Tsarevna Praskovia Ioannovna

Tsarevna Praskovia Ioannovna was the fifth child and fifth daughter of Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova. She was born in Moscow on 24 September 1694.

Unlike her elder sisters, Praskovia was blessed with good lucks and soon demonstrated a streak of independence. Although Peter the Great hoped to marry her to a European prince, she fell in love with Ivan Dmitriyev-Mamonov, an elderly general descended from Prince Rurik. She insisted on marrying him and Peter eventually agreed.

After marrying in secret in 1723, the couple lived at Praskovia’s estate on the River Moika in St Petersburg, which they later presented to the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment (Ivan was an officer in the regiment, which did not have any headquarters in the new capital). They themselves moved to Izmailovo, where Praskovia staged performances at her domestic theatre.

Ivan suddenly died in May 1730, while their only son died at the age of five. Praskovia died on 8 October 1731 and was buried in a special side-chapel of the Church of Our Lady of Consolation of All Sorrows in the Kremlin.