Trivia

Son of Dr Evgeny Sergeievich "Eugene" Botkin (1865-1918) and Olga Botkina.

Brother of Tatiana Botkin (1898-1986), Dimitri Botkin and Yuri Botkin.

Botkin penned letters in support of Anderson to various Romanov family members, wrote books about her and the Romanovs, including The Woman Who Rose Again, The Real Romanovs, and Lost Tales: Stories for the Tsar's Children, and arranged for Anderson's financial support throughout his life. He was Anderson's friend even when other supporters abandoned her.

Schweitzer later expressed scepticism about the DNA results proving that Anna Anderson could not have been the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Botkin first visited Anna Anderson in May 1927 at Seeon Abbey, where Anderson was a guest. Anderson had asked Botkin to bring along "his funny animals." Botkin wrote later that he immediately recognized Anderson as Anastasia because she shared memories of their childhood play.

The church did not continue long after Botkin's death from a heart attack in December 1969, but some of his followers went on to join neopagan movements with beliefs drawing from the Church of Aphrodite.

Historian Peter Kurth wrote that Botkin tended to overlook some of the more unattractive aspects of Anderson's personality, such as her stubbornness and rapid changes in mood, or to view them as manifestations of her royal heritage.

The Botkins immigrated to the United States via Japan, arriving in San Francisco from Yokohama on 8 October 1922.[6][7] Botkin worked as a photo engraver and attended art classes at the Pratt Institute in New York City. Later, he earned his living as a novelist and illustrator.[.

Botkin was described by one historian as "articulate, sensitive, with pallid skin and soulful green eyes" and as "a talented artist, a wicked satirist, and a born crusader.".

"She was, to Gleb's way of thinking, an almost magically noble tragic princess, and he saw it as his mission to restore her to her rightful position by any means necessary," wrote Kurth in Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson.