Karl von Habsburg did his military service in 1981 as a Platoon commander of a Jäger (infantry) Platoon as a one-year volunteer with the Austrian Armed Forces, where he later also completed his pilot training and is currently the reserve Hauptmann (captain) in the Austrian Air Force.
 He is also an Austrian Army Cultural Property Protection Officer, first with the staff of the Military Command of Salzburg, later with the Armed Forces High Command, currently with IHSW at Staff College.
As a paratrooper, he was elected President of the European Military Paratroopers Association (Europäischen Militär- Fallschirmsprungverbandes e.
V.) in 2001 - a role that he still holds today.

Since 1986, Karl von Habsburg has been president of the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union, which co-organised the Pan-European Picnic (- an important event during the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Revolutions of 1989).
Under his responsibility, the opposition and freedom movements in Central and Eastern Europe were supported and he participated extensively in political events in what was then Czechoslovakia, Hungary, then Yugoslavia and the Baltic States.

In May 1990, Habsburg personally led an aid convoy to Vilnius with food, medicine and clothing as a representative of the Paneuropean Union, in response to the Soviet Union's blockade of raw materials following the proclamation of Lithuanian independence in March 1990.
In 1991 he organized international aid against the destruction in Dubrovnik and in the former Yugoslavia.

Karl von Habsburg studied law, political science and philosophy from 1982 at the University of Salzburg and received a scholarship in 1984 for further studies at Michigan State University.
He received later an LLM and MBA degree from IMADEC University in Vienna in 2012.
Habsburg has been giving lectures on many topics such as European unification, legal philosophy, political and historical developments in Europe and security issues.
He speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.

In 1992/1993, he hosted a TV game show with Austrian public TV broadcaster ORF, called Who Is Who.
In October 1996, he was elected to the European Parliament for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP).
Two years later, it emerged that the ÖVP's election campaign had benefitted from at least 30,000 Mark of World Vision donation money via Paneurope Austria while Karl von Habsburg sat on the board of World Vision Austria, apparently without noticing the director's dubiously legal activities.
His father exacerbated the controversy when he complained that his son was being attacked unfairly and drew a parallel between the name "Habsburg" and a yellow badge.
ÖVP did not nominate Karl von Habsburg again for the 1999 elections.
In 2004, Karl von Habsburg paid 37,000 euros to the new World Vision Austria branch.

On 19 January 2002, he was appointed Director General of UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization) by the UNPO Steering Committee.

Since 7 December 2008, he is the President of the Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield.
During this time, he undertook a number of fact finding missions like in Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Mali.
Habsburg does not hesitate personally to undertake dangerous operations himself, as Joris Kila, art historian for Blue Shield and "Competence Center for Cultural Heritage" at the University of Vienna, explains: "Unesco and other institutions consider it too dangerous to inspect the places in Libya whether they are damaged or not, so Karl von Habsburg and I decided that we had to do it ourselves, we were in Ras-Almergib, a place right next to Leptis Magna, where a Gaddafi radar and air defense station destroyed was 15 meters from a Roman fortress that remained intact.
The ancient site was on our list."
Hapsburg was instrumental in creating a "No Strike List" of cultural heritage sites and cultural sites that should be preserved when attacks or flight operations were carried out.
This particularly moved NATO troops to protect the cultural assets and the economic and cultural basis of the civilian popu
Karl von Habsburg did his military service in 1981 as a Platoon commander of a Jäger (infantry) Platoon as a one-year volunteer with the Austrian Armed Forces, where he later also completed his pilot training and is currently the reserve Hauptmann (captain) in the Austrian Air Force.  He is also an Austrian Army Cultural Property Protection Officer, first with the staff of the Military Command of Salzburg, later with the Armed Forces High Command, currently with IHSW at Staff College. As a paratrooper, he was elected President of the European Military Paratroopers Association (Europäischen Militär- Fallschirmsprungverbandes e.V.) in 2001 - a role that he still holds today.
Since 1986, Karl von Habsburg has been president of the Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union, which co-organised the Pan-European Picnic (- an important event during the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Revolutions of 1989). Under his responsibility, the opposition and freedom movements in Central and Eastern Europe were supported and he participated extensively in political events in what was then Czechoslovakia, Hungary, then Yugoslavia and the Baltic States.
In May 1990, Habsburg personally led an aid convoy to Vilnius with food, medicine and clothing as a representative of the Paneuropean Union, in response to the Soviet Union's blockade of raw materials following the proclamation of Lithuanian independence in March 1990. In 1991 he organized international aid against the destruction in Dubrovnik and in the former Yugoslavia.
Karl von Habsburg studied law, political science and philosophy from 1982 at the University of Salzburg and received a scholarship in 1984 for further studies at Michigan State University. He received later an LLM and MBA degree from IMADEC University in Vienna in 2012. Habsburg has been giving lectures on many topics such as European unification, legal philosophy, political and historical developments in Europe and security issues. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian and German.
In 1992/1993, he hosted a TV game show with Austrian public TV broadcaster ORF, called Who Is Who. In October 1996, he was elected to the European Parliament for the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Two years later, it emerged that the ÖVP's election campaign had benefitted from at least 30,000 Mark of World Vision donation money via Paneurope Austria while Karl von Habsburg sat on the board of World Vision Austria, apparently without noticing the director's dubiously legal activities. His father exacerbated the controversy when he complained that his son was being attacked unfairly and drew a parallel between the name "Habsburg" and a yellow badge. ÖVP did not nominate Karl von Habsburg again for the 1999 elections. In 2004, Karl von Habsburg paid 37,000 euros to the new World Vision Austria branch.
On 19 January 2002, he was appointed Director General of UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization) by the UNPO Steering Committee.
Since 7 December 2008, he is the President of the Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield. During this time, he undertook a number of fact finding missions like in Egypt, Libya, Lebanon and Mali. Habsburg does not hesitate personally to undertake dangerous operations himself, as Joris Kila, art historian for Blue Shield and "Competence Center for Cultural Heritage" at the University of Vienna, explains: "Unesco and other institutions consider it too dangerous to inspect the places in Libya whether they are damaged or not, so Karl von Habsburg and I decided that we had to do it ourselves, we were in Ras-Almergib, a place right next to Leptis Magna, where a Gaddafi radar and air defense station destroyed was 15 meters from a Roman fortress that remained intact. The ancient site was on our list." Hapsburg was instrumental in creating a "No Strike List" of cultural heritage sites and cultural sites that should be preserved when attacks or flight operations were carried out. This particularly moved NATO troops to protect the cultural assets and the economic and cultural basis of the civilian popu
Karl von Habsburg