Eberhard II, 4th Prince of Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (17 May 1828 â 1 August 1903) was a German prince and politician.
Eberhard was born on 17 May 1828 at Wurzach. He was the son of Leopold, 2nd Prince of Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (1795âÂÂ1861), and Countess Maria Josepha Fugger von Babenhausen (1798âÂÂ1831), who were first cousins. Among his siblings was elder brother, Karl, 3rd Prince of Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach.
His paternal grandparents were Hereditary Count Leopold von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach (only son and heir apparent of Eberhard, 1st Prince of Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach), and Countess Maria Walburga von Kirchberg-WeiÃÂenhorn. His maternal grandparents were Anselm, 1st Prince Fugger von Babenhausen and Countess Maria Antonia von Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach. His maternal uncle, Anton, 2nd Prince Fugger von Babenhausen, married Princess Franziska of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein-Jagtsberg (a daughter of Charles Joseph, 1st Prince of Hohenlohe-Jagstberg).
Upon renunciation of title by his elder brother in 1865, he succeeded as the titular 4th Prince of Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach, a former Principality within Holy Roman Empire located on the southeastern border of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located around Wurzach, that had been partitioned from Waldburg-Zeil. The Principality, however, had been mediatised to the Kingdom of Württemberg in 1806.
From 1864 to 1869 he was a member of the Chamber of Imperial Councillors in the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1865, Eberhard II also entered the First Chamber of the Estates of Württemberg as a and personally attended the sessions until 1891. From 1877 to 1880, he was the leader of the vote for the Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg. Beginning in 1893, Prince Eberhard II was represented in the state parliament by the Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, then from 1895 by the Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst.
When Prince Eberhard II considered moving his residence from Wurzach to KiÃÂlegg in the early 1870s, he gradually acquired the individual shares of the Hundswiese meadow and the gardens north of the palace. Even before moving into his palace in September 1876, he appointed Joseph Kieferle von Mengen as court gardener to create a stately vegetable garden with a greenhouse and a spacious palace park.
In 1870, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown. From 22 April 1871, he was the senior most member of the House of Waldburg and, as such, was Imperial Hereditary Oberhofmeister of the Kingdom of Württemberg.
Prince Eberhard was married twice. On 28 August 1856 at Zdislawitz Castle near KromÃÂà ÂÃÂà ¾ in Moravia (present day Zdislavice in the Czech Republic), he married Countess Sophie Dubský of Tà Âebomyslice (1835âÂÂ1857), a daughter of Count Franz Josef Ignaz Nepomuk Vinzenz Dubský, Baron of Tà Âebomyslice, of in Württemberg, and, his second wife, Baroness Eugenie von Bartenstein. From her father's first marriage, she had an elder half-sister, noted writer Countess Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. Before her death in 1857, they were the parents of one daughter:
On 5 August 1858, also at Zdislawitz Castle, he married the younger half-sister of his first wife, Countess Julia Dubský of Tà Âebomyslice (1841âÂÂ1914), the daughter of Count Franz Josef Ignaz Nepomuk Vinzenz Dubský of Tà Âebomyslice, and, his third wife, Countess Xaverine von Kolowrat-Krakowsky. Together, they were the parents of five daughters:
Prince Eberhard II died at Kisslegg on 1 August 1903. As he had no male issue, the Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach line died out in the male line after which Prince Wilhelm of Waldburg-Zeil, also bore the title of Prince of Waldburg-Zeil-Wurzach.