Born in the family of Prince Nikita Fedorovich Volkonsky and Agrafena Petrovna, née Bestuzheva, "in the old courtyard outside the Tver Gate near the Strastnov Monastery in the parish of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin".

On the day of the Palace Coup of 1762, the lieutenant colonel of the Life Guard Horse Regiment Volkonsky joined the number of supporters of Catherine, for which he received from her the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky, the title of senator and the rank of General-in-Chief.

In 1773–1774, during the Pugachev's Rebellion, at the request of Volkonsky, significant military forces were pulled into Moscow (horse riders traveled to Lyubertsy), guns were put up at the governor's residence.

In January 1745, Mikhail Volkonsky married Elizabeth Alekseevna Makarova (1725–1782), the daughter of Alexey Makarov, cabinet minister of Peter the Great, and Praskovya Yuryevna Ladyzhenskaya.

In marriage were born: Since the sons of Mikhail Nikitich did not leave offspring, his only heir was the daughter Anna and her descendants – the princes Golitsyn-Prozorovsky.