Protasova ensured that her nieces received an excellent education, most notably in foreign languages, including Latin, Greek but neglecting Russian.

Her husband was the mayor of the city during the Fire of Moscow, and his wife, being a zealous Catholic, was to be invidiously portrayed as an enthroned mistress.

Yelizaveta had converted to Catholicism before her death; on his daughter's conversion, Rostopchin wrote, "Under the circumstances, suggests a direct effect of mother".

Rostopchin left orders before his death for Yekaterina to be removed from supervising the education of their young son Andrei, and from the administration of his estate.

[1] In 1826, the same year as her husband's death, Yekaterina published excerpts of Metropolitan Philaret Drozdov's defence of Catholic doctrine, which caused a fair amount of controversy.

In 1833, she conducted an investigation regarding the information, that there were in the abbey of Rostopchina Borzhua priest's vestments at the altar of the church village of Raven.