She was the last Duchess of Anhalt as German royal and noble titles were abolished in 1919 during the Weimar Republic.

Her paternal grandparents were Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Princess Sophie of Sweden.

Her maternal grandparents were Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.

Marie was a sister of Prince Maximilian of Baden, Chancellor of the German Empire.

On 2 July 1889, she married Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt, in Karlsruhe.