Anna Mikhaylovna Drubetskaya holds the title of Princess in War and Peace.
She is introduced as Princess Drubetskaya, an impoverished widow from an old and prestigious Russian aristocratic family. Although her rank is high, her finances and social influence have declined. Much of her early role in the novel involves using persistence, family connections, and social pressure to improve the future of her only son, Boris Drubetskoy.
Anna Mikhaylovna’s maneuvering provides a small-scale example of the status-conscious world Tolstoy depicts. She appeals to Prince Vasili Kuragin to secure Boris a place in the Semyonovsky Guards and later becomes involved in the struggle surrounding Count Bezukhov’s inheritance. Her title signals lineage, but it does not guarantee wealth or independence.
The main possible confusion is with the novel’s many countesses and princesses, including Princess Marya Bolkonskaya and Countess Rostova. Anna Mikhaylovna is not a duchess or baroness; “Princess Drubetskaya” is the standard form used for her throughout the story.