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| Metternich @Wikipedia |
Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859)
Austrian statesman, minister of foreign affairs; & champion of Conservatism.
His titles & honours.
Graf und Furst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein; Duque Portella
Graf von Konigswart
Knight of the Golden Fleece
Grandee of Spain, First Class
His positions of power:
His Imperial Majesty's Privy Councilor
Court Chamberlain
Court Chancellor
Cabinet Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Prime Minister of the Empire.
Also known as:
born Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich-Winneburg, Furst von Metternich
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Furst von Metternich-Winneburg-Beilstein
Klemens, Prince Metternich
Klemens, Furst von Metternich
the Autocrat of Austria
the Butterfly Minister: "The nickname of 'the butterfly Minister' which he gained there told only part of the truth. If he fluttered about, gayest of the diplomatic throng in days when diplomacy was gayer than it is to-day, finding time to have the familiar portrait painted by Lawrence, he never for a moment lost sight of the ends he had in view, above all of the aims he had for Austria. . . ." (Flenley: 23)
the Coachman of Europe, Europe's Coachman
Son of: Franz von Metternich, Prince Metternich & Beatrix von Kagenegg.
Husband of:
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| Maria Eleonore von Kaunitz @geni |
1. Maria Eleonore von Kaunitz-Rietberg (1775-1825), mar 1795
" . . . In Vienna in 1794, his mother arranged his exceedingly advantageous marriage with the 19-year-old Eléonore de Kaunitz, wealthy and well-connected grand-daughter of the great eponymous Austrian politician – they were married in the chateau at Austerlitz! . . ." (napoleon.org)
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| Maria Antonia von Leykam @geni |
2. Maria Antonia von Leykam, Grafin von Beilstein (1806-1829), mar 1827.
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| Melanie, Grafin Zichy-Ferraris @geni |
3) Melanie, Grafin Zichy-Ferraris (1805-1854), mar 1831
Metternich's spouses.
"Prince Metternich married three times. Eleonore Kaunitz, his first wife, died in 1825 of pthisis. Two of their daughters and their eldest son, Victor, had died of the same disease. He married his second wife, Antoinette de Leykam, in 1827 and she died of complications following the birth of their son, Richard (1829-1895), two years later (January 1829). Two years after that, Metternich married the Hungarian Melanie de Zichy-Ferraris (d. 1854), by whom he had a daughter and two sons. . . ." (napoleon.org)
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Metternich considered it his main task to find out about Napoleon's true intentions. He therefore sought to get close to the court whenever an opportunity arose. The women in particular thought that he was ' a reincarnation of Casanova in an Austrian version.' Caroline Bonaparte's biographer describes the look of the youthful envoy as the exact opposite of Murat: tall and slender, elegant gestures, even facial features, blond hair (mildly powdered to appear older), blue eyes with attractive drooping eyelids. He had pale skin, she writes, so page, in fact, that Caroline spoke of a 'cream face' after their first meeting---in any case, he was an attractive man." (Metternich: Strategist and Visionary: 478)
From a portrait by French painter Francois Gerard.
"The French painter François Gérard, who worked at the studio of Jacques-Louis David, painted a portrait of Metternich around this time, in 1810. In it Metternich, then thirty-seven, appears even more youthful, sensitive, with a lingering, scrutinizing expression that is somehow forthcoming and restrained at the same time. . . ." (Metternich: Strategist and Visionary: 478)
Metternich's legendary gallantry.
"After the Austrian catastrophe at Austerlitz and the humiliating treaty of Pressbourg, Metternich was appointed Austrian ambassador to France. He arrived in Paris on 4 August, 1806...
Throughout the period 1806–1808, Metternich was a frequent figure in the salons, and his gallantry was legendary – some of his best-known conquests were Laure Permon (future duchess d'Abrantès) and Caroline Bonaparte (future queen of Naples). . . ." (napoleon.org)
From Mademoiselle George, Napoleon's mistress.
" . . . This famous diplomat was very cheerful [fort gai], very informal, very natural [tres simple], and a very witty mocker. He liked to laugh, this great diplomat. . . ." (Metternich: Strategist and Visionary: 478)
Never overcame his weakness for romantic liaisons.
