Fürst

Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł
Portrait of Prince Radziwiłł, 1897
Born(1833-03-31)31 March 1833
Teplice, Austrian Empire
Died16 December 1904(1904-12-16) (aged 71)
Berlin, German Empire
Allegiance Kingdom of Prussia
 German Empire
Service/branchRoyal Prussian Army
Imperial German Army
RankGeneral of the Artillery
Battles/warsAustro-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
AwardsOrder of the Black Eagle
Order of the Red Eagle
Iron Cross

Prince Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł (Polish: Fryderyk Wilhelm Ferdynand Antoni Radziwiłł; 31 March 1833 – 16 December 1904) was a member of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility and a General of the Artillery in the Prussian Army. He was the nephew of Princess Elisa Radziwiłł, the first love of their kinsman King William I of Prussia, who would later become the first German Emperor.

Early life

Born the eldest son of Prince Wilhelm Paweł Radziwiłł (1797–1870), a General of the Infantry in the Prussian Army, and his second wife Countess Mathilde of Clary und Aldringen (1806–1896), Antoni was a descendant of the powerful magnate family of Radziwiłł, who owned large estates in Silesia and Posen, as well as Russia; his uncle was the Polish statesman Prince Bogusław Fryderyk Radziwiłł. He was also related to the Prussian royal family through King Frederick William I, whose granddaughter Princess Louise was married to Antoni's grandfather Antoni Henryk, Governor of Posen.

Career

Watercolor of Prince Radziwiłł on a hunt, by Julian Fałat, 1886
His wife, Marie de Castellane

Upon his graduation from the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin in 1852, Antoni joined the military firstly as part of the Guards Artillery Regiment, before serving an 8-month internship with the 3rd Artillery Regiment in Magdeburg. During that time he accompanied Prince Frederick William to Moscow to witness the coronation of Tsar Alexander II of Russia in August 1856. Between 1858 and 1861 he enrolled in the military academy, rising to the rank of captain.

In 1866 Prince Radziwiłł participated in the Austro-Prussian War as part of the General Staff of Prince August of Württemberg's Guard Corps, after which he was appointed personal aide-de-camp to King William I. He became a close confidant of the king, often accompanying him on important events. He would play a major role in the future Franco-Prussian War, as he was the one to deliver the Ems Dispatch to Count Benedetti, as well as announcing the ceasefire after the Battle of Sedan on 2 September 1870 and witnessing the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles.

In 1885, William I appointed him to the rank of Adjutant general.

Later life

From 1871 to 1888, Prince Radziwiłł was a member of the Prussian House of Lords. He and his wife ran a popular salon in Berlin, where they entertained many Polish politicians and members of the Catholic Center Party. This earned him the distrust of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck during the Kulturkampf, which was exacerbated by the fact that Antoni's cousin Ferdynand Radziwiłł was a member of the Polish Party.[1]

He was promoted to General of the Infantry by Emperor Frederick III, upon the latter's accession to the throne, while retaining his position as Adjutant. Upon Frederick's death in 1888, however, he was dismissed by the next Emperor, William II, who on 22 March 1889 granted him the "duty title" of General of the Artillery.[2]

Personal life

Radziwiłł's eldest son, Prince Jerzy
Prince Jerzy's wife, Maria Róża Branicki

On 3 October 1857, Radziwiłł married Marie de Castellane, the daughter of French aristocrats Henri de Castellane and Pauline de Talleyrand-Périgord, in Sagan.[3] They had four children:

Radziwiłł died in Berlin in 1904; his funeral was held at St. Hedwig's Cathedral, and attended by the Kaiser himself. His remains were interred at the family crypt in Nyasvizh in 1905.[8] His widow died at the Kleinitz Palace in Lower Silesia in July 1915.[3]

Descendants

Through his eldest son, he was a grandfather of Prince Albrecht Radziwiłł (1885–1935), who married American heiress Dorothy Evelyn Deacon, daughter of Edward Parker Deacon, in 1910.[9][10] They divorced and she married Count Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd.[11]

