Born in 1762 he transplanted his family to Austria before Belgium       
          was lost to the Empire. In 1802 he acquired the estates of Dobersberg,     
          Ilmau and Daxsen in the Waldviertel, Lower-Austria. Philipp Ferdinand,     
          through a family tradition which had placed four generations of his        
          ancestors in the service of the House of Habsburg, was no longer a         
          stranger to Austria when he first accompanied the Archduke Karl, to        
          whom he was attached in Brussels as Chamberlain, to Vienna in 1791.        
          Although Philipp felt himself completely Austrian, this was more           
          through an inner, traditional bond with the House of the Sovereign         
          than through any attachment to the country itself. His wife was            
          Belgian and his native tongue was French. He was typical of those          
          immigrant nobles who were the surest supporters of the House of            
          Habsburg, as for them the Emperor was both Sovereign and fatherland.       
          Unlike the Bohemian or Hungarian nobles, their patriotism was not          
          essentially nationalist, which made them natural champions of the          
          supranational concept underlying the Habsburg rule.                        
             Count Philipp Grunne saw action for the first time as Captain in a      
          Dragoons regiment during the last Turkish campaign. He took part in        
          the first French campaign as a Major in the Archduke Johann Dragoons.      
          In the Netherlands campaign, which followed in 1793, he was Flank          
          Adjutant to the Emperor Franz. Shortly afterwards he was appointed         
          Adjutant-General to Chief of Ordinance Clairfait. He took part in the      
          campaign of 1794-5 as a Lieutenant-Colonel and Adjutant-General to         
          Fieldmarshall Wurmser, under whose leadership he distinguished himself     
          greatly in the Battle of Mannheim. In the campaign of 1796-7 he was        
          Adjutant-General to the Archduke Karl, and in 1797 he was made             
          Colonel. In 1799 he fought heroically at the head of a Dragoons            
          regiment in Germany. At the opening of the campaign of 1800 he was         
          made Major-General under Lieutenant-Fieldmarshall Prince Reuss. He         
          saved the city of Kempten and secured the Tyrolean passes, for which       
          he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresia in        
          1801. At the battle of Hohenlinden, Grunne commanded two cavalry           
          regiments. On 15 December 1801 at Stayer in Austria, he concluded,         
          together with France's Brigadier-General Lahorie, the armistice which      
          preceded the Peace of Luneville.                                           
             In 1804 he became head of the office of the War Minister Archduke       
          Karl; in 1804 Adjutant-General and Head of the Military Chancellery;       
          in 1805 Head of Department to the Army Chief of Staff; in 1806 patron      
          of a regiment of Ulans. In 1808 he was made Lieutenant-Fieldmarshal.       
          The abuse of a confidential remark by an irresponsible friend (the         
          Prince de Ligne) led to his premature retirement. Archduke Karl then       
          appointed him as his Master of the Household, in which position he         
          served until 1847 when the Archduke died. After this he led a retiring     
          life until his death in 1854.                                              
             Philipp Grunne was a singularly strong personality. Not only was he     
          a daring soldier and exceptionally gifted commander, but also a fine       
          writer and good organiser. As Chief of the Military Chancellery he         
          rendered outstanding service to the Archduke Karl. However, the hatred     
          of Grunne in some parts of the army was such that the Emperor Franz,       
          in a letter of 9 July 1809 to the Archduke Karl, wrote: "...then it        
          will be necessary to remove Fieldmarshall Grunne from his post with        
          you because, what with the general dislike which prevails against him,     
          his views and his position with you injure the service to the State        
          and to yourself."                                                          
             The Archduke's reply is the clearest testimony to the great esteem      
          in which he held Grunne: "As to Lieutenant Field-marshal Grunne, you       
          know my views on him, and you yourself praised him to me only a few        
          days ago. I can well believe that the few fops, to whom he perhaps         
          spoke the truth a shade too bluntly, are now dissatisfied with him.        
          The opinions of such people should not form the basis for your views       
          or mine, and they should not mislead you into removing a General from      
          his post who is serving you and the State ably and diligently.             
             "I feel the burden resting on my shoulders too acutely to believe       
          that I can carry it by myself and do everything alone. If I do not         
          have instruments equal to their task and in whom I can place my trust,     
          then I must renounce my principles regarding my duties, if the means       
          to fulfil all my many obligations are taken away from me. So I must        
          ask you to go back on your decision, in which I cannot concur, over a      
          General who is of such service to you and does you such honour; in         
          addition, I will receive the support I need to be of further use to        
          you."                                                                      
             Despite the unfortunate circumstance which had led without any          
          blame to Grunne's retirement, the fact that the Archduke asked him to      
          be Master of his Household is evidence that the friendship between         
          them had not been affected. Now Grunne had the leisure also to indulge     
          his talent for writing. He wrote 'The Relationships between the            
          Battles of Aspern, Wagram and Znaim'; he translated the writings of        
          the Archduke into French and published them; he studied all the works      
          on military science of the time, and read the French and German            
          classics. He collected works of art for his 'Schloss', Dobersberg.         
          There is a remarkable similarity in the fate of Philipp Grunne and         
          that of his son Karl. Both held the same highly responsible position       
          beside the Commander-in-Chief of the army; both received the trust of      
          their masters; both kept this trust until their deaths; both would be      
          pursued by the hatred of the army and of public opinion; and both took     
          all this without a word in self-defence.     
 

Source: Leo van de Pas