"Metternich, a notorious harlequin, would have many love affairs over the years, including one with Napoleon's younger sister Caroline, and another with the wife of the French marshal Jean-Andoche Junot. Metternich, indeed, never overcame his weakness for romantic liaisons, those 'secret dashes in hired cabs, rendezvous in ghostly grottoes, and moonlight scampering in and out of the upper-storey windows.' . . . ." (Vienna 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace: 15)
Women were Metternich's salt of life.
"Metternich had always been attracted to women and he had no trouble attracting them to him. Women were, as Gentz had observed, his 'salt of life,' and not just his private life at that; his whole diplomatic career had, in large measure, developed thanks to women. His wife had started him off, while the numerous women he had enchanted in the salons of Dresden, Berlin, and Paris had helped in his advance; the gallant diplomat had even managed to build his own international spy ring out of his relations with different women. Caroline Bonaparte, now, as Murat's wife, Queen of Naples, had been his lover. So had Laure Junot, wife of the famous French general and a woman who knew society in Paris as well as the back of her dainty hand. He would soon be the lover of the Princess Lieven, who would open up the secrets of London to him. History and Metternich marched calmly together, hand in hand with his women." (1815: The Roads to Waterloo)
A paragon of breeding and elegance and an inveterate ladies' man.
"Metternich, then thirty-two, came from one of Europe's most illustrious families. A speaker of impeccable French, a staunch conservative in politics, he was a paragon of breeding and elegance and an inveterate ladies' man. The presence of this polished aristocrat would add a sheen to the imperial court that Napoleon was creating. More important, winning over a man of such power---and Napoleon could be quite seductive in private meetings---would help in his grand strategy of making Austria a weak satellite. And Metternich's weakness for women would give Napoleon a way in." (The 33 Strategies of War; 169)
"Hoping to take advantage of Metternich's weakness for women, Napoleon set up his sister, Caroline Murat, to have an affair with the prince. He learned from her a few pieces of diplomatic gossip, and she told him that Metternich had come to respect him. In turn she also told Metternich that Napoleon was unhappy with his wife, Empress Josephine, who could not bear children; he was considering divorce. Napoleon did not seem upset that Metternich knew such things about his personal life." (The 33 Strategies of War; 170)
"Prince Metternich of the Habsburg dynasty and Caroline had a long history dating back to a romantic liaison in Paris at the time when he served as ambassador to the court of Napoleon. They were two of a kind, venal, aggressively ambitious, supremely egotistical, but star-crossed. The difference now was that he was the ruler and she the ruled. . . ." (Twice a Princess: 74)
"Under the watchful surveillance and protections of her old lover Prince Metternich of the House of Habsburg, who oversaw the smothering of Bonaparte ambitions for the allies, the ambitious Caroline set her sights on Schloss Frohsdorf in the Lanzenkirchen area near Vienna. Built in the 1500s on the ruins of an even earlier castle, when the castle's present owner, Graf von Hoyos, named the exorbitant sum of four hundred thousand silver florins for the property, Caroline accepted without hesitation. She was determined to complete the hegira from defeat to new glories for herself and family." (Twice a Princess: 73)
2) Dorothea von Benckendorff, Duchessa di Dino.
"At last Dorothea Lieven had found a man she felt to be worthy of her, a man to whom she could give her whole heart, a man who would love her absolutely, a man who would fulfill her emotionally and intellectually as well as physically. Clement's instinctive understanding of her innermost thoughts gave Dorothea a special, a precious intimacy missing since her mother's death. Her tender, aesthetic side fulfilled Dorothea's subconscious yearning for her father as much as Clement's powerful position appealed to he ambition. . . ." (Dorothea Lieven: A Russian Princess in London and Paris, 1785-1857: 60)
"At last Dorothea Lieven had found a man she felt to be worthy of her, a man to whom she could give her whole heart, a man who would love her absolutely, a man who would fulfill her emotionally and intellectually as well as physically. Clement's instinctive understanding of her innermost thoughts gave Dorothea a special, a precious intimacy missing since her mother's death. Her tender, aesthetic side fulfilled Dorothea's subconscious yearning for her father as much as Clement's powerful position appealed to he ambition. . . ." (Dorothea Lieven: A Russian Princess in London and Paris, 1785-1857: 60)
"Madame Lieven's loyalties were primarily to her tsar who gave the Lievens permission to come or to go. He was in total command all the time as his millions of serfs and slaves knew only too well. Although Dorothea was a supreme patriot she was above all a passionate woman and gave some of her loyalty to her lovers, and particularly to Prince Metternich, the Austrian premier, who had 'the good fortune to know His Imperial Majesty's mind.'" (Wellington the Beau: 166)
Why Dorothea von Lieven as lover: "Clement had known many women; yet, he longed for one desirable more than simply as a woman and a socialite; he wanted a woman who would arouse his deepest feelings and engage his razor sharp and politically focused mind as well. His lengthy letters prove beyond any doubt that Dorothea exactly did that. . . ." (Dorothea Lieven: A Russian Princess in London and Paris, 1785-1857: 60)
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| General Junot & Laure @Wikipedia |
Lover in 1807.
