He was born on January 13th, 1859 in Paris as the son of a Wallachiann Romanian Revolutionary who had fled to France after attempting to assassinate Prince Gheorghe Bibesar during the 1848 Wallachian Revolution; Alexandru was one of 3 illegitimate children of Elisabeta Vacarescu of the Vacarescu family of boyars-he and his siblings were later adopted by Zoe Vacarescu, Elisabeta's mother, who gave the children her maiden name Paleologu. The name became Paleologue in French language spellings.
After graduating in Law, Maurice Paleologue obtained an office at the French Foreign Ministry in 1880, and moved on to become Embassy Secretary at Tangiers, in the Morocco Protectorate, then in Beijing and later in Italy. A Minister Plenipotentiary in 1901, he represented France in Bulgaria(1907-1912) and Imperial Russia(1914-1917) and moved on to become General Secretary of the Foreign Ministry in the Alexandre Millerane Cabinet.
At the same time, Paleologue published essays and novels, and wrote contributions for the Revue des deux moneles. He also wrote several works on the history of Russia in the wake of WWI, which included an intimate portrait of the last Tsarita Alexandra Fyodorovna(he had been present at meetings between her and Grigori Rasputin, among others.) He was called on to give testimony during the Dreyfus Affair, and left important notes on the topic.
Paleologue was elected a member of the Academic Francaise in 1928. He died in Paris a few months after the city's liberation during WWI.
Born on July 15th, 1858 in Dresden, he was the son of Otto von Tschirschky und Bogendorff, the Director General of the Royal Saxon State Railways, and a member of the Tschirchsky noble family. He joined the German Foreign Service in 1883, and served from 1885 to 1886 as personal secretary to Herbert von Bismarck. He was subsequently stationed in Vienna, Athens, Berne, Constantinople and St. Petersburg, before he became Minister Resident in Luxenbourg in 1900, Prussia Envoy to Mechlenburg and the Hanse-states in 1902. He also accompanied Emperor William on travels as a representative of the Foreign Office.
On January 17th, 1906 he was appointed Secretary of State, succeeding the late Oswald von Richthofen He served until October 7th, 1907, when he was succeeded by Wilhelm von Schoen.
After his term as Foreign Secretary, he was appointed Ambassador to Vienna, and served until his death on November 15th 1916.
Prince Henry of Prussia
He was born on August 14th, 1862 in Berlin. Prince Henry of Prussia was the 3rd of 8 children born to Crown Prince Frederick(later Emperor Frederick III) and Victoria, Princess of the United Kingdom(Later Empress Victoria and in widowhood Empress Frederick), eldest daughter of the British Queen Victoria. Henry was 3 years younger than his brother, the future Emperor William II.
After attending the gymnasium in Kassel, which he left in the middle grades in 1877,n the 15 year old Henry entered the Imperial Navy Cadet program. His naval education included a 2 year voyage around the world(1878-1880), the naval officer examination in October 1880, and attending the German Naval Academy(1884-1886).
As an Imperial Prince, Henry quickly achieved command. In 1887, he commanded a torpedo boat and simultaneously the 1st Torpedo Boat Division; In 1888 the Imperial Yacht: SMY Hohenzollen; from 1889-1890 the 2nd Class Cruiser SMS Irene, the Armored Coastal Defense Ship SMS Beowolf, and the Capital Ships SMS Sachsen and SMS Worth.
Then in 1897, Prince Henry commanded several naval tasks forces' these included an improvised squadron in consolidating and securing the German Tsingtao in 1898. The Prince's success was more diplomatic than the military variety; he became the 1st European potentate ever to be received by the Chinese Imperial Court. In 1899 he became officially the commander of the East Asia Squadron, later of a Capital-Ship-Squadron and in 1903 Commander of the Baltic Sea Naval Station. From 1906 to 1909, Henry was Commander of the High Seas Fleet. In 1909, he was promoted to Grand Admiral.
At the beginning of WWI, Prince Henry was named Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet. Although the means provided him were far inferior to Russia's Baltic Fleet, he succeeded, until the 1917 Revolution, in putting Russia's naval forces far on the defensive, and hindered them from making attacks on the Germans coast. After the end of hostilities with Russia, his mission was ended, and Prince Henry simply left active duty. With the wars end and the dissolution of the monarchy in Germany, Prince Henry left the navy.
Henry was truly popular in Northern Germany, and on account of his humble and open manner was beloved by those under his command. On foreign travels, he was a good diplomat, who unlike his brother, was able to strike the right tone. Thus, on his 1902 trip to the US, Henry made a favorable impression with critical
American press and succeeded in winning sympathy of more than just the numerous German American Segment of the population.
As a naval officer, Henry had a profession that completely satisfied him and that he loved. He was thoroughly a pragmatist. He received one of the 1st pilot's licenses in Germany, and was judged a spirited and excellent seaman. He was dedicated to modern technology and was able to understand quickly the practical value of technical innovations. A yachting enthusiast, Prince Henry became one of the 1st members of the Yacht Club of Keil, established by a group of naval officers in 1887 and quickly became the club's patron.
Henry was interested in motor cars as well and supposedly invented a windshield wiper and, according to other sources, the car horn. In his honor, the Prince-Hienrich-Takrt(Prince-Hienrich-Tour) was established in 1908, like the earlier Kaiserpreis precursor to the German Grand Prix. Henry and his brother gave patronage to the Kaiserlicher Automobile Club(Imperial Automobile Club).
Henry also was early proponent of introducing submarines and airplanes. He had a steamship converted into a primitive aircraft carrier for operations in the Baltic Sea.
Henry respected his brother, but this attitude was not returned in the same measure. Wilhelm kept his younger brother far from politics, although Henry served as his representative as long as the Crown Prince was still in his minority. Henry complied with this, for he did not interest himself in either politics or grand strategy. He did not recognize what political effect the German naval build-up would entail, and also would not have been in the position to move his brother toward a different policy.
After the German Revolution, Henry lived with his family in Hemmelmark near Eckernforde, in Schleswig-Holstein. He continued with motor sports and sailing and even in old age was a very successful participant in regattas. He popularized the Prinz-Heinrich-Mutze(Prince Henry Cap) which is still worn, especially by older sailors.
In 1899, Henry received an honorary doctorate(Doctor of Engineering) from the Technical University of Berlin, also in foreign countries he received numerous similar honers, including an honorary doctorate in 1902 from Harvard University.
Prince Henry died of throat cancer on April 20th, 1929.
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