Karel Schwarzenberg or Karel Prince of Schwarzenberg (in German Karl Johannes Nepomuk Josef Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Menas Fürst zu Schwarzenberg), 12th Prince Schwarzenberg (First Majorat) and 7th Prince Schwarzenberg (Second Majorat), Duke of Krumlov born 10 December 1937), is a Czech politician and the leader of TOP 09 party. He has been Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic since July 2010, and he previously held that position from 2007 to 2009. He was a Senator from Prague from 2004 to 2010. In May 2010, he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies, gaining the largest number of preference votes. In 2013 he is a candidate for President of the Czech Republic.
Schwarzenberg has been the head of the House of Schwarzenberg since 1979. He is a relative of Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, a leading statesman of the Austrian Empire. From 1948 to 1990, he lived in Austria (where he was known as Karl Schwarzenberg), where he was involved in politics for the Austrian People's Party and became a noted critic of human rights violations in the Eastern Bloc, chairing the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. Following the fall of communism, he became a close adviser to Václav Havel and relocated to Prague.
He is married to Therese Hardegg (Therese Countess zu Hardegg auf Glatz und im Machlande) and they have three children, who all live in Austria.
Read more about Karel Schwarzenberg: Background, Education and Personal Life, Career, Ancestry
Famous quotes containing the word karel:
“You don’t know Leonie. She married me to achieve insecurity, and now you’re trying to take it away from her.”
—David Mercer, British screenwriter, and Karel Reisz. Morgan (David Warner)