"Among the many salons of Paris, one stands out in virtue of the twenty-two-year-old host's attractiveness, grace, and intelligence, and because she was at the same time the wife of a courageous general who was as devoted to Napoleon as a 'hunting dog' to his master. Napoleon had ennobled his former adjutant Andoche Junot, as he tended to do in the case of his most faithful military leaders, and he became the Duc d'Abrantes. In 1806 he was still the governor of Paris; one year later, Napoleon appointed him of the commander of the campaign in Portugal. This left Junot's wife with the time and the opportunity to surrender to Metternich's advances; in this case, Metternich once again knew how to combine the pleasurable and the useful. In Laure, he found a glowing admirer who memorialized him in her twenty-five volume memoirs." (Metternich: Strategist and Visionary: 479)
"Laura Junot was twenty-three when Metternich first met her, apparently at a reception in the Junot residence in the Rue Boissy-d'Anglas early in 1807. She had married the courageous but choleric General seven years previously. Madame Junot was an indefatigable flirt, with dancing eyes and a good sense of humour; her husband, who was a couple of years older than Metternich, was devotedly loyal to Napoleon on whose reputation he had climbed to eminence since their first meeting at the siege of Toulon in 1793. . . (I)t is probable that Metternich originally cultivated the Junots in the belief that, like Caroline Murat, they could be able to furnish him with valuable information. But the General was far too bluff and engrossed in his own affairs to give anything away; and Laura was much too silly. By the time Junot was packed off to Spain, Metternich seems to have been infatuated; and by now he was an expert at consoling wives whose husbands were absent at the war. Laura herself has given picturesque details of her passionate romance with Metternich: hired cabs hurriedly changed to elude police agents; a grotto by the bridge at Neuilly; weeping, pleading and remorse; silent declarations of timeless devotion; such stuff as tears are jerked on. Perhaps it really was not at all like that, but so it seemed to Laura writing her account after many years of sentimental reminiscences."(Metternich: Councillor of Europe)
" . . . Metternich's simultaneous affair with Caroline Murat and Laure Junot was the best known of these scandal, for when the jealous Caroline tipped off Junot about his wife's infidelity, and Junot found the incriminating evidence Caroline had guided him to, he attacked his wife with scissors, leaving her half dead, tried to challenge Metternich to a duel and isisted that the Emperor declare war on Austria. Readers of the scandal sheets particularly enjoyed the alleged riposte by Madame Metternich when Junot 'peached' to her: 'The role of Othello ill becomes you.'"(Napoleon: A Biography)
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| Yekaterina Skavronska |
Princess Bagration.
