Her paternal grandparents were Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, and Theresa Kunegunda Sobieska, the daughter of the King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, John III Sobieski.

[2] The marriage, however, was never happy; it had taken place only under pressure from Joseph's mother, Maria Theresa, who wanted her son to provide an heir to the throne.

Even her enemies admitted that Josepha was amiable, obliging, friendly to all, and disposed to every kind or benevolent sentiment; but her understanding was narrow as well as deficient in cultivation.

[4] Joseph further added, "I will keep the path of honour, and if I cannot be an affectionate husband, at least she will have in me a friend, who appreciates her good qualities and treats her with every imaginable consideration."

Upon Francis I's death on 18 August 1765, Maria Josepha became empress of the Holy Roman Empire following her husband's accession to the throne.

In October 1765, in sentences delicately omitted by Arneth from a published version of a letter to his younger brother Leopold, Joseph wrote: 'As for my empress, there is no change.

'[8] In the same month, Josepha's mistress of the household retired, because she could no longer bear to contemplate the tableau de ce mauvais menage.

In Joseph's first reaction to receiving the news of his wife's death, he had told some of his intimates some remarks which imply regrets for the coldness he had shown to her.

He further brought himself to tell his sister-in-law, Duchess Maria Antonia of Bavaria, that his wife had been "for so many reasons worthy of respect".

[11] The unloved young empress played a role in her husband's life once more after her death, when he laid claim to a large part of Bavaria in 1778–1779.