She was the fifth child of Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria (later Holy Roman Emperor) and his wife Maria Amalia of Austria.

The couple remained childless;[1] although Louis George did have one surviving daughter, Elisabeth, from his previous marriage, but as a female she was barred from the succession to the Margraviate.

Maria Anna was the only daughter of Prince Adam Franz Karl of Schwarzenberg and Eleonora of Lobkowicz.

She forged links with Frederick II of Prussia in order to protect the Bavarian throne as her brother, Maximilian III Joseph, was childless and feared for the succession.

[2] As a widow, Maria Anna Josepha returned to her native Bavaria where she died at the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, over a year before her brother.