Max von Hatzfeldt


Count Maximilian Friedrich Karl Franz von Hatzfeldt zu Trachenberg was a Prussian aristocrat and diplomat. By birth he was member of an ancient House of Hatzfeld.

Early life

Maximilian was born in Berlin on 7 June 1813. He was the second son and youngest child of the Prussian general, Prince Franz Ludwig von Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg and Countess Friederike Karoline von der Schulenburg-Kehnert, a daughter of the Prussian minister to the General Directorate Count Friedrich Wilhelm von der Schulenburg-Kehnert. His older sister, Countess Luise von Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg was the wife of Prussian General Ludwig Freiherr Roth von Schreckenstein, the Minister of War.
Among his other siblings was older brother Prince Hermann Anton von Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg and sister Countess Sophie von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg. From his elder brother's second marriage to Countess Marie von Nimptsch, he was uncle to Prince Hermann von Hatzfeldt, who represented the Deutsche Reichspartei in the Reichstag. From his sister's marriage to their distant cousin, Count Edmund von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg, he was uncle to Paul von Hatzfeldt, who was Ambassador to London and Constantinople, Foreign Secretary, and Head of the Foreign Office.

Career

Von Hatzfeldt was secretary to the Prussian legation at Paris and, afterwards, from 1849 to 1859 Minister accredited to the Emperor Napoleon III. In 1856, he was at the Palace of Versailles and was a signatory to the Treaty of Paris which settled the Crimean War between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia.
He was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, the Cross of Honour 1st Class, of the House Order of Hohenzollern, Grand Duke Baden's Knight, First Class of Order of the Zähringer Lion, Knight Grand Cross of the First Class, Order of St. Gregory the Great and Knight First Class of the Royal Order of Francis I. He was also a Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honour and a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Personal life

Hatzfeldt married on 20 June 1844 in Paris Mademoiselle Rachel Elisabeth Pauline de Castellane. Pauline was a daughter of Boniface de Castellane, Marshal of France, and Louise Cordélia Eucharis Greffulhe. Her brother, Henri de Castellane, married Pauline de Talleyrand-Périgord.
Together, they were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, including:
After his death, his widow remarried to Louis de Talleyrand-Périgord, duc de Valençay, 3rd duc de Talleyrand-Périgord. The duc de Valençay was the older brother of Pauline's brother Henri de Castellane's wife Pauline de Talleyrand-Périgord, and was the father of Boson de Talleyrand-Périgord from his first marriage to Anne Louise Charlotte de Montmorency.