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- BIOGRAPHY
Ferdinand was born on 4 December 1695, a younger son of Graf Wenzel Eberhard zu Herberstein and his first wife Maria Josephine von Globitz. On 15 January 1721 in Vienna he married Freiin Maria Anna Margaretha von Ulm zu Erbach, daughter of Johann Ludwig von Ulm, Freiherr auf Erbach, and Maria Margaretha Schenk von Stauffenberg. They had four sons and three daughters of whom Maria Anna would have progeny, marrying Graf Franz Norbert von und zu Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg.
Emperor Karl VI appointed Ferdinand as counsellor to the government of Lower Austria, and in May 1734 as minister plenipotentiary to the Swedish Court. His main goals there were to counteract the French overtures which were aimed at involving Sweden in the War of the Polish Succession in favour of the return of Stanislaw I Leszczynski as Polish king, at stirring up dissent in the north and in the Saxon alliance and at depriving the emperor of assistance from his allies - in particular Russia, Denmark, Prussia, and the prince-electorates of Saxony and Brunswick.
In the summer of 1737 Ferdinand was recalled from his post and appointed as Lord High Steward to Archduchess Maria Theresia, at that time grand duchess of Tuscany. In this position he earned the full confidence of Maria Theresia who provided him with many proofs of her continuing favour, also after her ascent to the imperial throne. In January 1744 she inducted him into the Order of the Golden Fleece, and she appointed him as privy councillor.
Ferdinand died at Karlsbad on 25 June 1744, aged just 49. He was one of the closest counsellors to Maria Theresia. Several years after his death she wrote a memorandum expressing her gratitude for the loyal service of this 'thoroughly honest and able' statesman.
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