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
Olga Nikolaevna of Russia aunt, Grand Duchess Catherine of Russia; Olga's paternal uncle, Grand Duke Michael of Russia, married William I's niece, Princess Charlotte of Württemberg. Olga gave her consent to Charles' proposal of marriage after only a few meetings, on 18 January. The wedding was held in great splendor on 13 July 1846 at the Peterhof Palace, Russia. The couple came back from Russia to Württemberg on 23 September. They lived mostly in the Villa Berg in Stuttgart and in the Kloster Hofen in Friedrichshafen. The couple had no children, probably because of Charles’ homosexuality. Olga's husband became the object of scandal several