 Max Emanuel was a member of the former German princely House of Thurn and Taxis, whose wealth derived from founding the German postal service and brewing.On 20 May 1969 at Schwangau, Max Emanuel entered into a civil marriage, deemed non-compliant with the family's traditional house law, with Anna Maria Gräfin von Pocci (1944–2008), a daughter of Count Konrad Albert von Pocci and his wife Anna Elisabeth Hartmann.They married in a religious ceremony two days later.