They had two daughters: Elisabeth Catherine Christine (born in Rostock on 18 December 1718), and one unnamed (who was either stillborn or died immediately after birth on 18 January 1722).

[citation needed] On the death of Peter II in 1730, the Supreme Privy Council considered Catherine as a candidate for the tsardom as the eldest daughter of Ivan V, but the fear that her spouse would gain influence in Russia and her own independent and capricious nature led to her widowed younger sister Anna, Duchess of Courland, being chosen instead, because she was considered more docile.

[citation needed] Catherine was involved in the events of 7 March 1730, when a group of nobles (between 150 and 800, according to sources), among whom were many officers of the Guards, arrived at the palace and gave a petition to the Empress.

She secretly cohabited with the naval officer Prince Michail Andreevič Belosel'skij-Belozerskij who was exiled to the Urals three years after her death for engaging in "immodest talk" about the princess.

[2] On 12 May 1733, Catherine was present at her daughter's conversion to the Orthodox religion, where she received the name Anna Leopoldovna, in order to make her acceptable as an heiress to the throne.