Philipp von Orsini-Rosenberg


Count Philipp Josef von Orsini-Rosenberg, was an Austrian nobleman, diplomat and politician.

Early life

Count Orsini-Rosenberg was born on 3 June 1691 in Vienna. He was a son of Count Wolfgang Andreas von Orsini-Rosenberg, and, his third wife, Princess Ernestina Barbara Montecuccoli . Philipp was a child when his father died and his mother entrusted his education with Count von Oed as his tutor. From his father's prior marriage to Eva Regina von Welz, he had an elder half-brother, Count Joseph Paris von Orsini-Rosenberg.
His paternal grandparents were Johann Andreas von Rosenberg, and Juliana Kulmer von Rosenbichl. His maternal grandparents were Raimondo Montecuccoli and Countess Maria Margareta of Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg. His maternal uncle was Prince Leopold Philip Montecuccoli.

Career

He began his diplomatic career at the Court of Emperor Joseph I, however, it was the Emperor's successor, Charles VI, who appointed Count Orsini-Rosenberg chamberlain upon his accession to the throne in 1711. In 1713, he carried out his first diplomatic mission on behalf of the Holy Roman Empire, namely to convey the Emperor's congratulations to the King of Portugal on the birth of the Prince of Brazil. After his return, he held higher positions in rapid succession, first becoming Hofkammerrer, then president of several chamber committees, then, in April 1721, First Councilor and Director of the Chamber of the Kingdom of Serbia and, on 19 June 1722, President of the state-owned salt industry.
After some time he resigned his post and lived on his estates away from state affairs until he was recalled to service by Empress Maria Theresa in April 1744, who asked him to take up the post of Imperial Ambassador to the Prussian Court. He did not remain there long, because after the outbreak of War with Prussia, he was reassigned to the Embassy in St. Petersburg where one of his predecessors, Antoniotto Botta Adorno, had made a bad name for himself by participating in court intrigues. Count Orsini-Rosenberg then had the difficult task of regaining the trust of Tsarina Elizabeth at the Austrian court, which he succeeded at admirably on 3 November 1744 by obtaining a public declaration.
Discharged in November 1745, Philipp Joseph went to the Netherlands as Ambassador, joining forces with the Minister Plenipotentiary of the Austrian Netherlands, Baron : together they succeeded in dissuading the States General of the Netherlands from their initial idea of maintaining neutrality when the French invaded their territory. He then moved to England and, after a short stay in Lisbon, returned to Austria in 1750 and became president of the Lower House of Parliament. In May 1753 he succeeded the Marquis von Prieal as Ambassador to the Most Serene Republic of Venice. He was recalled to Vienna in 1764, and died there in February of the following year.

Personal life

In 1712, Count Orsini-Rosenberg was married to Countess Maria Dominika von Kaunitz, a daughter of Count Dominik Andreas von Kaunitz, Baron of Šlapanice, and Countess Maria Eleonora von Sternberg. Through her elder brother, Count Maximilian Ulrich von Kaunitz, she was aunt to Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg. Together, they were the parents of:
After the death of his first wife in Venice in 1756, he met Giustiniana Wynne, daughter of an English baronet, Sir Richard Wynne. The former lover of Italian statesman Andrea Memmo and rake Giacomo Casanova, she married Orsini-Rosenberg in 1758. The Count remained in Venice for eleven years, hosted in Palazzo Loredan, which he knew as "the ambassador".
Count Orsini-Rosenberg died on 5 February 1765 in Vienna.

Descendants

Through his son Vinzenz, he was a grandfather of Franz Seraph of Orsini-Rosenberg, who became 2nd Prince of Orsini-Rosenberg in 1794 following the death of his second cousin, Franz Xaver von Orsini-Rosenberg.