[1] Catherine was born on 28 August 1827 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, almost certainly in the recently completed Mikhailovsky Palace that was the primary residence of her parents.

Her mother took a great interest in her daughters and was very involved in their childhoods, raising them relatively strictly and personally selecting their teachers in subjects such as foreign languages, singing, and drawing.

[9] Catherine's third child, Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was born on 6 June 1859 at the family's estate in Remplin, Germany.

[14] By 1870, she had been made chairwoman of the St. Petersburg Women's Patriotic Society, which she had been a member of since 1847 and began to devote more time to helping her mother with some of her foundations.

A selection of these charities and organisations includes:[16] She was also known to help those who applied to her for monetary assistance via petitions, which she accepted each year around the major holidays.

She accepted and even offered some of her own land adjacent to the Mikhailovsky Palace for it on the condition that the nearby trees were preserved as many of them had been there since the reign of Peter the Great.

Firstly, she had practically disinherited her son Georg on account of his marriage, but asked, "May God grant them happiness and prosperity.

This was a problem as she did not technically own the palace, it had been effectively on loan to her father and then to her, but upon her death should have reverted to the Imperial family as her heirs were not members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

[23] Sergei Witte recalled that, "The Emperor once said that it was very unpleasant for him that this historic palace, which belongs to the Imperial House, had passed, by some misunderstanding, into the hands of these princes.