NOT ORDINARY: HOUSE OF THE HIDDEN CROWN

✧ The True Story of a Woman Erased — and the Bloodline That Refused to Disappear

They said Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova was executed in 1918 with the rest of her royal Russian family: Tsar Nicholas, Tsarina Alexandra, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and the Tsarevich, Alexei.

But what if a story was told, because the world needed a story back then?

For most of my life, my grandmother was simply known as Tasia — or affectionately, Lola Puti (“White Grandmother”). She was a quiet, dignified presence, carrying herself with grace and restraint.

During the height of the Bolshevik Revolution, she was forced to flee her Motherland, Russia, and found refuge in the Far East — in the Philippines. There, she built a new life under a new name, raising a family in the long shadow of a past she never fully revealed.

But as I grew older, I began to notice the inconsistencies. The silences. The things that were never spoken — yet always seemed to linger between the lines.

She never told us why she never looked back.

Or who she really was.

She would sometimes speak, almost absently, of moments that felt out of place in the humble surroundings where she eventually settled. One such recollection: her family’s invitation to the ill-fated sailing of the Titanic — an event reserved mostly for nobility and the uppermost echelons of society. She mentioned it not to impress, but as a remembered warning, a near miss that saved her life.

She spoke of arriving in the Philippines alone, no official documents in hand, but hidden the whole duration of the voyage in the private cabin of the ship’s captain for her own safety, smuggled across waters for her protection. What she did bring were heirlooms—jewels and treasures, items of extraordinary value that, she said, had been sewn into the linings of her clothing or stowed away in secret compartments. They were all she had left of her family’s once-vast inheritance.

Her stories were rich with images of palatial homes, jeweled walls, horse-drawn carriages, and a world now erased by time and revolution. She would sometimes whisper names—Maria, her “closest sister,” and Alexei, her “beloved little brother”—with a wistfulness that suggested memory, not myth. There was no performative grandeur in her tone, only quiet reverence. And sorrow.

Peace for Tasia shares the true story of my Grandmother Tasia — a woman born into a family which once bore the weight of a lost crown that history declared extinct — and her granddaughter, yours truly, who would inherit its echo. Through memoir, remembrance, and sacred restoration, we honor her legacy not only as one of survival but of spiritual sovereignty.

As I unraveled her life across continents and lifetimes, I uncovered whispers of royalty, exile, and the quiet dignity of a woman who carried an entire lineage on her back while the world tried to bury the truth.

This memoir is more than a personal journey. It is a reckoning with memory, identity, and the sacred act of reclaiming truth after generations of silence. It is for anyone who was told to be quiet, blend in, or forget who they are.

For all who have ever wondered where they truly come from, this story is for you.

🪶 Sneak Peek Memoir Excerpt

“She was short in stature but stood with the composure of someone trained from birth to bear the weight of expectation — or perhaps, history. Her chin never wavered, even in grief. Her eyes, steel blue and ancient, never gave away what they had seen. And though she spoke little of her past, you could feel the thunder of it in the room with her.

She did not call herself Anastasia. She called herself a survivor.

I used to wonder why she watched the world so carefully; why she examined the morning papers with a magnifying glass — inch by careful inch — as though searching for a forgotten name in the folds of international news; why, in the middle of a hushed story, she once slipped and referred to the Tsar—not as a monarch, but as her father; why she didn’t laugh more.

Now I understand:

She was not just running from war.

She was protecting something. A secret too sacred for a headline.

This is the story she left behind — and the truth I have spent a lifetime unearthing.”

💌 Coming Soon

The memoir is currently in final preparation for launch.

JOIN the upcoming PEACE FOR TASIA: The Hidden Crown Series monthly subscriptions below ⬇️ to receive exclusive excerpts, behind-the-scenes notes, and early preorder access.

Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Maria

A Royal Navy soldier’s personal account of escorting the young Grand Duchess Anastasia safely out of Vladivostok

Tsarevitch Alexei and Grand Duchess Anastasia

Grandmama Tasia also known as Lola Puti (White Grandmother)