# Prince Adolf of Auersperg

Adolf Wilhelm Carl Daniel, Hereditary Prince of Auersperg (German: Adolf Wilhelm Carl Daniel Erbprinz von Auersperg; 21 July 1821 in Schloss Vlašim, Bohemia – 5 January 1885 in Schloss Goldegg, Neidling) was a Bohemian and an Austrian nobleman and statesman. He served as eighth prime minister of the western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Cisleithania) and ninth provincial president of Salzburg.

## Biography

On the death of his father (Wilhelm II, 7th Prince of Auersperg, Duke of Gottschee), Prince Adolf became heir to one of the most prominent princely families of the Holy Roman Empire, whose sovereign principality was mediatized in the Austrian Empire following the German Mediatisation of the post-revolutionary era.
After studying law, he served as an imperial cavalry officer from 1841 to 1860 and attained the rank of major in Prince Eugene's Dragoons regiment. In 1867 he entered political life as a member of the Bohemian Landtag (provincial assembly), being elected by the Liberal land proprietors. Ten months later, on the resignation of Count Hartig, he was appointed Supreme Marshal of the Kingdom of Bohemia, continuing in that office until 1870. In January 1869 he was nominated life member of the Upper Chamber of the Austrian Reichsrat, in which he took a conspicuous part.
He was provincial president of Salzburg from 1870 to 1871, and proved in that position, as well as in his subsequent political life, a staunch supporter of the constitution. Auerspergstraße is a street in the center of Salzburg that was named after Prince Adolf and his family in 1873. The street is almost 1,000 meters long and runs in a quarter circle from Schwarzstrasse to Schallmooser Hauptstrasse. Due to anti-Aristocratic sentiment during Austria's membership of the German Reich (1938–1945), Auerspergstraße was officially called Straße der SA, however the street was immediately renamed after Austria gained sovereignty in 1945.
In 1871 he succeeded Karl von Hohenwart as prime minister for the western half of the empire (Minister-President of Cisleithania). Auersperg's ministry enacted a measure of electoral reform (1873), secured direct elections to the lower chamber of the Reichsrat, and strengthened the political entente with Hungary. Intraparty controversies over Austrian occupation of Bosnia finally forced him to resign in 1879. Auersperg's resignation marked the end of German liberalism in Austrian politics throughout the remaining years of the Empire.

## Family

Prince Adolf's brother, Karl Wilhelm, 8th Prince of Auersperg, Duke of Gottschee, also served as Minister-President of Cisleithania and as the first President of the Austrian House of Lords (Herrenhaus). His other siblings were Aglae (1812–1899), Wilhelmine (1813–1886), Alexander (1818–1866) and Leopoldine (1820–1821).
Adolf was married twice:
* the first time (1845) with Baroness Aloysia Johanna Mladota von Solopisk (1820–1849), daughter of Adalbert, Baron Mladota von Solopisk and Baroness Franziska Schirndinger von Schirnding; no issue
* the second time (1857) with Countess Johanna Feststics von Tolna (1830–1884), daughter of Count Ernst Johann Wilhelm Festetics von Tolna and Baroness Johanna Clara Maria Josepha Kotz von Dobrz. This second marriage produced 5 children, including:
** Karl (1859–1927), who became the 9th Prince of Auersperg. Karl married in 1885 Countess Eleonore Maria Gobertina Breunner von Enkevoirth (1864–1920), daughter of Count August Breunner von Enkevoirth and Countess Maria Agathe Szechenyi de Sarvár-Felsovidek. They had five children:
*** Prince Adolf von Auersperg (1886–1923), married (1914) to Countess Gabrielle von Clam und Gallas (their son, Karl-Adolf, 10th Prince of Auersperg, married Countess Feodore of Solms-Baruth, daughter of Prince Friedrich III zu Solms-Baruth and Princess Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg; had issue
*** Princess Agathe von Auersperg (1888–1973), married (1913) to Alexander, 5th Prince of Schönburg-Hartenstein
*** Princess Johanna von Auersperg (1890–1967), married (1917) to Count Rudolf of Meran, son of Count Franz of Meran and Countess Theresia von Lamberg (1836–1913)
*** Princess Eleonore von Auersperg (1892–1967), married (1919) to Erwin Wallner, whose son Rudolf Wellner married Countess Marie Hoyos von und zu Stichsenstein (b.1921)
*** Prince Karl von Auersperg-Breunner (1895–1980), married (1927) to Countess Henriette of Meran
** Aglae Franziska (1868-1919), married Ferdinand Vincent, Count of Kinsky, had issue.

## Honours

* Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1878

## Gallery

* Schloss Vlašim
* Schloss Goldegg
* Lithography by Adolf Dauthage
* Portrait