Paul Alfons von Metternich-Winneburg

Paul Alfons von Metternich-Winneburg (far right), with Jim Clark after his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in 1965

Paul Alfons Maria Clemens Lothar Philippus Neri Felix Nicomedes Prince von Metternich-Winneburg (born May 26, 1917 in Vienna , † September 21, 1992 in Geneva ) was a German-Austrian racing driver and President of the FIA .

biography

Paul Alfons von Metternich-Winneburg comes from the well-known noble diplomatic family Metternich and was a great-grandson of the Austrian statesman Prince Metternich . He attended Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland.

In 1940 in Berlin, where he belonged to a group of opponents of the regime, he met his future wife Tatiana Wassiltschikoff , who had a position in the Foreign Office. They married in Berlin-Grunewald on September 6, 1941 and initially lived at Königswart Castle in Egerland .

After expropriation and expulsion from Czechoslovakia in 1945, he lived as a winemaker on the old family residence (since 1816), which had been destroyed by the war, Schloss Johannisberg in the Rheingau, which he and his wife rebuilt as a winery.

He worked as a racing driver. Among other things, he competed in the Monte Carlo Rally and the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1956 . From 1960 he was president of the "Automobile Club of Germany" (AvD) . From 1975 to 1985 he was president of the worldwide automobile association FIA.

He was also involved in the relief organization of the Order of Lazarus and was Grand Bailli of the Grossballei Deutschland of the Order of Saint Lazarus .

In 1979 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class and in 1990 the Great Federal Cross of Merit.

His wife Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg was a well-known art patron . When he died, the male line of the Metternich family died out, his widow was the last representative of the Metternich-Winneburg family.

Trivia

• He prematurely sold the “Fürst von Metternich” sparkling wine to the Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei company .
• He was editor of the book: Princely companion for connoisseurs. Restaurants in Germany.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1956	Prince Paul Metternich	Mercedes-Benz 300SL	Wittigo of Einsiedel	failure	accident

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
1953	Paul Metternich	Porsche 356	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
				DNF			12
1956	Paul Metternich	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
					6th
1962	Paul Metternich	Austin Mini Cooper	DAY	SEB	SEB	MAY	TAR	BER	ONLY	LEM	TAV	CCA	RTT	ONLY	BRI	BRI	PAR
							DNF
1964	Paul Metternich	BMW 1800	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
																			DNF
1967	Paul Metternich	Austin-Mini Cooper S.	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
							DNF

literature

• Paul Alfons Prince of Metternich-Winneburg . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1992 ( online ).

Web links

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