Catherine was born in Moscow and baptized at Chudov Monastery. Her godparents were her uncle Tsar Peter I and her great-aunt Princess Tatiana. Catherine (reportedly the favorite child of her mother), spent her childhood in her mother"s state of Izmaylovo, also the birthplace of her paternal grandfather Tsar Alexis.
Two more sisters were born later: Anna, the future Russian Empress, and Praskovia (born 14 October 1694 - died 19 October 1731). Of Ivan V"s daughters, she seems to have been the most capable. In 1708 the family moved to the new capital, Saint St. Petersburg.
On the death of Peter II in 1730, the Supreme Privy Council considered Catherine as a candidate for the tsardom as the eldest daughter of Ivan V, but the fear that her spouse would gain influence in Russia and her own independent and capricious nature led to her widowed younger sister Anna, Duchess of Courland, being chosen instead, because she was considered more docile.
Catherine was involved in the events of 7 March 1730, when a group of nobles (between 150 to 800, according to sources), among whom were many officers of the Guards, arrived at the palace and gave a petition to the Empress. In this petition they requested the re-examination of the form of government that would be pleasing to all the people.
Anna hesitated, but Catherine reportedly forced the Empress to sign the petition. Catherine kept at her court one of the first Russian theaters, with serfs as actors.
Her secret cohabitation with the naval officer Prince Michail Andreevič Belosel"skij-Belozerskij during the last three years of her life caused her temporary exile to the Urals.
On 12 May 1733, Catherine was present at her daughter"s conversion to the Orthodox religion, where she received the name Anna Leopoldovna, in order to made her acceptable as an heiress to the throne. Catherine died one month later and was buried next to her mother in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra monastery.
