He was born in Prangins, Switzerland, where the former Austrian Imperial family were staying after they had been sent into exile.

[1] Educated with his siblings first in Spain, in Belgium and at the Université Laval in Quebec City,[2] but Rudolf was expelled in 1946 once his membership in the formerly imperial House of Habsburg was exposed due to rumors of him and his brother being part of Austrian resistance.

[3] Rudolf worked as a Wall Street junior executive[4] and a bank director.

[3][5] Rudolf was married by Archbishop Fulton Sheen to Countess Xenia Czernichev-Besobrasov the daughter of Count Sergei Aleksandrovich Chernyshyev-Besobrasov and his wife, Countess Elizabeta Dmitrievna Sheremeteva, on 22 June 1953 at Tuxedo Park, New York.

[6] Rudolf was married secondly to Princess Anna Gabriele von Wrede (11 September 1940), daughter of Prince Carl Josef Maria von Wrede (1899-1945) and his wife, Countess Sophie Schaffgotsch-Semperfrei von und zu Kynast und Greiffenstein (1916-2008) on 15 October 1971 in Ellingen, Bavaria.