His father, who was previously married to Countess Eleonore von Kaunitz, had served as Foreign Minister and Chancellor of the Austrian Empire.

[1] His paternal grandparents were Franz George Karl Count Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, a diplomat who served the Archbishopric of Trier before the Imperial court, and his wife Countess Maria Beatrix Aloisia von Kagenegg.

[2] In 1861, Emperor Franz Joseph I issued his February Patent and the follow-up October Diploma, thus creating the new Austrian Reichsrat.

She was the daughter of his half-sister, Princess Leontine von Metternich (from his father's first wife) and Count Moritz Sándor de Szlavnicza.

Since his marriage produced three daughters, after his death, the princely title of Fürst passed to his half-brother, Paul von Metternich.