She was an older sister of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Her sister Anastasia was famous for stories about her 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 grave might be Maria. However, further remains were discovered in 2007, and DNA proved at last that the entire Imperial family had been murdered in 1918.