Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg, Melchior Gustav Paul Count of

diplomat

born: 08.10.1831 in Düsseldorf

died: 22.11.1901 in London

Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg, son of Sophie Countess von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg, studied law in Berlin. He entered the diplomatic service in 1859 and went to Paris in 1862 for training as an attaché. In 1865 he moved to the legation in The Hague as Legation Secretary. In 1868, Otto von Bismarck appointed him to the Foreign Office in Berlin, where he became Lecturing Councillor of the Political Department a year later. As such, he was assigned to the king's headquarters from 1870.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg became an important diplomatic aide to Bismarck, who particularly valued him for his knowledge of French and his editorial skills. Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg co-signed the peace treaty of Frankfurt am Main on May 10, 1871.

In 1872, he acquired the Sommerberg farm near Frauenstein, where he built today's castle.

From 1874 he was envoy in Madrid and from 1878-80 ambassador in Constantinople. In 1881, Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg returned to Berlin, where he became State Secretary in the Foreign Office from 1882-85 and subsequently Prussian Minister of State. In 1884/85, he took part in the Congo Conference in Berlin as the German plenipotentiary. In 1885, Bismarck sent him to London as ambassador, where he established good personal relations with the British Prime Minister Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.

Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg subsequently played a major role in the conclusion of the Mediterranean Agreement between England, Italy and Austria-Hungary in 1887. Three years later, he negotiated the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty with England.

Due to his state of health, he resigned in 1901. Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg was buried in the cemetery in Frauenstein, as was his wife Hélène Moulton later.

German Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 4 [p. 434].

Philippi, Hans: Melchior Gustav Paul Graf von Hatzfeld-Wildenburg. In: New German Biography, vol. 8 [pp. 65-67].