Chlodwig Carl Viktor, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prince of Ratibor and Corvey (German: Chlodwig Carl Viktor Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Prinz von Ratibor und von Corvey) (31 March 1819 – 6 July 1901), usually referred to as the Prince of Hohenlohe, was a German statesman, who served as the imperial chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1894 to 1900.
A member of the princely house of Hohenlohe, Chlodwig served in the Prussian civil service until 1845, when he succeeded as Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and became a member of the Bavarian Reichsrat. In 1866, on the recommendation of the composer Richard Wagner, Hohenlohe was appointed minister-president of Bavaria, and came to be regarded as the second most important statesman in Germany after Otto von Bismarck. His pro-Prussian stance and opposition to ultramontanism ultimately led to his downfall. He was forced to resign in 1870 but remained a highly influential figure. In 1871, he was elected to the Reichstag and made its vice president. Hohenlohe was among the most prominent liberal politicians of his time in Germany; he was also a strenuous supporter of Bismark's anti-papal Kulturkampf measures. In 1873, Bismarck appointed him German ambassador in Paris. He was recalled to Berlin seven years later and served briefly as foreign secretary. In 1885, he was appointed governor of Alsace–Lorraine.
In 1894, Emperor Wilhelm II dismissed Leo von Caprivi and appointed Hohenlohe imperial chancellor. Then advanced in age, he rarely appeared in parliament and granted great independence to his secretaries of state, such as foreign secretary Bernhard von Bülow. His power further diminished as a result of Wilhelm's assertiveness. Hohenlohe resigned the chancellorship in 1900 and was succeeded by Bülow. He died a year later at the age of 82.
Chlodwig was born at Rotenburg an der Fulda, in Hesse, a member of the princely House of Hohenlohe. His father, Prince Franz Joseph (1787–1841), was a Catholic; his mother, Princess Konstanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a Lutheran. In accordance with the compromise customary at the time, Chlodwig and his brothers were brought up in the Roman Catholic religion of their father.
As the younger son of a cadet line of his house, it was necessary for Chlodwig to follow a profession. For a while he thought of obtaining a commission in the British army through the influence of his aunt, Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, half-sister to Queen Victoria. Instead, however, he decided to enter the Prussian diplomatic service.
Chlodwig's application to be excused the preliminary steps, which involved several years' work in subordinate positions in the Prussian civil service, was refused by King Frederick William IV. As auscultator in the courts at Koblenz he acquired a taste for jurisprudence. He became a referendar in September 1843, and after some months of travel in France, Switzerland and Italy he went to Potsdam as a civil servant 13 May 1844.
These early years were invaluable - not only did it provide him experience of practical affairs, it also afforded him an insight into the strength and weakness of the Prussian system. The immediate result was to confirm his Liberalism. The Prussian principle of propagating enlightenment with a stick did not appeal to him; he recognized the confusion and want of clear ideas in the highest circles, the tendency to make agreement with the views of the government the test of loyalty to the state; and he noted in his journal (25 June 1844) four years before the revolution of 1848, "a slight cause and we shall have a rising." "The free press," he notes on another occasion, "is a necessity, progress the condition of the existence of a state." If he was an ardent advocate of German unity, and saw in Prussia the instrument for its attainment, he was throughout opposed to the "Prussification" of Germany.
Succession to family titles and estates
Chlodwig was the second of six sons. In 1834 his mother's brother-in-law Landgrave Viktor Amadeus of Hesse-Rotenburg died, leaving his estates to his nephews. It was not until 1840 that it was determined how to divide these estates. On 15 October 1840 Chlodwig's older brother, Viktor Moritz Karl zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, 1st Fürst von Corvey (10 February 1818 – 30 January 1893), renounced his rights as first-born son to the Principality of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and was made Duke of Ratibor and Prince of Corvey by King Frederick William IV of Prussia; at the same time Chlodwig received the additional title of Prince of Ratibor and Corvey. He also received the lordship of Treffurt in the Prussian governmental district of Erfurt.
On 14 January 1841, Chlodwig's father, Fürst Franz Joseph (1787–1841), died. As second son he ought to have succeeded as Prince (Fürst) of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, but instead he renounced his rights to his third brother Philipp Ernst, (24 May 1820 – 3 May 1845), with the stipulation that they would revert to him in case of his brother's death. On 3 May 1845 Philipp Ernst died, and Chlodwig succeeded as seventh Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. As such he was an hereditary member of the Upper House of the Bavarian Reichsrat. Such a position was incompatible with his political career in Prussia. On 18 April 1846, he took his seat as a member of the Bavarian Reichsrat, and the following 26 June he received his formal discharge from the Prussian service.
Chlodwig's political life for the next eighteen years was generally uneventful. During the Revolution of 1848 his sympathies were with the Liberal idea of a united Germany, and he compromised his chances of favor from King Maximilian II of Bavaria by accepting the task of announcing to the courts of Rome, Florence and Athens the accession to office of the Archduke Johann of Austria as regent of Germany.
In general, this period of Chlodwig's life was occupied in the management of his estates, in the sessions of the Bavarian Reichsrat and in travels. In 1856 he visited Rome, during which he noted the influence of the Jesuits. In 1859 he was studying the political situation at Berlin, and in the same year he paid a visit to England. The marriage of his cadet brother, Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (8 September 1828 – Vienna, Austria, 14 February 1896), to Princess Marie of Sayn-Wittgenstein (18 February 1837 – 21 January 1920), on 15 October 1859 at Weimar, Germany led also to frequent visits to Vienna. Thus Chlodwig was brought into close touch with all the most notable people in Europe, including Catholic leaders of the Austrian Empire.
At the same time, during this period (1850–1866) he was endeavouring to get into relations with the Bavarian government, with a view to taking a more active part in affairs. Towards the German question his attitude at this time was tentative. He had little hope of a practical realization of a united Germany, and inclined towards the tripartite divisions under Austria, Prussia and Bavaria (the so-called "Trias-Lösung"). He attended the Fürstentag at Frankfurt in 1863; further, in the Schleswig-Holstein question, he was a supporter of the prince of Augustenburg. It was at this time that, at the request of Queen Victoria, he began to send her regular reports on the political condition of Germany.
His portrait was painted by Philip de László.
After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Chlodwig argued in the Bavarian Reichsrat for a closer union with mainly Protestant Prussia. King Ludwig II of Bavaria was opposed to any dilution of his power, but was eventually brought around, after Bismarck secretly bequeathed him a large sum from the Welfen-Funds (a large part of the fortune of the royal House of Hanover used after the annexation of Hanover by Prussia to fight Hannoverian loyalists) to pay off his large debts.
On 31 December 1866, Chlodwig was appointed minister of the royal house and of foreign affairs and president of the council of ministers. According to Chlodwig's son Alexander (Denkwurdigkeiten, i. 178, 211) Chlodwig's appointment as Minister-President occurred at the instigation of the composer Richard Wagner.