Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia

Sophia Alekseyevna was a Russian princess who ruled as regent of Russia from 1682 to 1689. She allied herself with a singularly capable courtier and politician, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, to install herself during the minority of her brother Ivan V and half-brother Peter I. She carried out her regency with a firm hand. The activity of this "bogatyr-tsarevna", as Sergey Solovyov called her, was all the more extraordinary, as upper-class Muscovite women, confined to the upper-floor terem and veiled and guarded in public, invariably were kept aloof from any open involvement in politics.

27 September 1657

Born on the same birth day (27 September): Anthony Morrow • Christian Jones (racing driver) • Geoff Bent • George Bambridge • George Gladir • Graham Richardson • John II, Duke of Brabant • Josef Škvorecký • Kathy Whitworth • Sada Thompson • Sammy Benskin