She was an elder sister of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Her sister Anastasia was famous for stories about her alleged escape from the murder of the royal family for almost 90 years. In the 1990s, it was suggested that the Grand Duchess whose remains were not in the Romanov might be Maria. However, further remains were discovered in 2007, and DNA analysis subsequently proved that the entire Imperial family had been murdered in 1918.