# Paul von Hatzfeldt

Melchior Hubert Paul Gustav Graf von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg (8 October 1831 – 22 November 1901) was a German diplomat who served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1901. He was also envoy to Spain and the Ottoman Empire, foreign secretary, and head of the Foreign Office. He is best known for signing the Yangtze Agreement in 1900.

## Early life

Born into the House of Hatzfeld, Paul was born in Düsseldorf, Kingdom of Prussia, a part of the German Confederation, on 8 October 1831. He was the son of Count Edmund Gottfried Cornelius Hubert von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg (1798–1874) and his wife, Countess Sophie von Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg, member of the other branch of the same noble family.

## Career

Hatzfeldt had a long career in the German diplomatic office and was once described by Otto von Bismarck as das beste Pferd im diplomatischen Stall ("the best horse in the diplomatic stable"). He was Bismarck's secretary when he was Ambassador to Paris in 1862.
In 1874, he was appointed as German Minister to Spain in Madrid, followed by Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, before he was recalled in 1881 to become foreign secretary and head of the Foreign Office. In 1885, he succeeded Count Münster as ambassador to United Kingdom until 1901, during which he signed the Yangtze Agreement in 1900. In 1897, it was reported that he would resign on account of ill-health, followed by similar reports in the years leading up to his actual retirement in November 1901, a few weeks before his death. He was succeeded by Count Paul Wolff Metternich.
In his letter accepting Count von Hatzfeldt's request to retire, Emperor Wilhelm II wrote: "I feel impelled to express my imperial thanks for the excellent services which, during the forty-four years of your official life, you have rendered to my predecessors on the throne, to myself, and to the whole Fatherland." Upon his retirement, the Emperor bestowed on him the Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown as "a token of my good-will."

## Personal life

Hatzfeldt was married on 24 November 1863 in Paris Helene Moulton (3 September 1846 – 9 April 1918), the daughter of New York real estate speculator Charles Frederick Moulton and Cesarinne Jeanne (née Metz) Moulton. They divorced in 1886, but were remarried two years later in order that their daughter might marry Prince Max of Hohenlohe-Öhringen. Together, they were the parents of:
* Helene Nelly Susanne Pauline Hubertine Luise (3 March 1865 – 21 May 1901), who married Prince Max Anthon Karl zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen (1860–1922), a son of Prince Hugo zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen and grandson of August, Prince of Hohenlohe-Öhringen.
* Paul Hermann Karl Hubert (30 June 1867 – 10 June 1941), a diplomat who married Baroness Maria von Stumm (1882–1954), daughter of diplomat Baron Ferdinand Eduard von Stumm.
* Marie Augusta Cesarinne Melanie (10 January 1871 – 15 April 1932), who married Prince Friedrich Karl zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen (1855–1910), brother of her sister's husband.
Count von Hatzfeldt died in London on 22 November 1901. In 1910, his son inherited the title and properties of Paul's nephew, Prince Franz von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg.

## Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:

### German

* Kingdom of Prussia:
** Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class on White Band with Black Edge
** Knight of the Red Eagle, 1st Class, 5 June 1881; Grand Cross, 18 January 1888
** Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, 28 October 1885
** Knight of the Black Eagle, 18 June 1890; with Collar, 17 January 1891
** Knight of Merit of the Prussian Crown, 8 November 1901 - on his resignation as German Ambassador to London
* Baden: Knight of the Order of Berthold the First
* Kingdom of Bavaria:
** Grand Cross of the Merit Order of St. Michael, 1877
** Grand Cross of Merit of the Bavarian Crown, 1883
* Brunswick: Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Lion
* Mecklenburg: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Golden Crown
* Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon
* Kingdom of Saxony: Grand Cross of the Albert Order, with Golden Star, 1887
* Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown

### Foreign

* Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1881
* Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
* Kingdom of Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer
* Kingdom of Italy:
** Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
** Grand Officer of the Crown of Italy
* Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion
* Netherlands: Knight of the Netherlands Lion
* Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds
* Kingdom of Romania: Grand Cross of the Star of Romania
* Russian Empire: Knight of the White Eagle
* Spain: Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, with Collar, 28 May 1877
* Kingdom of Serbia: Grand Cross of the Cross of Takovo
* Siam: Grand Cross of the Crown of Siam
* Two Sicilian Royal Family: Knight of St. Ferdinand and Merit

## Ancestry

Ancestors of Paul von Hatzfeldt :

## Sources

* Hermann von Eckardstein. Lebenserinnerungen u. Politische Denkwürdigkeiten. Leipzig: Verlag Paul List, 1919.
* Vera Niehus: Ein »ambassadeur idéal«, jedoch »den Anstrengungen des ministeriellen Dienstes nicht gewachsen«: Paul von Hatzfeldt als außenpolitischer Mitarbeiter Bismarcks. In: Lothar Gall, Ulrich Lappenküper (Hrsg.): Bismarcks Mitarbeiter. Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76591-8.
* Franz-Eugen Volz: Paul Graf von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg. In: Lebensbilder aus dem Kreis Altenkirchen. Altenkirchen, 1975.