On 11 September 2015, it was announced that the remains of Maria and Alexei, which had been in storage in the state archives for 8 years, were to be buried alongside their family on 18 October 2015. However, the Russian Government has given the Russian Orthodox Church permission to do one last DNA test of the two Romanov children against DNA from a blood stained cloth from their great-grandfather Emperor Alexander II, who was killed by a bomb, and their aunt Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.