The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Anna Carlovna

ANNA CARLOVNA, grand duchess of Russia, originally called Elizabeth Catharine Christina, daughter of Charles Louis, prince of Mecklenburg, and Catharina Ivanovna, daughter of the eldest brother of Peter the Great, born in 1718, died March 18, 1746. She was a niece of the empress Anna Ivanovna. In 1739 she married Anthony Ulrick, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. They had in 1740 a son, Ivan, whom the empress Anna designed as heir to the

crown, appointing Biron regent. After the death of the empress the same year, Anna Carlovna overthrew the regency of Biron and took affairs into her own hands, declaring herself grand duchess. A year later (December, 1741) she was overthrown by Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, who was declared empress. The boy Ivan was shut up in the fortress of Schlusselburg, where he perished. Anna, her husband, and a daughter were sent to Kholmogory, a small town on an island in the Dwina, near the White sea, where she died.