Cecilia Renata was a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, of the House of Habsburg, and Maria Anna of Bavaria.

She married Władysław on 9 August in Vienna by proxy, and then in Warsaw in person on 12 September 1637, and the same day was crowned at St. John's Cathedral.

Her political opponent at the court was the faction of Adam Kazanowski, whose influence over King Władysław, his childhood friend, diminished after her marriage.

Cecilia Renata kept in contact with her brothers and continued an intimate attachment with them; she also became friends with her sister-in-law Anna Catherine.

During her marriage, she became pregnant three times: Cecilia Renata died the day after delivering a stillborn daughter as a consequence of an infection, likely related to the childbirth.