The daughter of a German duke and a Moscow princess, Elizabeth Ekaterina Christina, left her native Mecklenburg forever at the age of three, at the will of her royal aunt she changed her faith and name, becoming Anna Leopoldovna, and was married to the unloved Prince of Brunswick. For a short moment, fate elevated the princess to the pinnacle of power. As regent for her two-month-old son, the emperor, she conscientiously tried to delve into state affairs and ruled the vast country as graciously as anyone had ever done before. She was a romantic dreamer, loved to read, and her ill-wishers gave her a reputation as a capricious, hot-tempered, slovenly and lazy person. The “sister” Elizaveta Petrovna, who overthrew her, tried to justify the coup by the fight against “illegal rule” and erase the names of her rival and her son from history.

The book by Doctor of Historical Sciences Igor Kurukin, written on the basis of research, memoirs and archival documents, restores historical justice and enables her heroine to take her rightful place in the line of famous contemporaries.