Richard Metternich was born in Vienna on 7 January 1829, the son of famous diplomat Prince Klemens von Metternich and his second wife Baroness Antoinette Leykam. In 1855, Richard Metternich followed his father into diplomacy, joining the Austrian Empire"s Embassy to the Second French Empire in Paris as a Legationssekretär (essentially a junior diplomat on a probation period).
The next year, he was named Austria"s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Saxony and took up his post in Dresden. In 1861, Emperor Franz Joseph I issued his February Patent and the follow-up October Diploma, thus creating the new Austrian Reichsrat. From 1859 to 1870, Richard Metternich served as Ambassador of the Austrian Empire (after 1867, of Austria–Hungary) to the court of Napoleon III of France.
Metternich attempted to convince France to intervene on behalf of Austria during the Austro-Prussian War, but was unsuccessful in this attempt.
In 1857, while serving at the Imperial court, Metternich received the highest mark in the celebrated dictée de Mériméest In retirement, he edited and arranged for the publication of his father"s memoirs.
He died on 1 March 1895. Richard and Pauline von Metternich had three children:
Princess Sophie von Metternich (1857-1941)
Pascalina, Countess Antoinette von Metternich-Sandor Winneburg (1862-1890)
Klementina, Countess Marie von Metternich-Sandor Winneburg († 1870).
Richard Metternich became an hereditary member of the Herrenhaus, the upper house of the new Reichsrat.
