Count Maximilian Ulrich von Kaunitz-Rietberg (Czech: Maxmilián Oldřich z Kounic-Rietbergu; 27 March 1679 – 10 September 1746[1][2]) was an Austrian diplomat and politician who served as governor of Moravia from 1720 until his death.

[3] He was the father of the powerful state chancellor of Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress and Queen Regnant of Bohemia and Hungary, Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg.

Maximilian Ulrich was born in Vienna[citation needed] to a wealthy Moravian noble family as the third son[1] of Count Dominik Andreas I von Kaunitz [de; cs] (1655–1705),[2] Baron of Šlapanice[citation needed] and Countess Maria Eleonora von Sternberg [de; cs][1][2] (died 2 December 1706),[4] daughter of Count Adolph of Sternberg, the Supreme Burgrave of Bohemia.

[1] He laid claim to the ancestral lands of his wife, the County of Rietberg,[1] fighting a long and costly legal battle against the princely family of Liechtenstein and the king of Prussia.

[1] He worked on making the river Morava navigable and had a road built between Brno and Olomouc; he regularised the tax system of Moravia, increasing royal income[1][2] and enacted a partial reform of the provincial administration.