Anna Mons

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Anna Mons (1672 - 1714) was a dutch noblewoman and a favourite of Peter I of Russia.

[edit] Anna Mons Affair (1704)

In 1691, during one of his visits to the German Quarter, young Peter I of Russia became enamoured of Anna Mons, a Dutch merchant's daughter. As his relations with the tsarina Eudoxia Lopukhina gradually worsened, Anna Mons took the place of his permanent and semi-official mistress. The liaison produced two sons: Peter and Paul.

After finally divorcing Lopukhina, Peter announced his plans to marry Anna and commissioned a palace for her. In 1704, however, she was arrested in her rooms, while 30 of her acquaintances were tried for various trespasses and abuses. The reasons for Anna's persecution have been disputed ever since. Many scholars believe that Mons concealed from the tsar her liaison with the Prussian ambassador Keyserling, whom she would finally marry in 1711.