Georg von Werthern (diplomat)

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Georg Count von Werthern-Beichlingen

Georg Graf and Herr von Werthern-Beichlingen (born November 20, 1816 in Beichlingen ; † February 2, 1895 ibid) was a German diplomat in the Prussian service.

Life

Origin and career

Georg Freiherr von Werthern -Beichlingen grew up as the son of the Grand Ducal Saxon Lord Chamberlain Ottobald von Werthern-Beichlingen (1794–1878) and his wife Luise Amalie, née. von Rotberg (1794–1857), at Beichlingen Castle in the Prussian province of Saxony and in the residential city of Weimar . After attending the Donndorf monastery school and the Pforta state school , he began studying in 1836. In 1848 he became the Prussian envoy in Turin and went to Madrid the following year . In 1852 he was appointed envoy to Vienna . In the following year he moved to Saint Petersburg as legation counselor , later as envoy to Athens in 1859 and to Constantinople and Lisbon in 1862 .

The Spanish candidacy for the throne

In 1864 Werthern returned to Madrid. In his new position, now as envoy, he played an important role , presumably on instructions from Bismarck , in promoting the candidacy of the Hereditary Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen for the Spanish throne, whose vacancy soon years before the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution of 1868 was foreseeable.

Prussian envoy to the Kingdom of Bavaria and end of life

Building of the former Prussian legation in Munich
Gertrud Countess von Werthern-Beichlingen. Painting by Franz von Lenbach , 1870

In 1867 he went to Munich as the Prussian envoy , where he stayed for many years at the court of Ludwig II of Bavaria . He again played an important role in the negotiations on Bavaria's accession to the North German Confederation and the establishment of an empire in 1870/71. On August 25, 1870, he wrote a letter addressed to Count Holnstein , with which he wanted to promote Ludwig II's initiative to found an empire. Werthern wrote this letter without consulting Bismarck and for the first time opened up the possibility of a financial contribution to the Bavarian king if he supported the establishment of the empire. From mid-November 1870, Werthern and Holnstein pushed forward the idea of ​​the imperial proclamation by Ludwig II, largely bypassing the Bavarian Foreign Minister von Bray . They use the averting of financial hardships through Prussian donations to the king's building projects as a driving force. In 1888 he retired and took over the management of the family estate from his late brother. He had a close relationship of trust with Bismarck and created an extensive collection of manuscripts. It was only with the death of his father in 1878, who had been raised to the rank of count in 1840 , that the title of count passed to him, as it was tied to the possession of the Beichlingen rulership, which only the respective head of the family held. Shortly before his death, he wrote his extensive memoirs, the so-called house books, which are an extraordinarily rich source of Prussian and Bavarian history during the time the German Empire was founded in 1871 and afterwards. However, they were not intended for publication. "My correspondence with Bismarck about the unification of the empire in 1871" was only to be opened 50 years after Georg von Werthern's death (1948).

Georg von Werthern was buried on the White Mountain near Beichlingen Castle . His riding horse was supposed to accompany the funeral procession. He also determined that four wild pear trees would be planted around the site "so that the badgers could fetch the fruit at night". The tomb designed by Hans Bernoulli is still preserved today.

Honors

At his solemn farewell in Munich in 1888, Prince Regent awarded Luitpold the Grand Cross with Diamonds of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown .

family

Count Werthern married Gertrud Sophie Auguste Adolphine von Bülow (1841-1919) on October 1, 1863 at Beichlingen Castle . They had five children:

  • Hans Thilo Graf and Mr. von Werthern-Beichlingen (1864–1918) ∞ Melanie Countess Hue de Grais
  • Elisabeth Freiin and Mistress von Werthern-Beichlingen (1866–1941) ∞ (1896) Aimé von Palézieux-Falconnet
  • Ottobald Friedrich Freiherr and Herr von Werthern-Beichlingen (1868–1907)
  • Thilo Friedemann Freiherr and Herr von Werthern-Beichlingen (1870–1918)
  • Georg Heinrich Freiherr and Herr von Werthern-Beichlingen (1874–1947) ∞ Countess Anna Elisabeth zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (1887–1952). (including daughter: Gertrud, ∞ I. Hereditary Princess of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich; son: Hermann Otto Solms ; ∞ II. Hans Joachim Sell )

testimony

Tomb on the White Mountain near Beichlingen Castle

Harry Graf Kessler , who met Graf Werthern on Norderney in the summer of 1888 , describes him in his memoirs as follows:

“The old count was quite a romantic figure. He still had the stature of the pre-Bismarckian period. With his long beard, wrapped in an old, wrinkled loden coat, he was reminiscent of the 'harper' in 'Wilhelm Meister'. His mother grew up in Weimar in the Goethe Circle. When he was five or six years old, he said, she had taken him to the castle chapel in Beichlingen one May morning and swore on a ray of the rising sun at the altar that he would always serve light, truth and beauty will. When he died, an order was found that he wanted to be buried with his favorite horse in his forest under an old oak tree. "

literature

swell

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Wetzel: A duel of Giants. Bismarck, Napoleon III, and the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian . London 2001, p. 74.
  2. ↑ Oliver Hilmes: "Ludwig II. The untimely king" Siedler-Verlag Munich 2013, p. 188.
  3. ↑ Elisabeth Countess Werthern: “From Weimar to Bonn. Memories". Burg-Verlag Stuttgart / Bonn 1985. p. 110.
  4. ↑ Elisabeth Countess Werthern: “From Weimar to Bonn. Memories". Burg-Verlag Stuttgart / Bonn 1985, p. 111.
  5. ↑ Obituary notice of the son who died in 1942 (Ottobald Christian-Ernst Graf and Herr von Werthern-Beichlingen)
  6. ↑ See Kessler, p. 167.
predecessor Office successor
Heinrich Alexander von Redern Prussian chargé d'affaires in Turin
1848–1850 		Heinrich Alexander von Redern
Robert von der Goltz Prussian envoy in Athens
1860–1862 		Heinrich von Keyserlingk-Rautenburg
Robert von der Goltz Prussian envoy to Constantinople
1862–1862 		Joseph Maria Anton Brassier de Saint-Simon-Vallade
Prussian envoy in Lisbon
1862–1864
Ferdinand von Galen Prussian envoy in Madrid
1864–1867 		Julius von Canitz and Dallwitz
Heinrich VII. Reuss zu Köstritz Prussian envoy in Munich
1867–1888 		Kuno to Rantzau
personal data
SURNAME Werthern, Georg von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Werthern-Beichlingen, Georg Graf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Beichlingen
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1895
Place of death Beichlingen