He married circa 1700 to Maria Katharina Sophia v. Hohenlohe-Waldenburg, a cousin, and they had seventeen children, ten of which survived past adolescence.
During the French Revolutionary Wars, he served in the Imperial Army of the Upper Rhine, under command of General of Cavalry Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser.
In 1794 he fought on the Rhine, under Feldzeugmeister (General of Infantry) Friedrich Wilhelm, Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Kirchberg and was distinguished in the actions near Kaiserslautern (20 September) and Oggersheim (9 October).
[2] On 3 November, on his own initiative, he attacked the French under Michel Ney at Löchgau-Erligheim on the River Enz, defeating them decisively, and driving them west to Sinsheim.
For the prince's action on the Enz, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor awarded him the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 21 November 1799.
[2] On 6 March 1800 he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal and transferred back to the imperial army in southern Germany, under command of Pál Kray.
Victory at Austerlitz also gave Napoleon the latitude to create a buffer zone of German states between France and Prussia, Russia, and Austria.