[1] He is the son of World War II colonel and resistance leader Claus von Stauffenberg.
Through his mother, he is a fourth cousin of King Charles III of the United Kingdom.
Franz-Ludwig's mother, two older brothers, and younger sister Valerie, as well as other relatives, were arrested under Nazi Sippenhaft (blood guilt) laws.
In 1994, in connection with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 20 July plot, he demanded that communists, who had fought in the Red Army in the National Committee for a Free Germany should not be honored together with his father.
This demand gained many prominent supporters, including then-Federal Defence Minister Volker Rühe.