He was the younger brother of the composer and General Intendant of Munich Clemens von und zu Franckenstein (1875–1942).

During the First World War, Franckenstein was, inter alia, diplomatic representative of the Habsburg-Monarchy in the German-occupied territories of Belgium and in 1918 in the Caucasus, occupied by the central powers, where he tried together with his German colleague General Kress von Kressenstein to help the Armenian refugees.

Due to his sumptuous and representative style of living, especially by hosting concerts and masked balls, he strongly assured his high society esteem, where – although aristocracy had been abolished in Austria by 1919 – he was still addressed as "Baron Franckenstein".

[1] In the early 1920s he could clear the massive financial tilt of his country, thanks to his contacts in London and through arranging an international Government Bond.

Together, they were the parents of: Franckenstein and his wife were among forty-four people killed in a plane crash in Kelsterbach, Hessen,[7] outside Frankfurt on 14 October 1953.