She was the sixteenth and youngest child of King Augustus III of Poland (1696-1763), who was also Elector of Saxony as Frederick August II, and his wife Maria Josepha of Austria.

Maria Kunigunde was taught Polish, Latin, French, English, philosophy, geography, religion, drawing, music and dance.

As a daughter of a ruling family, Maria Kunigunde was destined to marry a prince to strengthen the political relations of the House of Wettin.

His beloved first wife, Princess Isabella of Parma, had died without producing an heir and his mother, Maria Theresa pressured him to remarry.

Joseph considered marrying Isabella's younger sister Maria Louisa; however, she was already engaged to the Spanish heir apparent and later King Charles IV.

However, the story of her failed secret meeting in Bohemia spread around the European courts, making it almost impossible to arrange a suitable marriage for her.

One of the policy objectives of the House of Wettin was to increase their influence in the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle in the northwestern part of the Holy Roman Empire.

The court in Dresden demanded that Vienna make her princess-abbess of a prestigious ladies' abbey as compensation for the failed marriage plans.

The incumbent, Antoinette of Eltz-Kempenich, was willing to abdicate in Maria Kunigunde's favour; however, the chapter fiercely resisted the imposition and insisted that all applicable procedures be followed.

Only after a papal dispensation from the residence requirement was obtained, and Joseph II had impounded the Abbey's possessions, did the chapter concede and admitted Maria Kunigunde as a collegiate lady.

In 1775 Maria Kunigunde was elected coadjutor of Essen and Thorn with the right to succeed, while her predecessor Francisca Christina of Sulzbach (1696-1776) was still alive.

The election was unanimous, which was not surprising, considering that the courts in Vienna and Dresden paid 45000guilders to the canons and canonesses eligible to vote.

Her advisor Johann Jakob Schmitz tried to implement his own ideal of an enlightened absolutist state, and frequently collided with the rights of the chapter, the estates, or the city.

In addition to this constitution and judicial reform, Maria Kunigunde legislated a ban on abortion and regulations for the activities of surgeons and midwives.

She also founded a school for the daughters of the upper class and worked for compulsory education and a reduction of the number of public holidays.

Her predecessor Francisca Christina had wasted the abbey's finances; when Maria Kunigunde tried to spend money, the chapter opposed her plans.

When she wanted to lend money for the construction of a chaussee connecting the Mark, which was held by Prussia, to Wesel, which was also Prussian, the estates vetoed that plan as well.

Haniel and his brothers also purchased the Gute Hoffnung works from her brother-in-law Heinrich Arnold Huyssen and founded the Gutehoffnungshütte conglomerate.

Many court officials received bequests, from her Hofmeister von Asbeck and his secretary down to the cook and the laundry lady, her personal physician Georg Brüning, her coachmen and outriders.