Maximilian Karl Albert was the fourth child and the first son of Ferdinand Karl, Count of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort (1616-1672) and his wife, Landgravine Anna Maria of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg (1634-1705), daughter of Landgrave Egon VIII of Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg and Countess Anna Maria of Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1605–1652).

Maximilian Karl, entered the emperor's service at an early age, was an acting imperial advisor since 1684 and was named privy councilor of the empire in 1699.

After Prince Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria was forced into exile in 1704, Maximilian Karl became the imperial administrator of Bavaria and, in his new rank as a prince, assumed the honorable position of a principle commissioner, the permanent representative of the emperor in the imperial diet from 1712 on.

His last office in the imperial service, which he held from 1717 until his death was the governorship of the Duchy of Milan, which Prince Eugene of Savoy had conquered for the House of Habsburg.

On 26 August 1678, Maximilian Karl Albert married the Countess Maria Polyxena Khuen von Belasi (1658-1712), daughter of Count Mathias Khuen von Belasi (d. 1678) and his wife, Countess Anna Susanna Apollonia von Meggau (1617-1689).