German Aristocrat and Head of the Noble House of Baden. Born in the southern Germanic state of Baden-Württemberg, he was the eldest son of Berthold, Margrave of Baden and his wife, Theodora, Princess of Greece and Denmark. Maximilian was among the latest representatives of one of Germany's most ancient German Houses. Harking back to the 12th century, the House of Baden had produced a succession of rulers for the region, from its origins as a Margraviate to its expansion into a powerful independent state, and its eventual integration into the German Empire. Through Maximilian's matrilineal descent, he was both a great grandson of King George I of Greece and the nephew of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and royal consort of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. This sanguine connection also made the Margrave the maternal first cousin of the current sovereign of the U.K., King Charles III. From his patrilineal descent, he was the grandson of his namesake, Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm Von Baden, Margrave of Baden. The elder Maximilian had the dubious distinction of serving as the final Chancellor of the Second German Reich . Under this position he was forced to sue for peace during the waning days of the First World War, and was the individual who unilaterally declared the abdication of the Empire's final sovereign, Wilhelm II. The younger Maximilian was raised as a hereditary Prince in the Lake Constance region of Baden-Württemberg along with his elder sister, Princess Margarita, and younger brother, Prince Ludwing. Like his aforementioned uncle and first cousin, Maximilian attended the prestigious Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland. His education was also conducted within the confines of the renowned German boarding school, Schule Schloss Salem. His studies focused on the fields of agriculture and forestry. Following his father's sudden death in October of 1963, he assumed the dual titular roles of the Margrave of Baden and the head of the House of Baden. With his ascendancy to the position, he inherited the family's vast estates which included four castles and nearly five-thousand acres of land, forests, and vineyards. In 1966 he married Archduchess Valerie of Austria. The couple went on to have four children including Bernhard, the current head of the House of Baden. During his tenure as the head of the House of Baden, Maximilian spent many years overseeing his family's wine industry which had been producing since the late 18th century. In addition, the Margrave allied himself with numerous organizations, most notably the German Red Cross.