As did most of his family, Aloys attended the
Schottengymnasium in Vienna. After studying law at the
University of Vienna from 1864 to 1868, he joined the Austrian army's
hussar regiment as a lieutenant. He changed to the diplomatic service in 1869, serving as an attaché in Munich, London and Berlin. He resigned the diplomatic service in 1873 and was transferred to the military reserves the following year, holding the rank of first lieutenant. An opponent of liberalism that dominated the politics of
Cisleithania after the 1867
December Constitution, Prince Aloys joined the conservative Catholic People's Association in 1874. He served in the House of Deputies (lower house) of the
Reichsrat from 1878 to 1889 as a Catholic-Conservative member of parliament. In 1881 he became a member, and from 1888–1889 was chairman of the conservative
Zentrum-Klub. In 1875, he met
Karl von Vogelsang and in 1887 came into contact with
Karl Lueger, joining the latter's
Christian Social Party (
Christlichsozialen Partei) when it was founded in 1891. Aloys, Lueger, Vogelsang and
Franz Martin Schindler met regularly at the
Hotel Zur goldenen Ente (Golden Duck, Riemergasse 4) in Vienna's First District, and would refer to their meetings as
Enten-Abende (Duck Evenings). This working group became the focus for social reform and they organised the Second Austrian
Katholikentag in 1889. From this Schindler developed the platform of the fledgling Christian Social Party. He represented the party in parliament until 1911. He worked to bring the Catholic Conservatives and Christian Socials into a coalition between 1896–1907 to keep the
liberals in
opposition. After Lueger's death in 1910, he became chair of the party. From 1896 to 1918 he was a member of the
Landtag of Lower Austria, serving as its president
(Landmarschall) since 1906. In 1912 he was appointed to the House of Lords (
Herrenhaus) but progressively withdrew from public life due to ill health since 1916. (
L'Antijuif, 1899) He resigned all offices with the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the abolition of monarchy in 1918. His campaigns for social reform, religious schools (
Konfessionsschulen) and religious law were in the spirit of
Pope Leo XIII. