Maria Romanov was canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church for her service as a nurse tending wounded soldiers during World War I. Her diary reveals she felt she was the 'black sheep' of the family despite being known as the most beautiful of the four sisters. Her letters and diaries include intimate details about Rasputin and the royal family as well as the family's concern over the war with Germany and the subsequent rise of the Bolsheviks. She was eighteen-years-old when she was murdered by the Bolsheviks.