He was born in Hesse-Kassel. He was the younger son of the Swedish royal house and the princely Hesse house of Schaumburg. His father was Karl Philip Christian, Count Wartensleben, and his mother was Albertine Louise, the former Baroness von Quadt and Wykradt. Initially he joined the Dutch army, but transferred his talents to the Habsburg army in 1758, commissioned as a major. He was assigned to the "Szluiner" Grenz Infantry Regiment. For his service in the War of the Bavarian Succession he was promoted to Colonel and Proprietor of the Infantry Regiment Nr. 28, a position he held from 1779 until his death on 21 April 1798. He received the Knights' Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 22 April 1790, and the Commander's Cross on 19 December. He commanded the autonomous force of the Lower Rhine in 1796. When his force finally joined that of Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen in August 1796, their combined efforts inflicted the first defeat of the summer campaign on the French army, at the Battle of Amberg. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Emmendingen on 19 October 1796, in which his left arm was shattered by French caseshot, and died over a year later in Vienna.