He was the son of Adam Albert, Count of Neipperg (1775–1829), illegitimately (prior to his marriage in 1821) by his second wife, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (1791–1847).

She was the daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Princess Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily.

After the death of her husband Napoleon I, who died on St. Helena in 1821, she married morganatically to Adam Albert von Neipperg.

In 1838, he joined the ranks of the Austrian army and took part in the counterinsurgency battles of 1848 in Italy and Hungary, earning in 1854 the title of Second Lieutenant field marshal.

The title was heritable by all legitimate male line descendants, but it became extinct with the death of 3rd Fürst Ferdinand Bonaventura of Montenuovo (1888-1951), who only had three daughters.