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Karl Maria Alexander

Prince of Auersperg

Karl Maria Alexander, 9th Prince of Auersperg, Duke of Gottschee (26 February 1859 in Vienna - 19 October 1927 in Goldegg) was an Austrian landowner and politician. Karl Maria Alexander was heir to the influential mediatized House of Auersperg. His father, Prince Adolf of Auersperg was Minister-President of Austria. The same position was held by his uncle Prince Karl Wilhelm of Auersperg. He was cavalry master of the reserve, Chief Treasurer and Chief Land-marshal in Carniola and the Windic March, as well as a Privy Councilor. From 1894 to 1902 he was a member of the Landtag of Lower Austria as the representative of the constitutionally loyal landowners. In 1891 he succeeded his uncle Prince Karl Wilhelm as hereditary member of the House of Lords (Herrenhaus), where he became the House's vice-president and leader of the Constitutional Party from 1897 to 1907. He was the son of Prince Adolf Wilhelm Daniel of Auersperg (1821-1885) and Countess Johanna Festetics de Tolna (1830-1884). On the death of his uncle, Prince Karl Wilhem, he became 9th Prince of Auersperg, Duke of Gottschee, Princely Count of Wels. In 1885 he married Countess Eleonore von Breunner-Enkevoirth, daughter of Count August von Breunner-Enkevoirth, with whom he had five children.

k.u.k. Leibgardereitereskadron. Until 1918, the Life Guards Squadron was one of a total of five guard units at the court of the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. With a strength of 150 officers and men and 80 horses, its tasks roughly corresponded to the personal gendarmerie of the German emperor. The Life Guard Horse Squadron was set up as a Guard Gendarmerie with a strength of 77 men by cabinet letter dated September 24, 1849 and was renamed the Life Guard Horse Squadron on September 18, 1868. Her captain was the 1st Adjutant General. The main task of the unit, which was made up of non-commissioned officers, was the orderly service for the emperor and the military chancellery. The squadron was also used for courier trips. The quarters were the Lechenfeld barracks. In contrast to the Arcièren bodyguard and the k.u.k. life guard of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - Life Guards Squadron was not a pure officers' guard, but rather consisted of non-commissioned officers from the Joint Army in the lower ranks.

The House of Auersperg (Slovene: Auerspergi or Turjaški) is an Austrian princely family, which once held estates in the Holy Roman Empire. The princely family of Auersperg originated as a junior branch of the comital line of Auersperg from Carniola, one of the hereditary Habsburg duchies in what is now Slovenia. The Auerspergs were raised to princely status in 1653, and they became "immediate" princes of the Holy Roman Empire in 1664. The princes of Auersperg also held at various times the duchies of Münsterberg and Gottschee. Their territories were mediatised by Austria and Baden in 1806, and the family is counted as high nobility (one of the Mediatised Houses, or former Sovereign families).

Awards: Insignia and sash of the Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, Star of the Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph.

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