Count Saltykov was the brother of Tsaritsa Praskovya Fyodorovna, wife of Tsar Ivan Alexeyevich. In 1690 he was given the rank of boyar and appointed a kravchy. As brother and uncle he enjoyed the confidence of the Tsaritsa and her daughters, but he made only rare appearances at the court of Peter the Great.
Following the death of his first wife, whose maiden name was Prozorovskaya, Saltykov married A.G. Dolgorukaya, a marriage which ended in scandal. In 1721, her father complained to the Tsar that his son-in-law "beat her mercilessly without cause and starved her". Their divorce led Feofan Prokopovich to write his essay "On the Justified Divorce of Man and Wife".
Empress Anna loannovna showered her uncle with favours. He was made a full privy counsellor, raised to the rank of count, and granted the order of St Andrew.
In April 1730, Saltykov took an active part in preparations for the coronation of the new empress, and in the ceremony itself. A residence in the Kremlin for Anna loannovna was hastily built and decorated, and wall-hangings brought in from St Petersburg. Saltykov also took the opportunity presented by this event to dismiss many of those who were dissatisfied with the new empress. The Dolgorukov family was exiled from Moscow, and their property and estates in the Moscow gubernia were confiscated.
He was buried at the Monastery of the Ascension in Moscow with all the honours due to his title and position.
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