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. Born as Prince Maximilian Egon Christian Karl Aloys Emil Leo Richard Anton zu Fürstenberg, he was the son of Prince Maximilian Egon zu Fürstenberg and his wife, Countess Leontina von Khevenhüller-Metsch. He had a younger brother, born in 1867, named Prince Karl Emil Egon zu Fürstenberg. A close friend and adviser of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Max of Fürstenberg inherited territorial titles in Prussia, Austria, Hungary, Württemberg and Baden, and by virtue of them had a seat in the House of Lords in each of the five states. Until the First World War, he was vice-president of the Prussian House of Lords. His principal residence was at Donaueschingen, near the source of the Danube, where he owned a castle and great 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.
The Guards Cuirassiers (German: Garde-Kürassier-Regiment) were a heavy cavalry regiment of the Royal Prussian Army. Formed in 1815 as an Uhlans regiment, it was reorganized as a cuirassiers unit in 1821. The regiment was part of the Guards Cavalry Division and fought in the Second Schleswig War, the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. The regiment was disbanded in September 1919.
The House of Fürstenberg is the name of an old and influential Swabian noble house in Germany, based primarily in what is today southern Baden-Württemberg near the source of the Danube river. Numerous members of the family have risen to prominence over the centuries as soldiers, churchmen, diplomats, and academics. Sometimes the name is gallicized as de Furstenberg or anglicized as Furstenberg. Fürstenberg was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in Swabia, present-day southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The county emerged when count Egino IV of Urach by marriage inherited large parts of the Duchy of Zähringen upon the death of Duke Berthold V in 1218, and was originally called the county of Freiburg. Egino's grandson Count Henry started naming himself after his residence at Fürstenberg Castle around 1250. The Rheinbundakte of 1806 dissolved Fürstenberg. Most of its territory was given to the Grand Duchy of Baden; smaller parts were given to the Kingdom of Württemberg, the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Awards: Collar and star of the Order of the Black Eagle, Insignia of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, Stars of the Order of the Red Eagle, the House Order of Hohenzollern and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
