The princes of Clary und Aldringen have been one of the most prominent families of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Bohemia.

The rise of the family started when Franz von Clary left his ancestral lands in Tyrol to settle in the Kingdom of Bohemia.

After some inheritance quarrels among his siblings, Emperor Ferdinand II recognized his sister Anna Maria as heiress of the Teplice estates.

Consequently, the rise of the family sped up and, in 1666, the Clary-Aldringens were raised to the rank of Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Joseph I.

In 1767, Reichsgraf Wenzel von Clary und Aldringen, the Imperial Treasurer (and Emperor Joseph II's private council member), was raised to princely rank.

Junior members bore the title of Graf (Count) or Gräfin (Countess) von Clary und Aldringen and were styled as Erlaucht (Illustrious Highness).

Siegfried's son Alfons (1887–1978) became the seventh prince, and took over the management of the family estate in 1920, after the Kingdom of Bohemia had become part of the First Czechoslovak Republic.

He lost several thousand hectares in a land-reform, but redeveloped the family enterprises, including a brewery, spa resorts, restaurants, a coal mine, two sawmills, brickworks, lime works and a woodworking factory.