Maximilian Egon II, Prince of Fürstenberg

Maximilian Egon II, Prince of Fürstenberg (13 October 1863 – 11 August 1941) was a German landowner, investor and nobleman who was the head of the House of Fürstenberg from 1896 to 1941.

Early life Born as Prince Maximilian Egon Christian Karl Aloys Emil Leo Richard Anton zu Fürstenberg, he was the son of Prince Maximilian Egon I of Fürstenberg and his wife, Countess Leontina von Khevenhüller-Metsch, a daughter of Richard, 5th Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch. He had a younger brother, born in 1867, named Prince Karl Emil Egon zu Fürstenberg.

Career

A close friend and adviser of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Until the First World War, he was vice-president of the Prussian House of Lords.

His principal residence was the Princely Palace in Donaueschingen, near the source of the Danube, where he owned large deer forests. Emperor Wilhelm II frequently visited him there, and Max invariably accompanied the Emperor on his hunting expeditions and Norwegian trips. As well as his vast ancestral forests, he also owned coal mines, hotels and breweries.

Although he was a member of the high Roman Catholic Uradel who had long stood aloof from party politics, after meeting Adolf Hitler and Ernst Roehm in November 1933, Max became enthusiastic about Hitler's leadership, commenting that "It was wonderful, to be able to meet such a great man".

The same year, 1933, he joined the Nazi Party and the Sturmabteilung (SA). In 1938, he was appointed to the rank of SA-Standartenführer. Together, they were the parents of three sons and two daughters:

Descendants Through his daughter Anna, he was a grandfather of Maximilian, 9th Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch, who married Countess Wilhelmine Henckel von Donnersmarck. Knight of the Red Eagle, 1st Class, 27 January 1899 Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern Knight of the Black Eagle, with Collar Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1896 Grand Cross of the Order of Berthold the First, 1896 Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 29 August 1908 Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1896 Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1900 Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1908 Holy See: Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Knight of Honour and Devotion

Ancestry