Charles Egon II, Prince of Fürstenberg

He was born in Prague, the only son of the Austrian general Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg and his wife princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis.

[1] Thus by the time he reached majority in 1817 Charles Egon was not a sovereign prince but a "Grundherr" possessing large estates, woods and industrial sites, as well as a Standesherr of the three states between which Fürstenberg had been divided—the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Princedom of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Since her mother was a morganatic wife, so too was Amalie - although Charles, Grand Duke of Baden later elevated her to dynastic status (she was his father's half-sister), making her the first "princess" of Baden, which allowed Charles Egon's mother to finally accept the couple as a marriage of equals.

[3] Charles's Standesherr status entitled him to sit in the Badische Ständeversammlung, of which chamber he became the first vice-president, holding that office for thirty-three years from 1819 to 1852, whilst its president was Prince William of Baden.

His palace of Donaueschingen, with its collections of paintings, engravings and coins, was a centre of culture, where poets, painters and musicians met with princely entertainment.