She became acquainted with Alexander Ivanovich Ribopierre (1781–1865) at a young age. Alexander was the son of the Swiss Jean Ribeaupierre. The couple fell for each other, though Ekaterina's mother wished for a more advantageous marriage for her daughter and did not consent to the union; at one point
Nikita Volkonsky was considered for a husband. The couple aroused sympathy from others, Ekaterina's cousins, Prince Golitsyn and
Count Branicki intervened on her behalf. Eventually the couple were married on 29 September 1809 in
Saint Isaac's Cathedral. The marriage proved to be a happy one. (1836) At first, they rented an apartment in Saint Petersburg on
Gorokhovaya Street where they put on performances attended by the court including
Alexander I. in 1822 they lived in
Odessa where Alexander was working on business. In December of 1817, the couple and their children were on a ship that was shot at by Turkish forces while they sailed from
Constantinople through the
Bosporus Strait after the
Battle of Navarino. Ekaterina was standing on the deck when the shooting began, and was seized by officers and carried to the cabin along with the children. After a storm in the
Adriatic Sea during which the
frigate almost crashed onto the rocks, the family landed at
Trieste. They then spent time in
Florence where they rented the magnificent villa from the Marquis Montecatini in Gataiola. Afterwards, they settled in the Palazzo Paterno in
Rome. Following the signing of the
Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, the family returned to Constantinople where they lived in the Russian embassy in Buyuk-Der which had an excellent view of the Bosphorus and a magnificent garden. There Ekaterina more than once received Sultan Mahmun. During Ribeapierre's stay on a diplomatic mission in
Berlin beginning 1832, Ekaterina maintained her reputation as a hostess of luxurious receptions and arranged great festivities. In 1839 they returned to Russia. They spent winters in Saint Petersburg and usually spent the summer at their estate Novoe Selo,
Smolensk. The couple were regulars at all palace meetings and enjoyed the favour of the imperial family; they stood out in society because they shunned intrigue and gossip. Ekaterina had been made a cavalry lady of the
Order of Saint Catherine (lesser cross) in 1826. In 1854, she became a
State Lady, and at the coronation of
Alexander II, she and her husband were elevated to the rank of count and countess. According to
Dorothea de Ficquelmont, even at her age, Ekaterina appeared remarkably youthful both in face and figure. She was characterised by grumpiness and pedantry, but under the cold appearance, she was a pleasant and amiable person. She was a talented artist, in her studio in the house on Bolshaya Morskaya she had a collection of paintings, copied from those at the
Hermitage. A contemporary wrote of her:
We entered a huge room, specially built in the outer part of the house, with a glass ceiling, with huge windows, which were hung with green curtains of various shapes and sizes; all the walls were covered with paintings, more or less finished.After the death of her husband in 1865, Ekaterina Mikhailovna lived in seclusion in Saint Petersburg. In her later years, she was ill often, and according to her daughter, every movement caused her pain. During the attacks, she could not get out of bed, "she had water all over her body, her arms and legs were monstrously swollen and were heavy like marble. At the same time, her face was still beautiful, meek, and she was full of humility before what God had prepared for her". She died of
dropsy on , and was buried next to her husband in the
Tikhvin Cemetery of the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra. == Issue ==