Her pivotal role in both Modern Greek and Romanian theater is widely acknowledged, clashing with the more controversial aspects of her youth—including her endorsement of her father's corruption and her own acts of despotism, such as a sartorial ban on the color white.

They lived abroad in Restoration-era Switzerland, and later in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; while in exile, Rallou networked with Philhellenes (including Mary Shelley), and supported Republican Greece.

Heading cultural clubs alongside her sister Roxani Soutzos and her friend Aristia, Princess Karatza penned Greek translations from Madame de Lambert and John Gillies.

Romanian literature continued to focus on her life as a feminist precursor or a generally exotic figure, with her personality explored in novels by Bucura Dumbravă, Mateiu Caragiale, and Petru Manoliu.

[6] Around the time of Rallou's birth, John Caradja was emerging as a trusted diplomat of the Sublime Porte, visiting Wallachia to negotiate a settlement with the Habsburg monarchy, which ended the preceding war, and traveling as far as the Kingdom of Prussia.

In February 1813, Frenchman Auguste de Lagarde noted that Caradja "[broke] his flail on a boyar of the court—a one-eyed man who stood accused of having insulted Princess Rallou".

[21] Theatrical historian Ioan Massoff reports rumors of Rallou's continued sexual promiscuity, and notes that she had given birth to several babies that she then abandoned in front of Bucharest churches, with her family's approval.

[22] In an 1822 letter, Prussian diplomat Ludwig Kreuchely von Schwerdtberg alleges that Prince Caradja "had a child by his own daughter, who is still alive" (de sa propre fille eut un enfant, qui vit encore); the claim is seen by Iorga as a calumny, possibly hinting at Rallou.

[23] Rallou was known to have covered up her father's spoils system, when, in February 1815, she bought Conțești village from Caradja loyalist Ioan Hagi Moscu, in exchange for 115 thousand thaler, only to sell it back in August for a much smaller sum.

According to a popular legend (partly validated by scholars M. Chopin and Abdolonyme Ubicini)[25] Sultana used her influence at the court to rescue the hajduk Iancu Jianu from a death sentence, already pronounced by Prince John, by agreeing to marry him.

[27] In contrast to accounts which date her first contribution to theater to 1812 (or even before),[28] Hellenist Ariadna Camariano-Cioran argues that Princess Karatza only began her project in 1817, in a modest way—by improvising plays in her private quarters, to an audience of several boyars.

She organized a new troupe, whose star pupils included Costache Aristia; it moved to a new stage at the princely complex, and had a repertoire comprising adaptions from Euripides, Longus, Sophocles, as well as Vittorio Alfieri and Voltaire.

[35] The autonomous institution finally established by Rallou at Cișmeaua Roșie on Podul Mogoșoaiei (December 1817)[36] is described by Popa as "the first professional (Greek-language) theatrical troupe in the Romanian lands.

"[37] Camariano-Cioran questions such assessments, noting that Rallou actually worked with "Gerger" or "Gherghy", a German-speaking troupe from the Principality of Transylvania,[38] which put up a version of L'italiana in Algeri (by Gioachino Rossini) on 8 September 1818.

[45] Another challenge to Rallou's claim was brought up by her grandnephew, Constantin Karadja, who notes that, during a Russian occupation of Bucharest in the earliest 1810s, Mikhail Kutuzov had been a patron of Italian and Polish companies relocated to Wallachia.

[47] Already in 1817, Cișmeaua was a testing ground for Greek nationalism in general, and the Filiki Eteria society in particular;[48] though he refrained from openly cultivating the Eterists, Prince John allowed his son Konstantinos, and his nephew Alexandros Mavrokordatos, to join their ranks.

[49] Cultural historian Elisavet Papalexopoulou notes that there is no definitive way to prove that Rallou was ever initiated into the Eteria, though, like her sister Roxani, she "operated under the influence of the society, supported its revolutionary aims, and knew about its existence.

[22] The cultivation of Eterist youths could only last for a few months: Rallou left Wallachia hastily, with her entire family, in autumn 1818; this was "in order to avoid the fate of many other Phanariot[e]s who had sat on the throne of the Transdanubian Principalities, who had been decapitated or hanged.

His note suggests that the Prince and his progeny left together with the other courtiers and family members, including Mavrokordatos, Constantin Vlahutzi, and Aga Vlangăru; a woman named Sofiița (or Sofiica) was used as a scout.

[71] The family became involved in the Greek War of Independence, with the former Prince providing funds for nationalists and Philhellenes, notably by sending regular gifts to fighters such as Georgios Karaiskakis, Apostolis Kolokotronis, and Andreas Miaoulis.

[76] In the midst of war, Phanariote Panagiotis Soutsos, who had met and secretly loved Rallou as a youth, was partly inspired by her story in writing Ο Οδοιπόρος ("The Wanderer")—seen by Puchner as one of the first-ever Greek contributions to Romantic literature.

[84] According to a report by A. Bouchon, the Phanariotes were still disliked by the egalitarian Athenians, prompting Rallou to marry a commoner, Konstantinos Kolokotronis;[85] this information conflated two Rallous: Karatza-Argyropoulos and her niece (her brother Georgios' daughter).

[86] In their late years, the elder Rallou and Georgios Argyropoulos moved to Thonberg, near Leipzig, in the Kingdom of Saxony, leaving their estate in Athens to be tended by John's other descendants.

[90] A 1972 footnote by cultural historian Alexandru Duțu sees Princess Karadza as having played a part in women's emancipation in Romania, alongside Catherine Soutzos and Roxana Samurcaș—though, as he adds, their stances were largely confined to a "transformation of mores" among the boyars, and overall ignored by the masses.

[91] During her lifetime, Rallou was occasionally reviled, along with her father, by Romanian nationalists—including her contemporary chronicler, Ioan Dobrescu, who had embraced strong Hellenophobia and detested Caradja for his "savage spoliation of the peasantry".

[98] Rallou is used as a plot device in Craii de Curtea-Veche, Mateiu Caragiale's groundbreaking novel of 1929: Pașadia, the Phanariote protagonist, boasts his descent from a fictional lover of the princess, whose sexual favors she rewarded with a boyar's rank.

[101] John Caradja's reign is also depicted the Dinu Cocea's adventure-comedy films, Haiducii lui Șaptecai and Zestrea domniței Ralu (both released in 1971), which has Aimée Iacobescu as the female lead—a fictionalized Rallou.