Prior to being elected Grandmaster in 1566, he was Komtur of the Franconian Bailiwick [de] for a brief period.

In 1566, Georg was appointed Grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II at Augsburg.

[2] As Grandmaster, he served as an advisor to Maximilian II and serviced the Hapsburg Family.

However, since Albert in his process of secularizing Prussia had made the duchy a Polish vassal, both the order and the Holy Roman Empire objected out of fear of starting a military conflict with Poland.

As a supporter of the Catholic counter-reformation, he attempted to follow the doctrine established with the 1545 - 1563 Council of Trent.