Franz von Wimpffen was born in Prague on 2 April 1797, the son of Karl Franz Eduard von Wimpffen (1776–1842), who served as Chief of the Austrian General Staff from 1824 to 1830, and Victoria von Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg . He was the owner of Kainberg, Reitenau and Eichberg castles and estates in Austria and, as a Roman Catholic, was a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He was commissioned "Unterleutnant" in October 1813 and served as an artillery officer during the last three years of the Napoleonic Wars, in the German campaign of 1813, the French campaign of 1814, and the Neapolitan War in 1815.