Through his daughter Elżbieta, he was a grandfather of Count Alfred Antoni Potocki (1886–1958) and Count Jerzy Antoni Potocki (1889–1961), the Polish ambassador to the United States from 1936 to 1940.[12]

Honours

Decorations and awards

German honours[13]
Foreign honours[13]

Military appointments

References

  1. ↑ Petra Wilhelmy-Dollinger, The Berlin salons. Berlin 2000. p. 251
  2. 1 2 "Anton Wilhelm Fürst Radziwill". the Prussian Machine. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 "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". The New York Times. 13 July 1915. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  4. ↑ Łopatecki, Karol; Walczak, Wojciech (7 September 2018). The history of Branicki Palace until 1809. The influence of "Versailles of Podlasie" on the development of Białystok. Instytut Badań nad Dziedzictwem Kulturowym Europy. ISBN 978-83-64103-55-1. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ↑ Wasylewski, Stanisław (1959). Czterdzieści lat powodzenia: przebieg mojego życia (in Polish). Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. p. 455. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 Potocka, Maria Małgorzata z Radziwiłłów Franciszkowa (1983). Z moich wspomnień: pamiętnik (in Polish). Katolicki Ośrodek Wydawniczy Veritas. pp. 379, 482–483. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  7. ↑ The Book of Kings: The families. Quadrangle/New York Times Book Company. 1973. p. 576. ISBN 978-0-8129-0280-8. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  8. ↑ "PRINCE RADZIWILL DEAD.; Head of the Lithuanian Branch of the Family -- Born in 1833". The New York Times. 17 December 1904. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "PRINCESS RADZIWILL WINS ANNULMENT; She Was Miss Dorothy Deacon and Was Married in London in 1910". The New York Times. 11 January 1922. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  10. ↑ Times, Wireless To the New York (13 January 1926). "SUES PRINCE RADZIWILL.; Ex-Wife, Formerly Miss Deacon, Demands Funds for Daughter". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "The Scandal That Shook Roman Society". Detroit Free Press. 27 August 1922. p. 83. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "POLISH AMBASSADOR TO WASHINGTON QUITS; Count Potocki Resigns After 4 Years--Gives No Reason". The New York Times. 12 November 1940. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  13. 1 2 3 Handbuch über den Königlich Preußischen Hof und Staat fur das jahr 1903, p. 40
  14. 1 2 "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), Berlin, 1: 109, 663, 1877 – via hathitrust.org
  15. 1 2 3 "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), Berlin, 1: 58, 559, 945, 1886 – via hathitrust.org
  16. ↑ "Eisernes Kreuz von 1870", Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), vol. 3, Berlin, 1877, p. 766 – via hathitrust.org{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. 1 2 "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (supp.)", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), Berlin, 1: 5, 6, 1886 – via hathitrust.org
  18. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1883) "Herzoglicher Haus-orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 21
  19. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1902), "Großherzogliche Orden" p. 180
  20. ↑ Hof- und - Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern (1890), "Königliche Orden". p. 10
  21. ↑ Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtums Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1884), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 36
  22. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 84
  23. ↑ Staat Oldenburg (1876). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für ... 1876. Schulze. p. 62.
  24. ↑ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: 1879. Schulze. 1879. p. 47.
  25. ↑ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1869), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 22
  26. ↑ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1900), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 43
  27. ↑ Sachsen (1901). "Königlich Orden". Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Sachsen: 1901. Dresden: Heinrich. p. 161 – via hathitrust.org.
  28. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" pp. 43, 97
  29. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1881), "Königliche Orden" p. 41
  30. ↑ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1904, pp. 68, 95, 164, retrieved 14 January 2021
  31. ↑ "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III", Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish), 1903, p. 173, retrieved 13 January 2021
  32. ↑ Sveriges och Norges statskalender. Liberförlag. 1876. p. 485 – via runeberg.org.
  33. ↑ Sveriges statskalender (PDF) (in Swedish), 1903, p. 435, retrieved 16 November 2020 – via gupea.ub.gu.se

Bibliography

  • Ryszard Dzieszyński, Sedan tysiąc osiemset siedemdziesiąt, Bellona 2009, p. 18.
  • Petra Wilhelmy-Dollinger, The Berlin salons. Berlin 2000. p. 251
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