Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia
As a result of the French Revolution, the family lost most of their possessions and income. To ensure their future financial security, their parents decided to find positions for their daughters as ladies' maids in noble houses after they had reached an appropriate age. Diana and her sister Isabelle went to Kassel in 1802, then to Weimar two years later. Isabelle was lady-in-waiting to the Landgravine Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, while the now 16-year-old Diana served the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia.