Prince Philip of Eulenburg born 12 February 1847 (d. 1921)Philip Frederick Alexander, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, Count of Sandels, 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, 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.
With many of his closest advisors discredited by accusations of homosexuality, the Kaiser came to rely more on his military leaders. Prussian militarism culminated in Germany's involvement in the disastrous First World War in which over 3 million German men were killed and an additional 4 million wounded.
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.
Eulenburg-Hertefeld, Philipp, Prince zu (1857-1921) - lgbtq encyclopedia