As promised, info on Granny Alina from the book the Princess in the Family by Gabriel Louis Duval.
She was apparently married to a man named Frank who was about 37 years her senior. In the 1930s they started a farrier business. In 1945 Frank died and Alina moved back to Verulam. She then hooked up with a Greek man named Harry Karadimas. The two shared a home. Harry died in 1953.
"There was no electricity in the evenings after dinner, so the familiy would gather around the kerosene lamp. Everyone would be in good spirits and Granny Alina would sing Russian lullabies and folksongs while we kept time by clapping. Sometimes she would tell us stories of her past and that is when I found out that she had been a Princess in Russia. She told us that the rest of her family had been murdered and that she was only survivior." (pp.24)
She died in 1969, but Duvall said that her burial was secret and unrecorded. Her grave was unmarked, but those close to her knew that she was buried next to Frank. Duvall eventually got permission to exhume her remains and take them to Perth, where he was living at the time. Duvall took her remains to forensic experts at Monash University for dna testing. Here is what her says about the DNA testing: "In the end, it proved to be a disappointing venture. According to the reports, the Monash University team could not extract any DNA from the bones sue to the condition of the remains and advised that given the state of the skeleton, matrial could be contaminated after all this time. The remains were sent back to Perth a short time later..."
Later...
"The forensic scientist who had helped me so much initially, came to my assistance again. He helped my by preparing the bones for travel to the U.K. Alina's remains were sent to England a few weeks later for examination by Professor Andrew Chamberlain from the University of Sheffield and also by the Art in Medicine team from the University of Manchester. Both groups independently examined and tested the ifnormation available for a likeness to the Grand Duchess Anastasia." pp 52-53.
"The results I received from the U.K. deepened the mystery. They showed that Alina and Anastasia were not the same person. To complicate matters, the University's attempt to test the DNA had failed due to the remains being contaminated."
Apparently Chamberlain decided to use the technique of forensic facial reconstruction. The results showed that Alina's skull did not match Anastascia. However, the results did show that there was a fit between the skull of Alina and Marie. However, Chamberlain did NOT say the two were definitively the same person.
There is more...but those are the basics. All of that being said, there is not way to be 99.9 percent certain that Alina was Marie without DNA testing. I don't know if any of her sons are still living, but it would seem that their DNA could be tested. As far as I know, this has not been done. Duval invested his life and finances in his quest to find out if Alina was Marie. From the way his book reads, he seems satisfied that the two were one in the same. But without DNA, I don't think any of the rest of us can share in his assurances. Or at least I can't.
