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Prince Karl of Auersperg

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His Serene Highness
Karl von Auersperg
8th Prince of Auersperg
Minister-President of Austria
In office
30 December 1867 – 24 September 1868
MonarchFrancis Joseph I
Preceded byCount Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust (as Chairman of the Ministers' Conference)
Succeeded byEduard, Viscount Taaffe
President of the House of Lords (Austria)
In office
8 April 1861 – 31 December 1867
MonarchFranz Joseph I
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJosef, Prince of Colloredo-Mannsfeld
In office
8 December 1868 – 15 May 1870
MonarchFranz Joseph I
Preceded byJosef, Prince of Colloredo-Mannsfeld
Succeeded byCount Franz von Kuefstein
In office
21 December 1871 – 17 May 1879
MonarchFranz Joseph I
Preceded byCount Franz von Kuefstein
Succeeded byFerdinand, Hereditary Count of Trauttmansdorff
Personal details
Born(1814-05-01)1 May 1814
Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire
Died4 January 1890(1890-01-04) (aged 75)
Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Political partyConstitutional Party (Austria)
SpouseCountess Ernestine Festetics de Tolna

Karl Wilhelm Philipp, 8th Prince of Auersperg, Duke of Gottschee (German: Karl Wilhelm Philipp Fürst[1] von Auersperg, Herzog[2] von Gottschee; 1 May 1814 in Prague – 4 January 1890 in Prague) was a Bohemian and an Austrian nobleman and statesman. He served as the first President of the Austrian House of Lords and as the first prime minister of the western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Cisleithania).

Early life

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He was the eldest son of Wilhelm II of Auersperg (1782–1827) and, his second wife, Friederike Luise Wilhelmine Henriette von Lenthe. His paternal grandparents were Wilhelm I of Auersperg and Leopoldine von Waldstein-Wartenberg. His maternal grandparents were Carl Levin Otto von Lenthe and Henriette Friederike Wilhelmine Sophie Bennigsen von Banteln (a daughter of Count Levin August von Bennigsen).

The 8th Prince of Auersperg, Karl Wilhem, was heir to one of the most prominent princely families of the Holy Roman Empire, whose Imperial Estate was mediatized in the Austrian Empire following the German Mediatisation of the post-revolutionary era. He became head of the princely House at the age of thirteen on the death of his father, Wilhelm II, in 1827.

Career

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As a member of the German-Liberal Party, Karl represented the landed nobility in the Bohemian Landtag (provincial assembly) during the 1840s and took a conspicuous part in defending the constitutional system against Prince Metternich's Vormärz regime, which was becoming increasingly unpopluar throughout the Austrian Empire and ultimately culminated in the German revolutions of 1848–1849.[3]

In the following decade, after the resignation of Metternich as first minister and the abdication of Emperor Ferdinand I in favour of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Karl remained largely absent from public life.

Constitutional era

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On the advent of the new constitutional era in 1861, Franz Joseph I established a bicameral Imperial Council in the Austrian Empire and appointed Karl as the first President of the House of Lords. Karl became the longest serving President over his three terms in office (1861–1867, 1896–1870, 1871–1879). In 1861 Karl also rejoined the Bohemian Landtag where he served intermittently as Oberstlandmarschall (supreme provincial marshal) of Bohemia and as chairman of the Landesausschuss (state committee) until 1883.[3]

Austro-Hungarian empire

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After the constitutional changes that led to the creation the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, the Emperor turned to the German-Liberals (who had supported the Austro-Hungarian Compromise) to form the new Austrian government and appointed Karl as the first Prime Minister. Karl's cabinet was referred to as the Citizens' Ministry as four out of its nine cabinet members were commoners (without noble titles) and another had only been ennobled eleven years previously. After conflicts in the cabinet over concessions to various nationalities and ethnic groups through federalism, he resigned in protest on 4 September 1868. Although an advocate of centralism, he agreed to negotiations with the Czechs in order to win their participation in the Imperial Council. In his view, Viscount Taaffe and Foreign Minister Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust made excessive concessions to the Czech National Party.[4]

After his retirement, Karl worked as a zealous supporter of the policies of his brother, Prince Adolf of Auersperg, who served as Prime Minister of Austria from 1871 to 1879.

Personal life

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In 1851 he married Countess Ernestine Festetics de Tolna, daughter of Count Ernő János Vilmos.

As he died without issue, he was succeeded by his nephew Karl, 9th Prince of Auersperg.

Honours

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  • Portrait
    Portrait
  • Coat of Arms of the Princely House of Auersperg
    Coat of Arms of the Princely House of Auersperg

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Regarding personal names: Fürst is a title, translated as 'Prince', not a first or middle name. The feminine form is Fürstin.
  2. ^ Regarding personal names: Herzog is a title, translated as 'Duke', not a first or middle name. The female form is Herzogin.
  3. ^ a b "Auersperg Karl (Carlos) Wilhelm Fürst". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 1, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1957, p. 36.
  4. ^ Pieter M. Judson: Exclusive revolutionaries. Liberal politics, social experience, and national identity in the Austrian Empire, 1848–1914. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1996, ISBN 0-472-10740-2, S. 135ff.
  5. ^ a b "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1890, pp. 80, 83, retrieved 1 April 2021
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Political offices
Preceded by
New creation
 Minister-President of Cisleithania
1867–1868 		Succeeded by
Titles of nobility
Preceded by
Wilhelm of Auersperg
 Prince of Auersperg
1827–1890 		Succeeded by
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