Karel Schwarzenberg

Karel Schwarzenberg
Schwarzenberg as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007
6th & 8th Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 13 July 2010 – 10 July 2013
Prime Minister	Petr Nečas
Preceded by	Jan Kohout
Succeeded by	Jan Kohout
In office 9 January 2007 – 8 May 2009
Prime Minister	Mirek Topolánek
Preceded by	Alexandr Vondra
Succeeded by	Jan Kohout
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
In office 13 July 2010 – 10 July 2013
Prime Minister	Petr Nečas
Preceded by	Vlasta Parkanová
Succeeded by	Jan Fischer
Leader of TOP 09
In office 28 November 2009 – 29 November 2015
Preceded by	Inaugural holder
Succeeded by	Miroslav Kalousek
Senator from Prague 6
In office 13 November 2004 – 29 May 2010
Preceded by	Jan Ruml
Succeeded by	Petr Bratský
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 29 May 2010 – 21 October 2021
Personal details
Born	(1937-12-10)10 December 1937 Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Died	12 November 2023(2023-11-12) (aged 85) Vienna, Austria
Resting place	Orlík Castle, Orlík nad Vltavou, Czech Republic 49°30′20″N 14°10′02″E / 49.50556°N 14.16722°E / 49.50556; 14.16722
Citizenship	Czech Republic, Switzerland
Political party	ODA (1996–2007) TOP 09 (2009–2023)
Spouse	Therese Hardegg
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Vienna University of Graz University of Munich (all left prior Graduation[1][2])
Signature

Karel Schwarzenberg (Czech pronunciation: [ˈʃvartsn̩bɛrk], 10 December 1937 – 12 November 2023) was a Czech politician, diplomat and statesman who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2009 and then again between 2010 and 2013. Schwarzenberg was leader and co-founder of the TOP 09 party and its candidate for president of the Czech Republic in the 2013 election. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 2010 to 2021 and in the Senate from 2004 until 2010.

From July 1990 to July 1992 Schwarzenberg served as the chancellor (director of the presidential office) to Václav Havel, while he was president. He went on to be elected as Senator for the municipal district Prague 6 from 2004 to 2010 and to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2013, originally as a non-partisan minister nominated by the Green Party. In May 2010, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for the newly founded pro-European centre-right party TOP 09, gaining the largest number of preference votes. He was candidate for President of the Czech Republic in the 2013 presidential election, and qualified for the second round, finishing as runner-up, with 45.19% of the votes.^[3][4] Schwarzenberg was noted for his pro-European views.^[5]

Schwarzenberg was the head of the House of Schwarzenberg, a formerly leading family of the Habsburg empire, from 1979 until his death. He was related to Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, a statesman of the Austrian Empire.^[6] From 1948 to 1990, he lived in Austria, where he was known as Karl Schwarzenberg, and was involved in politics for the Austrian People's Party and became a noted critic of human-rights violations in the Eastern Bloc, chairing the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. Following the fall of communism, he became a close adviser to Václav Havel and relocated to Prague.

Schwarzenberg was married to Countess Therese von Hardegg (Therese Gräfin zu Hardegg auf Glatz und im Machlande) and they had three children, all of whom live in Austria.