ANNA LEOPOLDOVNA
Grand duchess 1718-1746
Becoming regent at the age of 22 when her two-month-old son became emperor, Anna caused immediate scandal with a bisexual three-way love affair with her lady-in-waiting Julia von Mengden and the Saxon ambassador Count Moritz zu Lynar.
Russia’s elite were more concerned with her age, her laziness, and her habit of handing out plum positions to Germans, than they were her polyamory. After only a few months she was ousted and imprisoned.