[3] Irina reportedly surpassed her spouse in intelligence, education and sophistication, and she quickly acquired influence over Feodor, and learned to navigate in court affairs.

Indeed, even with Dmitri as a possible successor, Irina remained under pressure to produce an heir and in 1585, she traveled to the Trinity-St. Sergei Monastery north of Moscow in hopes of a miraculous cure for her alleged infertility,[5][6] but still she did not bear a child until 1592 — a daughter named Feodosia Fedorovna who died less than two years later in January 1594.

Thus, in 1585, Metropolitan Dionysius proposed that Feodor divorce Irina, blaming her for being infertile and arguing that, for the good of the state and the dynasty, the tsar ought to remarry and produce a male heir.

The description of this event was left by Bishop Arseny of Elasson, who accompanied the church hierarch to Russia:[7] "The queen rose quietly from her throne at the sight of the patriarchs and met them in the middle of the chamber, humbly asking for blessings.

""With the death of Dmitry under strange circumstances in Uglich, north of Moscow, on 15 May 1591, Irina was placed under increasing pressure to produce an heir.

If she failed and Feodor died without a son, the Rurikid dynasty that had ruled Rus and Muscovy since the ninth century would become extinct, likely resulting in a bloody succession struggle.

The Godunov family convinced the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church to grant its consent to Irina as an autocrat, and the Boyar Duma to pledge loyalty to her as "Great Sovereign".

[3] The legal situation was difficult, however: as Irina had never been crowned, she had no authority to hold or convey power: furthermore, although the church and nobility was willing to accept her rule, the public in Moscow rioted at the suggestion of her succession and called her "shameless".

[3] She retired (some historians call it an abdication)[8] to the Novodevichy Monastery (Convent) on the south side of Moscow, where she took monastic vows under the name Aleksandra.