'm not one who sets a whole lot of store in photo-identity parades, but I am a little more confident in ruling her out as Olga than I am in ruling out AA as Anastasia -- because Olga had an outstanding physical feature in her prominent forehead, which I am pretty sure is missing from both these pictures.

Anyway...

And, you are right,  we do need Penny and Greg back because they gave us tons of information which they have at their fingertips and we don't.

AGRBear

And, you were right,  you did stumble over my copying Penny's quote and here it is:

Marga Boodt:  More on her from Penny Wilson.


And, you are right,  we do need Penny and Greg back because they gave us tons of information which they have at their fingertips and we don't.

AGRBear

I also agree wholeheartedly.

The dead, it is assumed, can suffer no more. Nevertheless, when someone like this comes forward, the tragedy is threefold: for those who pin their hopes on the surivor's story being true; for those who truly have managed to survive and whose veracity now will also be in question; and for the actual person or personages whose lives are so bereft that they are compelled--via psychological disorders or cruel chicanery--to assume someone else's identity.

That's a great summation of the whole survivor thing to me. That's very very well put. As for Marga Boodts, did she not claim to be Olga and she lived near a lake in a villa, was it not Austria or something? One book I read hinted there was something strange about claim, which has never been, to my mind, publicized as much as some.