Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia

Anastasia was born as the only daughter and second child of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and his wife Princess Cecilie of Baden. Paternally, she was a granddaughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. She was raised in the Caucasus, where she lived between 1862 and 1878 with her family. In 1879 she married Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who in 1883 became the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The couple had three children, but her husband was plagued by ill health and they spent most of the year living abroad. The Grand Duchess never became used to her new country where she was unpopular. After the death of her husband in 1897, her visits to Schwerin were sparse.