After his mother was incinerated during a ball given in Paris in celebration of Napoleon's marriage to Marie Louise of Austria, he was placed under the care of Father Lorenz Greif and soon devoted himself to studying for the priesthood.

Friedrich was thought so highly of, that a papal dispensation was requested to elevate him to Archbishopric of Salzburg in 1835 even though he was not, according to canon law, old enough.

He was named a cardinal at the age of thirty-three in 1842 and after the Protestant issue had settled, he turned his focus to improving diocesan government through more regular meetings of bishops, as had been decreed by the Council of Trent.

This did not prove a great success and Schwarzenberg was transferred to the see of Prague by Pope Pius IX in 1850, having been elected its Archbishop a year before.

During his long period in Prague (1849 - 1885), Schwarzenberg's chief focus was on the relationship between Church and State in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however the success he achieved in this role was at best moderate.