She was the daughter of Count Pavel Martinovich Skavronsky (1757-1793), Chamberlain of the Royal Court and Minister Plenipotentiary to Naples, well known for his mental imbalance and extraordinary love of music, and his wife, Catherine von Engelhardt, niece and at the same time favorite of Prince Grigory Potemkin.

Pavel Martinovich was the last male of his line, the Skavronsky family, who, in 1727, were granted the title of Count in the Russian Empire, heritable by all legitimate male-line descendants.

In 1800 the Paul I of Russia, who was well known for his caprices, found out that General Pyotr Bagration, a Prince of the Bagrationi dynasty, was secretly in love with Catherine.

The Emperor often used to marry members of his court off to each other, and one day at the Palace of Gatchina he suddenly announced that it was his intention to attend the marriage of General Bagration and Countess Catherine Skavronskaya.

[citation needed] This is what General Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langéron had to say about this union : "Bagration married the young niece of the great Prince Potemkin.

Prince Bagration called her back to Russia a number of times, and sent her so many letters that even her friends tried to persuade her to go; she remained abroad, however, using the excuse that she was sick and in need of medical treatment.

She became notorious everywhere and was called le Bel Ange Nu ("the beautiful nude angel")[4] because of her passion for revealing dresses, and Chatte Blanche ("the White Cat"), because of her unlimited sensuality.

Her huge expenditure on receptions and clothes belied her claims of sickness, but he remained a generous husband and continued to pay her bills.

There were rumors about her connection with the Saxon diplomat Count Friedrich von der Schulenburg, a Prince of Württemberg, Lord Charles Stewart and others.

Goethe met her in Karlsbad, and admired her beauty; she had just started a new romance with Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who ended his relationship with Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich for her.

She then became the mistress of the influential Prince Klemens von Metternich and had a daughter by him in Vienna on 29 September 1810,[citation needed] whom she named Marie-Clementine after the natural father.

[citation needed] In the same year she moved to Paris, where the secret police kept her luxurious mansion at number 45 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré under surveillance.

[8] The writer Balzac, despite his sloppy dress sense, had been a frequent visitor to Princess Catherine's salon in Vienna, amusing the ladies with his stories, so naturally when she moved to Paris he became one of her friends.

[citation needed] In Paris on 18 January 1830 she married the British general and diplomat Sir John Hobart Caradoc, 2nd Baron Howden and Grimston; she was fifteen years his senior.

She sold some items, including the famous "Potemkin Diamond", which was purchased by the Emperor Napoléon III for his wife the Empress Eugénie, after whom it was subsequently renamed.

In 1977, the Duke of Westminster purchased a diamond and spinel tiara and matching set of jewels reported to have belonged to Catherine Bagration as an engagement present for his future bride Natalia “Tally” Phillips.