A foundling of unknown paternity, she was adopted by the childless English nobleman Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland (1802–1859) and his wife, and eventually married into the Princely House of Liechtenstein.

[3] Following the adoption, Marie was assigned to a nurse at Fontenay-aux-Roses and then a nanny, Madame Marque, before moving to her parents' residence, Holland House, London, in June 1853,[1][3] at the age of 2 1/2.

As she approached her eighteenth birthday and marriageable age, Lady Holland's legal advisor strongly recommended disclosing the information about the adoption to her.

"[1] At the age of sixteen, Marie was courted by Archibald Primrose, later 5th Earl of Rosebery, but refused to marry him as she was unwilling to renounce Roman Catholicism.

[6] The Princely House of Liechtenstein initially refused to approve the marriage on the grounds of inequality of birth,[7] but the princess was later accepted in Vienna.

[11] George Frederic Watts painted portraits of Marie at least twice, one as a child standing with her pet Spanish pointer and another as a young woman.