Prince Karl of Auersperg

His Serene Highness Karl von Auersperg 8th Prince of Auersperg
Minister-President of Austria
In office 30 December 1867 – 24 September 1868
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust (as Chairman of the Ministers' Conference)
Succeeded by	Eduard, Viscount Taaffe
President of the House of Lords (Austria)
In office 8 April 1861 – 31 December 1867
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Josef, Prince of Colloredo-Mannsfeld
In office 8 December 1868 – 15 May 1870
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Josef, Prince of Colloredo-Mannsfeld
Succeeded by	Count Franz von Kuefstein
In office 21 December 1871 – 17 May 1879
Monarch	Franz Joseph I
Preceded by	Count Franz von Kuefstein
Succeeded by	Ferdinand, Hereditary Count of Trauttmansdorff
Personal details
Born	(1814-05-01)1 May 1814 Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire
Died	4 January 1890(1890-01-04) (aged 75) Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Political party	Constitutional Party (Austria)
Spouse	Countess Ernestine Festetics de Tolna

Karl Wilhelm Philipp, 8th Prince of Auersperg, Duke of Gottschee (German: Karl Wilhelm Philipp Fürst^[1] von Auersperg, Herzog^[2] von Gottschee; 1 May 1814 in Prague – 4 January 1890 in Prague) was a Bohemian and an Austrian nobleman and statesman. He served as the first President of the Austrian House of Lords and as the first prime minister of the western part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Cisleithania).

He was the eldest son of Wilhelm II of Auersperg (1782–1827) and, his second wife, Friederike Luise Wilhelmine Henriette von Lenthe. His paternal grandparents were Wilhelm I of Auersperg and Leopoldine von Waldstein-Wartenberg. His maternal grandparents were Carl Levin Otto von Lenthe and Henriette Friederike Wilhelmine Sophie Bennigsen von Banteln (a daughter of Count Levin August von Bennigsen).

The 8th Prince of Auersperg, Karl Wilhem, was heir to one of the most prominent princely families of the Holy Roman Empire, whose Imperial Estate was mediatized in the Austrian Empire following the German Mediatisation of the post-revolutionary era. He became head of the princely House at the age of thirteen on the death of his father, Wilhelm II, in 1827.

As a member of the German-Liberal Party, Karl represented the landed nobility in the Bohemian Landtag (provincial assembly) during the 1840s and took a conspicuous part in defending the constitutional system against Prince Metternich's Vormärz regime, which was becoming increasingly unpopluar throughout the Austrian Empire and ultimately culminated in the German revolutions of 1848–1849.^[3]

In the following decade, after the resignation of Metternich as first minister and the abdication of Emperor Ferdinand I in favour of Emperor Franz Joseph I, Karl remained largely absent from public life.

On the advent of the new constitutional era in 1861, Franz Joseph I established a bicameral Imperial Council in the Austrian Empire and appointed Karl as the first President of the House of Lords. Karl became the longest serving President over his three terms in office (1861–1867, 1896–1870, 1871–1879). In 1861 Karl also rejoined the Bohemian Landtag where he served intermittently as Oberstlandmarschall (supreme provincial marshal) of Bohemia and as chairman of the Landesausschuss (state committee) until 1883.^[3]

After the constitutional changes that led to the creation the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, the Emperor turned to the German-Liberals (who had supported the Austro-Hungarian Compromise) to form the new Austrian government and appointed Karl as the first Prime Minister. Karl's cabinet was referred to as the Citizens' Ministry as four out of its nine cabinet members were commoners (without noble titles) and another had only been ennobled eleven years previously. After conflicts in the cabinet over concessions to various nationalities and ethnic groups through federalism, he resigned in protest on 4 September 1868. Although an advocate of centralism, he agreed to negotiations with the Czechs in order to win their participation in the Imperial Council. In his view, Viscount Taaffe and Foreign Minister Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust made excessive concessions to the Czech National Party.^[4]

After his retirement, Karl worked as a zealous supporter of the policies of his brother, Prince Adolf of Auersperg, who served as Prime Minister of Austria from 1871 to 1879.

In 1851 he married Countess Ernestine Festetics de Tolna, daughter of Count Ernő János Vilmos.

As he died without issue, he was succeeded by his nephew Karl, 9th Prince of Auersperg.

• Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1852 (Austrian Empire)^[5]
• Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1863 (Austrian Empire)^[5]

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Coat of Arms of the Princely House of Auersperg

• List of minister-presidents of Austria

• Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Auersperg, Carlos, Prince" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

• Otto^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Czech)