Anna Leopoldovna

Related Category: Russian, Soviet, and CIS History: Biographies

(än´nə lyā´´əpôl´dəvnə) or Anna Karlovna(kär´ləvnə), 1718–46, duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, regent of Russia (1740–41); daughter of Charles Leopold, duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and of Catherine, sister of Czarina Anna of Russia. She married the prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and their son, Ivan VI, succeeded (1740) Anna as czar. After the deposition of Ivan by Czarina Elizabeth, Anna Leopoldovna and her husband were imprisoned. She died in childbirth.