She was a daughter of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John III Sobieski and his wife, Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien.

Theresa was baptized in Jaworow on 19 July 1676, having for her godfather Charles II, king of England and for her godmother Marie-Thérèse of Austria, wife of Louis XIV, both by proxy.

In February 1705, she left to meet her mother in Padua following the discovery of written correspondence between her husband and Agnès Le Louchier, the Countess of Arco, his mistress.

[2] After the battle of Ramillies, on 23 May 1706, Max Emanuel was forced to flee the Spanish Netherlands and found refuge at the court of France located in Versailles.

Theresa negotiated her return to Munich from the Emperor by asking for the help of the Republic of Venice, Pope Clement XI, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Anne, Queen of Great Britain.

[5] Consequently, Theresa spent ten years in exile in Venice, not returning until 1715 when the War of the Spanish Succession ended and Max Emanuel regained his electorate on 7 September 1714 by the Treaty of Baden.

[7][8] She rests in the Theatine Church in Munich.She was the mother of ten children by her husband, including Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII and Clemens August of Bavaria, Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, though only six of them survived till adulthood.