He served as the Bavarian Minister of the Interior from 1832 to 1837 and during the revolutions of 1848, he was caretaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture. Between 1849 and 1858, he was as a member of the Second Chamber of the Bavarian State Parliament on the side of the liberal wing. A well-known art collector, he expanded the Oettingen-Wallerstein collection and library, part of which was acquired by King Ludwig I for his own collection.