Count Otto von Czernin
Otto Graf Czernin von und zu Chudenitz | |
|---|---|
Ludwig Graf Széchényi von Sárvár und Felsövidék | |
| Succeeded by | None |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 August 1875 Dimokur, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) |
| Died | 14 June 1962 (aged 86) Salzburg, Austria |
| Spouse(s) | Lucy, née Beckett (1884–1979) Maria Lisa, née Pfeiffer (1899–1983) |
Otto Rudolf Theobald Ottokar Maria Graf Czernin von und zu Chudenitz (Czech: Otto Rudolf Theobald Ottokar Maria hrabě Černín z Chudenic; 27 August 1875 – 14 June 1962) was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat during the time of World War I.
Life and career
Born in Dimokur (
Ottokar, also a diplomat who would become Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister during World War I. He married Lucy Beckett (1884–1979), daughter of Ernest Beckett, 2nd Baron Grimthorpe, in London in 1903. The marriage produced three sons, but they divorced shortly after the outbreak of the war in 1914. In 1939, he married Maria Lisa Pfeiffer (1899–1983) in Bratislava.[citation needed
]
Following studies at the
Bosnian annexation crisis
in 1908.
Before the war, Count von Czernin served as a Counselor to the Embassy in
Count von Szapáry was absent due to the illness of his wife. He was therefore in charge of dealing directly with Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov until Count Szapáry returned to the Russian capital in mid-July.[1]
Following the outbreak of war, Count von Czernin returned to Vienna and was employed by the
Count von Széchényi
who had been there only a few months. In Sofia, he wielded significant influence over Bulgarian policy-making during the last months of the war. Considered an able diplomat and judged by some as superior to his older brother, he left his post on 4 November 1918.
After the war, Count von Czernin resigned from public service and sought to ward off expropriations of his Bohemian estates in
Manfred (who had remained with his mother in England), was a RAF pilot during World War II. Following World War II, he joined Otto von Habsburg
's cause for a unified Europe.
Count von Czernin died in Salzburg on 14 June 1962.
Notes
- Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919.
References
- ^ 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. 190.
- ^ Eagle Glassheim, Noble nationalists: The transformation of the Bohemian aristocracy, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 109.