Prince Siegfried von Clary-Aldringen

He was born in Teplitz (now Teplice) on 14 October 1848 into a prominent Bohemian noble family. He was the second son of Prince Edmund Moritz (1813–1894) and Princess Elisabeth-Alexandrine von Clary-und-Aldringen (née Countess de Ficquelmont). His elder brother, Carlos succeede their father as the 5th Prince of Clary-Aldringen, and his younger brother, Count Manfred, briefly served as Minister-President of Austria in 1899.{{ÖBL|1|149||Clary-Aldringen Manfred Graf|}}

His paternal grandparents were Carl Joseph, 3rd Prince of Clary-Aldringen and Countess Marie "Aloisie" Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin (a daughter of Johann Rudolf Chotek von Chotkov und Vojnín). Through his paternal aunt, Mathilde Christina von Clary und Aldringen, he was a first cousin of Prussian general Prince Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł,{{cite news |title=PRINCE RADZIWILL DEAD.; Head of the Lithuanian Branch of the Family -- Born in 1833. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1904/12/17/archives/prince-radziwill-dead-head-of-the-lithuanian-branch-of-the-family.html |access-date=8 March 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=17 December 1904}} who married Marie de Castellane (the daughter Henri de Castellane and Pauline de Talleyrand-Périgord).{{cite news |title=PRINCESS RADZIWILL DIES IN GERMANY; Widow of Prince Anton Succumbs at Her Kleinitz Palace at 75 Years, ONCE LEADER IN SOCIETY Her Grandson Married Dorothy Deacon -- Visited on Birthdays by Emperor William. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1915/07/13/archives/prihobss-rziill-dibs-in-oeimany-widow-ofprince-anton-succumbs-at.html |access-date=7 March 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=13 July 1915}} His maternal grandparents were Count Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont and Countess Dorothea de Ficquelmont (a daughter of Count Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen).{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810134731/https://patricus.info/Rodokmeny/Clary.txt |date=August 10, 2016 }}

Count von Clary-Aldringen entered the Austro-Hungarian foreign service in 1873 and served inter alia in Paris and St. Petersburg, following the path of his grandfather, Count Charles-Louis de Ficquelmont. From 1895 until 1897 he was counselor at the embassy in London. In 1897, he was appointed Austro-Hungarian Minister at Stuttgart succeeding the future Imperial Foreign Minister Burián von Rajecz and then from 1899 at Dresden, two of the three missions that Austria-Hungary had in Germany other than Berlin (the third one was in Munich). Although mostly maintained due to the claims of tradition, these missions were popular postings due to personal comfort and convenience and particularly the post in Dresden was generally awarded to someone enjoying the special favour of Emperor Franz Joseph I.William D. Godsey, Aristocratic Redoubt: The Austro-Hungarian Foreign Office on the Eve of the First World War, West Lafayette, Purdue University Press, 1999, p. 186f.

In December 1902, Count von Clary-Aldringen was appointed to serve as Minister at Brussels and would remain there for eleven years until 1914. Acting as the doyen of the diplomatic corps in Brussels and personally popular, it fell upon him to deliver the declaration of war on 28 August. When leaving Brussels, he handed over the legation to the U.S. Minister in Belgium, Brand Whitlock.Brand Whitlock, Belgium. A Personal Narrative, New York, Appleton, 1919, p. 258. He played no further role during the war. He and his family were close friends with William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland, and therefore often visited the Portlands in London and Welbeck Abbey.Alfons Clary-Aldringen: Memoirs (Geschichten eines alten Österreichers), Ullstein publishers, Frankfurt 1977, {{ISBN|3-550-07474-3}}

In March 1920, he became the sixth Prince of Clary-Aldringen following his older brother Carlos' death.

File:Countess Clary Aldringen.jpg, 1896]]

In 1885 in Vienna, he married Countess Therese Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1867–1943), the daughter of Count Friedrich Karl Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau and Countess Sophie von Mensdorff-Pouilly. Together, the couple had three children:

• Countess Elisalex von Clary und Aldringen (1885–1955), who married Count Henri de Baillet-Latour, the oldest son of Count Ferdinand de Baillet-Latour, former governor of the Province of Antwerp, and Countess Caroline d'Oultremont de Duras.{{cite web|url=https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Olympic-Studies-Centre/List-of-Resources/Resources-available/Archives/EN-Henri-de-BailletLatour.pdf|title=Henri de Baillet-Latour Fonds list|date=14 April 2011|publisher=International Olympic Committee|access-date=30 July 2018|archive-date=1 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001020333/https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/Olympic-Studies-Centre/List-of-Resources/Resources-available/Archives/EN-Henri-de-BailletLatour.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|author=Florence Carpentier|title = Global Sport Leaders|pages = 107–123|date=11 April 2018|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-76753-6_5|isbn = 978-3-319-76752-9|chapter = Henri de Baillet-Latour: Globalising the Olympic Movement}}
• Alfons Maria Edmund Friedrich Karl Joseph Aloisius Gregor von Clary und Aldringen (1887–1978), who married Countess Lidwina von und zu Eltz genannt Faust von Stromberg, a daughter of Count Johann Jacob von und zu Eltz genannt Faust von Stromberg and Princess Marie Theresia of Lobkowicz.
• Countess Sophie von Clary und Aldringen (1891–1961), who died unmarried in London.

Prince Siegfried died in Teplitz on 11 February 1929. He was succeeded by his only son, Alfons, who became the seventh prince, but lost his property in the Czechoslovak Republic in 1945.

• {{German title Fürst}}
• See Also: Clary-Aldringen

{{reflist|30em}}

• Helga Peham, Siegfried Graf Clary und Aldringen (1848-1929). Leben und Wirken eines österreichisch-ungarischen Diplomaten, Vienna, 1981.

• {{commons category-inline|Siegfried, 6th Prince of Clary-Aldringen}}

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{{succession box|before=Stephan Burián von Rajecz|after=Alfons Freiherr von Pereira-Arnstein|title=Austro-Hungarian Minister to Württemberg|years=1897–1899}}

{{succession box|before=Heinrich Graf von Lützow zu Drey-Lützow und Seedorf|after=Ludwig Velics von Lászlófalva|title=Austro-Hungarian Minister to Saxony|years=1899–1902}}

{{succession box|before=Josef Graf Wodzicki von Granow|after=None|title=Austro-Hungarian Minister to Belgium|years=1902–1914}}

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Category:1848 births

Category:1929 deaths

Category:Austro-Hungarian diplomats of World War I

Category:Diplomats from Austria-Hungary

Category:Austrian princes

Siegfried