Ivan has expressed an interest in establishing diplomatic and trade relations with England, even suggesting his readiness to marry an English noblewoman.

He seems to have abdicated in 1575 for about a year in favor of a Tatar prince, Simeon Bekbulatovich.

He had married five wives in succession in only nine years during the 1570s.

Finally, in a fit of rage, he murders his only viable heir, Ivan, in 1581.