Karel Schwarzenberg - Background, Education and Personal Life

Background, Education and Personal Life

Karel Schwarzenberg is the eldest son of Prince Karel VI of Schwarzenberg of the junior line (Second Majorat of the House of Schwarzenberg), and Princess Antonie von Fürstenberg. He is also the 1,322nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece of Austria. He is first cousin of Ira and Egon von Fürstenberg and second cousin of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco. By tradition, he holds the style of Serene Highness (German: Durchlaucht).

Schwarzenberg was born in Prague and his family spoke both German and Czech. As German is his primary language, he is known today for his "slightly archaic and often earthy Czech." The Schwarzenberg family fled the country after the Communist coup d'état in 1948 and he grew up in Austria. In the 1960s, he was active in Austrian politics, and he became a leading voice against the communist rule of his native Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring. He chaired the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights 1984–1991.

The House of Schwarzenberg originates in Franconia, where the family still owns substantial property, but made Bohemia their primary seat in the 17th century, also maintaining residences in Vienna. The family had possessed fiefdoms in Bohemia as far back as the Middle Ages; it was one of the richest noble families of Bohemia and Austria-Hungary, and one of the largest land owners of Bohemia. Schwarzenberg and his parents had to leave the country after the Communist coup of 1948, and emigrated to Austria, with Swiss citizenship. He studied law and forestry at the universities of Vienna, Munich and Graz. He has two sisters, Marie Eleonore von Bredow (born 1936) and Anna Maria Freifrau von Haxthausen (born 1946), and one brother, Dr. rer. oec. Friedrich Prinz von und zu Schwarzenberg (born 1940).

On 22 April 1967, in Seefeld, Schwarzenberg married Countess Therese zu Hardegg (full name in German according to tradition Therese Gräfin zu Hardegg auf Glatz und im Machlande) (b. Vienna, 17 February 1940). The marriage ended in divorce in 1988. However, the couple married for the second time on 25 July 2008. The marriage bore three children:

• Johannes Nepomucenus Andreas Heinrich Joseph Karl Ferdinand Johannes Evangelist die Heiligen Drei Könige Achaz Michael Maria, Hereditary Prince of Schwarzenberg (b. Vienna, 13 December 1967), married on 20 March 2010 Diana Orgovanyi-Hanstein, granddaughter of Baroness Maximiliane von Berg and second cousin once removed of Francesca von Habsburg-Lothringen.

• Princess Anna Carolina Antoinette Elisabeth Theresia Olga Adelheid Maria of Schwarzenberg (b. Vienna, 16 December 1968), married civilly in London on 28 July 1997 and religiously at Murau on 6 September 1997 Peter Morgan (b. Wimbledon, London, 10 April 1963), son of Arthur Morgan and wife Inga.

• Prince Karl Philipp Ernst Ferdinand Alwig Kilian of Schwarzenberg (b. Vienna, 12 May 1979). Adopted by Austrian industrialist and politician Thomas Prinzhorn (who is, according to some sources, his natural father) by agreement 25 November 1987 and registered in Vienna 16 May 1988. On 20 March 1990 began using surname "Prinzhorn". Married at Altaussee on 3 October 2009 Countess Anna Elisabeth Aline Henriette Maria Benedikta Stephanie Johanna Lidvine Walpurga Thekla von und zu Eltz (b. Vienna, 25 June 1982).

After the fall of the communist regime, Schwarzenberg returned to Prague in 1990, although he still occasionally visits Austria, where part of his family lives. He holds both Swiss and Czech citizenship.