Born the eldest daughter of Fyodor Tyutchev and his wife Eleanor Feodorovna Peterson, born Countess Emilia Eleanor Sophie Louise Christina Bothmer, in Germany, she was educated at the Munich Royal Institute before moving to Russia at the age of eighteen.

In 1853, Anna was appointed as maid of honour to then Tsesarevna and later Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Tyutcheva became a favourite of Maria Alexandrovna, due to her European education, patriotism, and independent thinking.

Some at court didn't tolerate her straight-forward nature, Count Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev wrote:“She played a role, spoke, criticized, directed, and most of all annoyed everyone and everyone.

[3] She kept diaries between 1853 and 1882, which are regarded to be a valuable historic source of the life of Russian aristocracy in the mid 19th-century.