An accomplished military leader and diplomat at the time of Prince Eugène of Savoy, he was born in one of Hungary's richest families loyal to the House of Habsburg.

Joining the Imperial Army in 1681, he rose swiftly through the ranks, fighting demonstrating courage in battles such as Vienna, Párkány, and Mohács.

Notably, he played a pivotal role in Rákóczi's War of Independence, securing victories and negotiating truces with the Hungarian magnate commanding the rebel army.

Following in the footsteps of his father and elder siblings, his brother Miklós Pálffy also Austrian field marshal, he dedicated himself to a military career.

[5] In 1693, he engaged in a fatal duel with John Frederick of Württemberg-Stuttgart, the son of Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg, as a result he was court-martialed on 15 October 1693 but acquitted.

[6] Following Emperor Charles VI's death in 1740, Pálffy assumed the role of protector for the young Empress Maria Theresa, becoming a key counsellor, earning in 1740 the title of Knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece, he also became the supreme commander of the army in Hungary.

[17] In 1741, during the War of the Austrian Succession, he summoned the Hungarian troops, with the invasion of Bohemia by Frederick I of Prussia in 1744, when he was over eighty years old, he again offered to lead the army, which was rejected by Maria Theresa with a letter of thanks and decorations.