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Karl
Prince of Leiningen
Karl in 1855
Prime Minister of theGerman Empire
In office	5 August 1848 –6 September 1848
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Anton von Schmerling
Monarch	Archduke John of Austria (Regent)
Born	(1804-09-12)12 September 1804 Amorbach,Principality of Leiningen (in modernBavaria, Germany)
Died	13 November 1856(1856-11-13) (aged 52) Waldleiningen Castle,Mörschenhardt,Grand Duchy of Baden
Spouse	Countess Maria Klebelsberg ​ ​ (m. 1829)​
Issue	Ernst, Prince of Leiningen Prince Eduard
Names Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich
House	Leiningen
Father	Emich Karl, Prince of Leiningen
Mother	Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Karl, Prince of Leiningen (Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich; 12 September 1804 – 13 November 1856) was the thirdPrince of Leiningen and maternal half-brother ofQueen Victoria. Leiningen served as aBavarian lieutenant general, before he briefly played an important role inGerman politics as the first Prime Minister of theProvisorische Zentralgewalt government formed by theFrankfurt Parliament in 1848.

A member of the Hardenburg branch of theHouse of Leiningen, Karl was born inAmorbach on 12 September 1804, the son ofPrince Emich Karl of Leiningen (1763–1814) by his second marriage withPrincess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861). He was the only son, as Emich Karl's son by his first wife, Friedrich, had died in 1800.

Prince Emich Karl had received thePrincipality of Leiningen during theGerman mediatisation (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) in 1803, as a compensation for the lostHardenburg estates in thePalatinate occupied by French revolutionary troops, and took his residence at the secularisedAmorbach Abbey. The princely territory, however, soon after passed to the newly establishedGrand Duchy of Baden, theKingdom of Bavaria and theGrand Duchy of Hesse. Prince Emich Karl died on 4 July 1814 and Karl succeeded him as third Prince of Leiningen. On 11 July 1818, his widowed mother marriedPrince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of KingGeorge III of the United Kingdom, atKew Palace, Surrey. In 1819, when the duchess's pregnancy was reaching full term, Karl and his younger sister,Princess Feodora, were taken from Amorbach toLondon, where their half-sister, Princess Victoria of Kent, was born on 24 May atKensington Palace.

On 13 February 1829, Karl married Countess Marie vonKlebelsberg-Thumburg (27 March 1806 – 28 October 1880), younger daughter of Count Maximilian vonKlebelsberg-Thumburg (1752–1811) and his wife, Maria Anna vonTurba (1763–1833). They had two sons:

• Ernst, Prince of Leiningen (9 November 1830 – 5 April 1904); marriedPrincess Marie of Baden on 11 September 1858. They had two children.
• Prince Eduard Friedrich Maximilian Johann of Leiningen (5 January 1833 – 9 April 1914). Never married.

Karl had attended a private school inBern and from 1821 onwards studied law at theUniversity of Göttingen with the juristKarl Friedrich Eichhorn, then one of the principal authorities on German constitutional law and leading proponent of theGerman Historical School of jurisprudence. At the British court, his multifaceted interests in art were aroused. From 1828, he had Waldleiningen Castle nearMörschenhardt (named afterWaldleiningen in the Palatinate) erected as his private residence, aRomantic complex resemblingNeo-Gothic castles in Britain, such asAbbotsford House.^{[citation needed]}

As amediatized house, the Princes of the Leiningen were members of theLandtag diet in Baden, as well as in Bavaria and Hesse. Prince Karl became president of the Bavarian upper house (Reichsrat) in 1842 and also pursued a career in theBavarian Army as Lieutenant generalà la suite of the Cavalry. On 20 April 1842, he and 20 other noblemen gathered atBiebrich Palace, where they established theAdelsverein to organize the settlement of German emigrants inTexas; Karl was elected president of the society.^{[citation needed]}

By theGerman revolutions of 1848–49, Leiningen had achieved much reputation as aliberal reformer andfreethinker. He advocated the implementation ofparliamentarism and openly criticized aristocracy's privileges; therefore, he was appointed Prime Minister of Revolutionary Germany by Regent (Reichsverweser)Archduke John of Austria on 6 August 1848. With a Catholichead of state and a Lutheranhead of government, an equilibrium was reached inGerman dualism; moreover, Leiningen's close relations to the British Royal House were generally appreciated. His cabinet initially could rely on a liberal and left-wing majority in the newly established Frankfurt Parliament, however, as early as on 5 September, he resigned over theSchleswig-Holstein Question when in theFirst Schleswig War KingFrederick William IV of Prussia unilaterally signed an armistice with Denmark at Malmö. The delegates of the Frankfurt assembly reacted with outrage and Leiningen, unable to assert the powers of the central authority, was forced to step down. He was succeeded by theAustrian politicianAnton von Schmerling, who acted as prime minister until December.

In 1851, Karl also resigned as president of the Adelsverein and was succeeded byPrince Hermann of Wied. Shortly after his half sister's daughterVictoria became engaged toPrince Frederick of Prussia, in 1855, he suffered a severeapoplectic attack. A second attack in November the following year was fatal, and he died at Waldleiningen Castle at the age of 52, with his sister Feodora at his bedside.

Upon hearing of her half-brother's death,Queen Victoria, who referred to him by his English name Charles, wrote in her journal:

"I cannot realise that my dearly loved only brother has been taken from us! Whilst I write this, I feel as if it could only be a bad dream, from which I might yet awake, to see his dear face, hear his joyous voice & laugh, & enjoy his delightful company. It seems quite impossible, that dear Charles, the personification of life, health, & merriment, whom I can only see as such before me, — should be no longer in this world, & that I shall never see him again! It is too dreadful, too hard! But we must submit to God's will, & I do feel, that in poor dear Charles's case, his passing away is a mercy."

• Baden:^[2]
  • Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion,1823
  • Grand Cross of the House Order of Fidelity,1825
• Kingdom of Hanover: Grand Cross of theRoyal Guelphic Order,1824^[3]
• Kingdom of Bavaria:Knight of St. Hubert,1825^[4]
• Kingdom of Saxony:Knight of the Rue Crown,1825^[5]
• Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order,April 1834^[6]
• Kingdom of Portugal:Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword,3 June 1836^[7]
•  United Kingdom:Knight of the Garter,14 July 1837^[8]
• Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of theLudwig Order,4 August 1840^[9]

• Hermann Nehlsen (1997) (in German)Fürst Karl zu Leiningen (1804–1856). In: Gerhard Köbler, Hermann Nehlsen (Ed.):Wirkungen europäischer Rechtskultur. Festschrift für Karl Kroeschell zum 70. Geburtstag. Verlag C.H. Beck, München,ISBN 3-406-42994-7, S. 763f.
• Friedrich Oswald (1985)."Leiningen, Karl Emich Fürst zu".Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. 14. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 145–146.
• Sarah Tytler,The Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, vol. II

• Fürstenhaus zu Leiningen
• Texas State Historical Association

• 1804 births
• 1856 deaths
• Princes of Leiningen
• Leiningen family
• Members of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse
• Members of the First Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden
• Members of the Bavarian Reichsrat
• Knights of the Garter
• Sons of princes regnant

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