How we identified the Romanovs

In 1979, the bodies of the Romanov family were found near Yekaterinburg by an amateur archaeologist named Alexander Avdovin. The grave consisted of Tsar Nicholas 11, his wife Alexandra and three of their daughters (so three of their children overall). The grave also had 3 other men. In 1991, the grave was excavated and the bodies were studied by scientists to identify their gender and their connections. It became clear during these tests that Alexei and another daughter was missing which meant that the theory of Anastasia having escaped death and lived in relative anonymity was still plausible. For the DNA testing, the scientists turned to those who were related to the Romanovs. These included the late Grand Duke George and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. YES, that Prince Philip! The royal the internet joked about during the last two months of his life with the jokes revolving around what
could kill him, the very same man. The scientists took a sample of Prince Philip's blood which was used to identify Alexandra and the daughters while the DNA from the bones of the Grand Duke George (Nicholas' brother) were used to identify Nicholas.
Why was Prince Philip's blood used to identify the Romanovs?
Well, he was a great-nephew to the Tsarina (his mother was a niece to Alexandra as their mothers were sisters). He had the same mtDNA as Alexandra and the princesses. This also applied to Grand Duke George who had the same mtDNA as Nicholas. In the meantime, a DNA test on Anna Anderson (who had claimed she was Anastasia) with tissue sample courtesy of a Virginia hospital proved that the two women weren't the same person.
In 1998, the identified Romanov remains that were found were given a Russian orthodox burial in St Petersburg's St. Peter and Paul Cathedral with Boris Yeltsin and Prince Michael of Kent attending.
So when did they debunk the Anastasia survive theory?
Well, apparently, Yekaterinburg had another makeshift Romanov grave that contained, a young boy and another girl. It was Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria's graves! They were discovered by an amateur historian and after being DNA tested in an American lab, the survival of Anastasia Romanov theory was debunked.