After the death of regent Elena, Efrosinya returned to court with her son and successfully influenced the Tsar to return the confiscated lands of her spouse. In 1550, she arranged for her son to marry Evdokia Nagaya, and allied with the Belsky court faction in order to place her son Vladimir on the throne. She created alliances with boyar families by including them in her household in her principality of Staritsa, and equipped the principality with her own army. During the illness of Ivan IV in 1553, she actively pressed the claims of her son to the throne. However, her plot failed as she did not managed to secure support in the Boyar Duma, nor the full cooperation of her son. In response, she herself kept the seal and control of the family principality and refused to give it to her son even as he was no longer a minor. When recovered, Ivan IV himself had Vladimir include a promise in his oath not to protect his mother if she was to "plan harm" against him again.
