The great aunt of the Duke of Edinburgh was one of 10 martyrs commemorated at a special service attended by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip yesterday.
Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia - a grandchild of Queen Victoria - was killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. She is among 10 martyrs whose statues have been added to the abbey as part of its restoration programme.
The nine others include the US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was murdered by the Nazis in 1945.
The statues fill niches above the Great West Door at Westminster Abbey that had been empty since the Middle Ages.
The queen and Prince Philip were greeted with cheers by hundreds of onlookers as they arrived for the service.
The sub-dean of Westminster Abbey, the Rev Dr Anthony Harvey, told the packed congregation: "There has never been a time in Christian history when someone, somewhere, has not died rather than compromise with the powers of oppression, tyranny and unbelief.
"But our century, which has been the most violent in recorded history, has created a roll of Christian martyrs far exceeding that of any previous period."
During the service the grandson of Dietrich Bonhoeffer performed a cello solo, and a friend of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in El Salvador in 1980, gave a reading.
Both men are among the 10 martyrs commemorated.
The statues, carved out of French Richemont limestone, were designed and sculpted made by Tim Crawley.