Prince Philip of Eulenburg
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Philip Frederick Alexander, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, Count of Sandels, in German: Philipp Friedrich Alexander Fürst zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld, Graf von Sandels (Königsberg 12 February 1847 - Liebenberg 17 September 1921) was a politician and diplomat of imperial Germany in late 1800s and early 1900s.
Count Philip of Eulenburg was born at Königsberg, Prussia in 1847. He became a close friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was two years his junior, prior to Wilhem’s accession to the imperial throne. Eulenburg entered the diplomatic corps in 1877, becoming Prussia's ambassador to Bavaria and, subsequently, Germany's amabassador to Austria-Hungary.
Upon the accession of his friend Wilhelm to the thrones of Prussia and Germany, count Eulenburg assumed an unofficial position of immense influence, and among other things, was instrumental in the appointment of Bernhard von Bülow as head of the foreign office in 1897. Wilhelm II had long desired the appointment of "his own Bismarck" - a powerful chancellor who would enact the Kaiser's will - and Eulenburg was the first to suggest Bülow for this role.
In 1900, count Philip was created Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, and to continue his wife's otherwise soon-to-be-extinguishing comital name, also Count of Sandels.
Count Philip of Eulenburg married at Stockholm on 20 November 1875 Augusta Sandels (Stockholm 12 May 1853- Liebenberg 14 Dec 1941), daughter of the last Count Sandels. Sources say that he continued his "individual" lifestyle also after the marriage. They had eight children.
Although he was married, Eulenburg was connected in homosexual liaisons with members of the Kaiser’s inner circle, including count Kuno von Moltke, the military commander of Berlin. The public exposure of these liaisons in 1907 led to the Harden-Eulenburg Affair. In 1908, Eulenburg was placed on trial for perjury due to his denial of his homosexuality; the trial was repeatedly postponed due to Eulenburg’s claim of poor health. Eulenburg died in 1921.
Princess Sophie, Duchess in Bavaria, the current Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein, is one of Philip Eulenburg's descendants, as are Sophie's children, of whom one son will succeed on the throne of Liechtenstein.
