Maximilian was the second son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. In 1915 Maximilian was made a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the special order of the dynasty, by his great-uncle Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. During World War I Maximilian served as a major in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He also had the rank of corvette captain in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In February 1917 Maximilian was sent to Berlin to formally notify the German Emperor Wilhelm II of the accession of Maximilian's brother Charles as Emperor of Austria. In 1917 / 1918, with consent of Charles I, Maximilian established his household at Belvedere Palace in Vienna, held to the disposition of the imperial family by the government of Austria. In June 1918 Maximilian led the Austrian assault on the Dosso Alto. The air pressure of a shell which landed near him broke his ear-drum and caused a certain deafness. Maximilian was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold for the Austrian victory. However, in August the Italians re-captured the Dosso Alto. After the end of World War I, in December 1918 some monarchists suggested that he succeed his brother as emperor. As Charles I, not anymore participating in state affairs since November 12, 1918, still considered himself emperor, this suggestion did not conform to the family rules of the dynasty. Meanwhile, on 12 November 1918, the Provisional National Assembly of German Austria declared the country a republic. On 3 April 1919, the Constitutional National Assembly elected in February passed the Habsburg Law which stipulated members of the former ruling family could only live in Austria if they cancelled their membership to the Habsburg Dynasty with its monarchial aspirations and if they declared themselves loyal citizens of the republic. Maximilian obviously preferred to live outside of Austria, following the example of the last imperial couple. Maximilian Eugen Habsburg-Lothringen and his family in 1919 were given permission to live in Switzerland on condition that he did not engage in political activity. Maximilian's family then moved to Bavaria, where they lived in Munich and along Lake Starnberg. Later they moved to France. In exile Maximilian sometimes used the aliases Count Wernberg and Count von Kyburg. He graduated from law school and earned the degree Doctor of Laws. In April 1922 Maximilian attended the funeral of his brother Charles in Funchal, Madeira, after which Zita and her children returned to mainland Europe. In June 1923 Maximilian sued his late brother's secretary Baron von Steiner for fraud in the sale of some family jewels. In November 1930 Maximilian attended the ceremony in Ham, Belgium commemorating the coming-of-age of his nephew Otto, from then onwards until 1 January 2007 chief of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. In November 1933 the government of the Republic of Austria under chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, who earlier this year had declared the parliament to have dissolved itself and did not undertake any action to hold elections, gave permission for Maximilian to reside in Austria. On 27 April 1945, the second Republic of Austria returned to the republican laws valid before dictatorial rule. Maximilian died in 1952 of a heart attack in a hotel in Nice; he was 56. His remains lie in a sarcophagus in the crypt of the schloss church in Altshausen.
Archduke Ferdinand Karl Max Franz Otto Konrad Maria Joseph Ignatius Nikolaus of Austria, Count of Kyburg, married on 6 April 1956 in at Seefeld Castle, Munich, Countess Helene Marina Elisabeth zu Törring-Jettenbach, daughter of Count Carl Theodor zu Törring-Jettenbach and Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark. They had three children:
*Archduchess Elisabeth Caecilia Helen Antonia of Austria, married on 9 October 1982 in Salzburg, James Litchfield
*Archduchess Sophie Franziska Maria Germaine of Austria, married on 31 January 1990 in Salzburg, Mariano Hugo of Windisch-Graetz, son of Prince Maximilian Antonius of Windisch-Graetz and Maria Luisa Serra. They have three children:
**Prince Maximilian Hugo of Windisch-Graetz
**Prince Alexis Ferdinando of Windisch-Graetz, died in an car accident
**Princess Larissa Maria Luisa of Windisch-Graetz
*Archduke Maximilian Heinrich Ferdinand of Austria, married on 2 July 2005 in Rome, Sara Maya al-Askari, daughter of Mamoun al-Askari. They have three children.
Archduke Heinrich Karl Maria of Austria, Count of Kyburg, married on 23 September 1961 in Beckum, Countess Ludmilla of Galen, daughter of Count Christoph-Bernhard of Galen and Countess Marie Sophie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau. They had four children:
*Archduke Philipp Joachim Franz Max Clemens Gallus of Austria, married on 11 February 2006 in Salzburg, Mayasuni Heath, daughter of Lord John William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerck and Caroline Anne Heath. They have one daughter.
*Archduchess Marie-Christine Franziska Sophie of Austria, married on 10 February 1996 in Salzburg, Clemens Guido Tassilo Guggenberg von Riedhofen. They have two daughters:
**Annaliva "Livia" Guggenberg von Riedhofen
**Sofia Guggenberg von Riedhofen
*Archduke Ferdinand Karl Augustinus Maria of Austria, married on 22 May 1999 in Potsdam, Countess Katharina of Hardenberg. They have three children.
*Archduke Konrad Erwein Felix Regula Maria of Austria, married on 11 December 2005 in Anif, Ashmita Goswami. They have one daughter.
In Austria, the use of titles such as "archduke" is illegal, having been abolished alongside all royalty and nobility in 1919.
Title
Maximilian's official title in German until 10 April 1919 was Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Hoheit Erzherzog Maximilian Eugen Ludwig Friedrich Philipp Ignatius Joseph, Königlicher Prinz von Ungarn und Böhmen.
