ANTON ULRICH, second son of duke Ferdinand Albert of Braunchweig-Wolfenbut tel (till 1735, Braunchweig-Bevern, the title by which the prince was first known in Russia), was b. in 1714. When the Russian empress Anna was looking out for an alliance for her niece, Anna Carlowna, princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the influence of Austria led her to choose A. U. Accordingly, he came to Russia, in 1733, was appointed colonel of a cuirassier regiment, and placed in the receipt of a considerable pension. The marriage was, however, long delayed. The princess showed a decided distaste for the insignificant character of the bridegroom-elect, and only married him to avoid a still more hated union with the son of Biron. The birth of the prince Ivan took place in 1740, a year after the marriage. About the same time. the empress falling dangerously sick, appointed the infant prince her successor, and Biron regent. After her death, A. U. made some feeble attempts to reverse this appointment, which only led to the punishment of those supposed. to have instigated them, .aud to his own military degradation. Biron's conduct towards the' parents of the infant prince becoming
unbearably insolent, Anna appealed in despair to gen. Munnich, who put a sudden end to Biron's sway, and declared the grand-duchess and her husband regents. After a few months, Anna ungratefully overthrew 31t1nnich. After his fall, as little unity pre vailed between the ministers at the helm as between herself and her husband, and the government was looked upon as both a foreign and a contemptible one. Then came the revolution of the 5th Dec., 1741, which in one night raised Elizabeth (q.v.) to the throne. A. U. and his consort were exiled, and lived long at Cholmogory, in the gov ernment of Archangel. Three children were born to them in exile. d. in 1746. Catharine II. offered A. U. his freedom, but be declined it. Ultimately, lie grew blind. The exact year of his death is uncertain, but it is supposed to have taken place about '1780. Catharine offered to his children an asylum in Jutland, where they all died in. comfortable circumstances.