Catharina von Wartenberg was of middle-class origin, as the daughter of a tax collector for the Brandenburg court to the Duchy of Cleves in Emmerich am Rhein.
She came to Berlin as wife to Kammersekretär Peter Biedekap, where she became the lover of the court official Baron von Kolbe, called Minion and one of the favorites of Frederick I.
She was described as politically ambitious and her position made her controversial, particularly in the eyes of the king's male favorites, such as the English ambassador, Lord Raby.
Catharina von Wartenberg reportedly had the pretensions of replacing her, caused women of the nobility to boycott the king's royal assemblies three times a week and "the Court became a perfect desert.
[1] Prior to marriage of the king to Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1708, Catharina von Wartenberg bought the right to take precedence of all unmarried Princesses, and even of all married ones whose husbands were not reigning Princes, from the Duchess Antoinette Josefa of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck for 10,000 Thalers (which the King paid), and wished to use this right at the procession of the christening of princess Wilhelmine in 1709: when the procession passed the chapel door, however, Madame de Lintelo, the wife of the Dutch ambassador (Christiaan Karel van Lintelo, (1669-1736)), attempted to take her place, which resulted in a physical fight in which the master of the ceremonies, Besser, tried to separate them, and von Wartenberg eventually came out as the winner.