He grew up in the idyllic setting of Wechselburg () in the Zwickauer Mulde river valley, about 25 kilometers north of Chemnitz. The Schönburg family had occupied the Schloss Rochsburg there since 1637. His parents were Count Friedrich Carl von Schönburg-Glauchau, born 26 July 1899 in Wechselburg and died 12 April 1945 in the defence of Breslau, and Countess Maria Anna (1902–1988). He was the second of their eight children.