Anna Alexandrovna Vyrobova, born Taneeva, was born on July 16, 1884, in St. Petersburg. She was a close friend of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna and a well-known memoirist. Anna came from a noble family: her father, Alexander Sergeyevich Taneev, was the chief manager of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, and her mother, Nadezhda Illarionovna Tolstaya, was a great-great-granddaughter of Field Marshal M. I. Kutuzov. Her maternal grandfather, Lieutenant General Illarion Tolstoy, participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, and her great-grandfather, General of the Infantry Nikolai Matveyevich Tolstoy, was the director of the Nikolaev Chesmensky almshouse.

Anna spent her childhood in Moscow and at the family estate of Rozhdestveno. In 1902, she successfully passed the exam for the title of private tutor in the St. Petersburg educational district. In January 1904, Anna received a "cipher" and was appointed as a court lady-in-waiting, which involved attending balls and events with Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. This brought her close to the Empress, and she spent many years alongside the imperial family, accompanying them on trips and participating in family events.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Vyrobova was arrested by the Provisional Government and, despite her disability, spent several months in harsh conditions in the Peter and Paul Fortress on charges of espionage and treason. She was later released due to lack of evidence, but she was repeatedly subjected to arrests and interrogations.

In December 1920, Anna managed to illegally flee to Finland with her mother, where she lived the remaining 40 years of her life under her maiden name Taneeva. In 1923, she took a secret monastic vow at the Smolensk Skete of the Valaam Monastery, becoming a lay nun under the name Maria. Anna passed away in July 1964 at the age of 80 and was buried in the Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki in the Lapinlahti area.