Catherine of France was born in Paris on 4 February 1378 as the ninth child and fifth daughter of Charles V, King of France ("Charles the Wise") and his wife Queen Joanna of Bourbon.

In November 1388, Catherine died at the age of 10 of unknown causes.

Her death meant that only two of King Charles V's nine children survived to adulthood and produced offspring: the reigning Charles VI, King of France (who would become the ancestor of the main line of successive Valois kings) and Louis I, Duke of Orléans (who would become the ancestor of the Valois-Orleans cadet branch).

As Catherine was only a child at her death, she was unable to have any children with her husband the Count of Montpensier.

Two years later Catherine's widower married Anne de Bourbon before his premature death in 1397, predeceasing his father the Duke of Berry.