Sophie Elisabeth had four full siblings, and eleven half-siblings (from her father's second marriage to Dorothea of Simmern).

These included John Casimir, Eleonore Dorothea, Sibylle Christine, George Aribert and Susanna Margarete.

By the time Sophie Elisabeth became abbess, the abbey's possessions covered only about two square miles.

Her relatives, the princes of Anhalt, refused to appoint a new abbess and completed the incorporation of Gernrode into their territory.

On 4 November 1614 Sophie Elisabeth married her cousin, George Rudolf of Liegnitz in Dessau.