Ekaterina was born to Major General Nikolai Ivanovich Zinoviev, who served as chief commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress under Catherine II, and his wife Evdokia Naumovna (née Senyavina), daughter of Naum Senyavin, a vice admiral.

Yesterday he defended himself like a lion from Prince Orlov, who wanted to take him for his passion: he answered him in the end with such intelligence that he silenced him, because he told him that Katenka "was not all his cousin".In the summer of 1776, it was rumoured in secular circles that Ekaterina had fallen pregnant by Prince Orlov, and that he gave her 100 thousand rubles, and the same number of precious stones.

The court was indignant at such a marriage, and Swedish King Gustav III is thought to have intercepted on behalf of Ekaterina.

[6] Despite this and the public opinion of the marriage, and the Synod, the Empress appealed the decision of the Senate, made Princess Orlova a Fraulein, and gave her a portrait of herself, among other gifts.

Ekaterina's death had a severe effect on her widower, who appears to have suffered from a serious mental illness, thought to be a form of dementia, losing his speech and mind.

Her death also affected her brother Vasili, who abruptly changed his life, retreating from society before traveling abroad and joining a masonic lodge.

Nikolay Karamzin, a friend of Vasili's, visited Switzerland in the September of 1789 and had a tombstone placed for her, writing: This minute I came from the cathedral church.

There, a monument to Princess Orlova was built of black marble, who, in her blooming youth, died her days in Lausanne, in the arms of a tender, inconsolable husband.