 Ivan's father, Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin, was the brother of Tsarina Anastasia Romanovna, first wife of Tsar Ivan the terrible.He was one of the closest advisors of that Tsar, and later served for two years as regent for his underage nephew Feodor I.The family was therefore politically influential and very affluent; Nikita Romanov was one of the largest landowners in Russia.