He is known for his portrayals of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse in The Crown and Count Alfred Eckbrecht von Dürckheim-Montmartin in Ludwig II as well as his roles as Karl Tennstedt in Das Boot and Andreas Wolf in Deadwind.

Wittgenstein was born on 22 January 1981 in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia and is a member of the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, an old German noble family.

[1] He is the younger son of Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Countess Yvonne Wachtmeister af Johannishus, a member of the Swedish nobility.

He portrayed Count Alfred Eckbrecht von Dürckheim-Montmartin in the 2012 German feature film Ludwig II.

He has also had roles in Das Boot, Die Schlikkerfrauen [de], Ein starkes Team: Späte Rache, In Your Dreams, Notruf Hafenkante, Deadwind, Leipzig Homicide, Cologne P.D., SOKO München, Nord bei Nordwest, Ein Lächeln nachts um vier, Ku'damm 56, Jenny – echt gerecht, and Josephine Klick – Allein unter Cops.