Anna Ioannovna (Russian: Анна Иоанновна; 7 February [O.S. 28 January] 1693 – 28 October [O.S. 17 October] 1740), 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. Although Anna's father was himself Tsar of Russia and co-ruler with his half-brother Peter I, he was mentally disabled and incapable of administering the country. Therefore, his younger half-brother and co-ruler was effectively the autocrat of all the Russias. Ivan V died in February 1696, when Anna was only three years old, and her uncle became the sole ruler of Russia.

Although Anna was the fourth child of her parents, she had only one surviving elder sister, Catherine, and one younger sister, Praskovya. The three girls were raised in a disciplined and austere manner by their widowed mother, a very stern lady of sterling character. Born into a family of relatively modest means, Praskovia Saltykova had been an exemplary wife to a mentally challenged man, and expected her daughters to live up to her own high standards of morality and virtue. Anna grew up within a milieu which cherished womanly virtue and domesticity above all else, and strongly emphasized thrift, charity and religious observances. Her education consisted of French, German, religious texts and folklore, leavened with some music and dancing. As she grew older, she developed into an obstinate girl, with a mean streak, earning her the nickname "Iv-anna the Terrible". Anna was famed for her big cheek, "which, as shown in her portraits", says Thomas Carlyle, "was comparable to a Westphalian ham".

...
Wikipedia