Princess Catherine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck

Princess Catherine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (23 February 1750 – 20 December 1811), was a German noblewoman and member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. Through her marriage she became Princess Baryatinskaya, being mostly known as Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Barjatinskaya. Life Early years Born in Estonian city of Reval (now Tallinn), Catherine was the third child and only daughter of Prince Peter August of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, who was a Russian field marshal and Governor of Estonia, and his second wife, Countess Natalia Nikolaievna Golovina (1724-1767). She had two older full-brothers: Peter (1 February 1743 – 3 January 1751) and Alexander (born and died 1744), neither of whom survived infancy; from her father's first marriage with Princess Sophie of Hesse-Philippsthal (1695-1728) she had three half-siblings: Karl (October 1724 – March 1726), Ulrike Amelie Wilhelmine (20 May 1726 – died shortly after) and Karl Anton August (10 August 1727 – 12 September 1759), who was the only of her siblings who reached adulthood but died when Catherine was still a child. On her father's side, Catherine belonged to the Beck branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg line of the House of Oldenburg being, in unbroken male-line, a descendant of King Frederick I of Denmark through his second son Johann II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev and also she was distantly related to Emperor Peter III of Russia (born Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp; he was a descendant of Johann II's younger brother Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp). In addition, she was related with King Christian IX of Denmark and Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark), who were descendants of her half-nephew Friedrich Karl Ludwig.