Romanov Claimant- Suzanna DeGraaff
An Introduction to the Woman Who Claimed to be The Lost Romanov
Jun 25, 2009
In October 1968, the London Telegraph ran a story that, if true, could have had scandalous ramifications.
Suzanna DeGraaff
Born Suzanna Catharina Hemmes on 6th May 1905, her father was Leendert Johannes Hemmes, a man who claimed he could diagnose illnesses through the study of urine. Suzanna married twice, the first time to Antoon Weelden (with whom she had one son, Anton Van Weelden) and the second to Jan Barend de Graaff (with whom she had twin girls). It is known that she was from Holland and that she had at least one sibling, a sister called Adrianna.
A Fifth Romanov Daughter
In 1903, some newspapers in Europe carried speculations of the pregnancy of the Tzarina of Russia, Alexandra and her husband Tzar Nicholas II. The couple already had four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. The pair had long awaited a male heir and the world waited to see if their prayers had come true.
Despite this, letters and diaries from the family that were later published made no reference to the Tzarina giving birth in 1903, and the incident has since been written off as either an hysterical pregnancy or a miscarriage.
Suzanna Degraaff however, claims that she was born on 1st September 1903 to Tzarina Alexandra, and her being another girl posed a problem for all concerned.
Philippe Vachot
Philippe Vachot was a doctor and “holy man” at the Imperial Court in 1903, he claimed to be able to influence the gender of a baby in the early stages of pregnancy. According to Suzanna, the decision was made (either by her supposed parents or by Philippe Vachot) to place her with adoptive parents and deny her existence. Vachot arranged for Leendert Hemmes and his wife to adopt the child and she was brought up as their own.
Another version of the story tells that Philippe Vachot, unbeknownst to the Tzar and Tzarina secreted the baby out of the palace and told the Royal couple that their baby had died, in order to protect his own reputation.
Princess Alexander
Suzanna asserted that her adoptive father told her the truth about her identity in 1937, when she received a dowry consisting of five million rubles along with some cloth from the crown jewels. She was later to leave these rubles to her three children.
Leendert Hemmes maintained that he received a substantial amount of money in return for raising the unwanted Princess.
When Suzanna went public with her claims she adopted the name of Princess Alexandra, assuming her supposed mother’s name.
The ‘Evidence’
The reports of the Tzarina’s supposed pregnancy in 1903 have been used to support the claims of Suzanna DeGraaff. Observers have also commented upon the fact that, despite coming from an impoverished background, Leendert Hemmes was able to build a huge house for his family in Rotterdam in 1919.
Another Romanov claimant, Anna Anderson (who claimed to have been the Grand Duchess Anastasia but was later disproved through DNA testing), asserted that the Tzarina had indeed given birth to a baby girl in 1903 and accepted Suzanna as her sister, frequently writting letters to her and her children. These assertions are obviously given a dim view ever since Anna Anderson herself was discredited.
Adrianna Hemmes (Suzanna’s sister) claimed that her sister was lying and the two were estranged for the last few years of Suzanna’s life.
Suzanna DeGraaff died in November 1968. While it may seem obvious that her story was a fabrication, to date, no DNA evidence has been put forward to support or disprove it.
Sources:
Anastasia: the Lost Princess, James Lovell, ( Regnery Gateway, 1991)
Nicholas and Alexandra, Robert K. Massie (Ballantine Books Inc.; 1st Ballantine Ed edition, 2000)
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