Lover in 1801-1812
"Metternich met eighteen-year-old Katharina Bagration in the salon of Princess Isabella Czartoyska. Though Latvian in origin, Princess Bagration was described by one contemporary as having the softness of an Oriental and the grace of an Andalusian, being rather small, with dark hair and pale skin, she could also be compared to one of Frederick Augustus's finest pieces of Dresden porcelain. Late in the summer of 1802 she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named after the father, Clementine." (1815: The Roads to Waterloo)
" . . . Twelve years earlier, Bagration had married, by order of Tsar Paul I, the Countess Ekaterina Pavlovna Skavronska (1783-1857), whose great-grandfather had been a brother of Tsarina Catherine I and who on her mother's side was a close relative of Prince Grigory Potemkin. There was a significant age difference between Bagration and Skavronska. When the former fell out of favour with Tsar Paul I, he sent his young wife for safety reasons to the royal Court of Saxony in Dresden. It was in this privileged place of refuge for courtly nobles, as yet untouched by the French Revolution, that she came to know the Austrian envoy, Klemens Metternich. It was the beginning of a long-lasting and passionate relationship. Ekaterina Skavronska was not only breathtakingly beautiful but also very intelligent and deeply interested in politics. Her relationship with Metternich would have its highs and lows, partly due to his diplomatic assignments in Berlin and later in Paris, but would again become very intense after his return to Vienna (1809), where Princess Bagration had settled in the meanwhile. . . ." (Religiose Pragung und Politische Ordnung in der Neuzeit: 200)
"...Three great ladies were pre-eminent as hostesses and society leaders, the Princess Adam Czartoryska, the Countess of Courland, with one of whose daughters Metternich afterwards became enamoured, and Princess Bagration. The last-named was in reality a sort of Russian spy employed to further Russian interests at the Saxon Court, and was high in favour at St. Petersburg. With her Metternich commenced a liaison which lasted until the Vienna Congress. She is described as small and neat, with a child-like face 'white as alabaster,' and a figure slightly robust but pleasing. A slight short-sightedness gave her an appearance of timidity. Her dress was apparently somewhat ultra-fashionable, for she bore the nickname of 'The Naked Angel.' (Metternich: 33)
Natural offspring: " . . . On 29 September 1810 a daughter was born of this relationship and she was - significantly enough - called Clementine. She would go through life with the name Bagration, but it was generally known that she was in fact Metternich's daughter. Afterwards, the Austrian Chancellor would never lose track of her. Her son Gustav Blome, who was thus his natural grandson, would also enjoy his interest and support." (Religiose Pragung und Politische Ordnung in der Neuzeit: 200)
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| Wilhelmine of Courland Duchess of Sagan |
Lover in 1813-1814.
" . . . (I)f one studies the documents of Metternich prior to or during the Congress, his principal concern seems to have been the love of a woman, Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan, a German noble. Their affair---Metternich was married at the time---lasted from spring of 1813 to the fall of 1814 and resulted in around six hundred letters exchanged between the two. . .
Prince Metternich's physical traits & personal qualities: "Witty and charming, above average height, slim and graceful, 'the Adonis of the Drawing-Room' had fair hair, an aquiline nose, a well-shaped-mouth, a high forehead, and piercing blue eyes: Sir Thomas Lawrence painted him contemplating his fellow creatures with his habitually impassive expression. It masked a daunting, politically focused intellect that also cared intensely for beauty... Metternich's many admirable qualities did not, however, include conjugal fidelity. He had already had several well-noted love affairs with prominent women." (Cromwell: 57)
"In the center of the bustle was Austria's foreign minister, Prince Klemens von Metternich. He was forty-one years old with curly blond hair, pale blue eyes, and the slender toned physique of a fencer. He stood above medium height, and had a handsome, delicate face and a gift for sparkling conversation. Metternich was hailed as the 'Adonis of the Drawing Room." (Vienna 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace: 15)
Prince Metternich's personal & family background.
"Metternich, the descendant of an old Rhenish noble family, was the son of Franz Georg Karl Graf (count) von Metternich-Winneburg and the Grafin (countess) Beatrix Kagenegg. His father was then the Austrian envoy to the Rhenish principalities of the empire, and Metternich spent his youth in the Rhine-Moselle region, for which he retain a lifelong affection." (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Metternich's other lovers were.
1) Marie-Constance de Caumont de la Force
2) Princess Dolgoruki
"It must be remembered that at this period the profession of diplomacy was, at any rate in Austria, regarded rather as an agreeable occupation than as a science. It was a means whereby young men of noble birth satisfied their ambition, and it has been well said that 'Divine Right still predominated in diplomacy as among sovereigns.' And so Metternich, handsome, polished, and popular, went everywhere and knew everybody. Where pretty ladies were to be found, he was never far absent, and when Goertz paid a visit to Dresden in the summer of 1802, he was introduced by Metternich to a round of gaiety and brilliant society such as he had never experienced before. Three great ladies were pre-eminent as hostesses and society leaders, the Princess Adam Czartoryska, the Countess of Courland, with one of whose daughters Metternich afterwards became enamoured, and Princess Bagration. (, pp. 33-34)
