Anna of Russia Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (; – ), also spelled Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, was regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Anna was born in Moscow as the daughter of Tsar Ivan V by his wife Praskovia Saltykova. Ivan V was co-ruler of Russia along with his younger half-brother Peter the Great, but he was mentally disabled and incapable of administering the country, and Peter effectively ruled alone. Ivan V died in February 1696, when Anna was only three years old, and
Catherine Pavlovna of Russia Catherine Pavlovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (; 21 May 1788 [OS 10 May 1788] – 9 January 1819) later Queen Catharina Pavlovna of Württemberg, was the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia and Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. She became the Queen of Württemberg upon her marriage to her first cousin Crown Prince William who eventually became King William I of Württemberg in 1816. Ekaterina was born in St. Petersburg and named after her grandmother, Catherine the Great. Described as beautiful and vivacious, she had a happy childhood and her education was carefully supervised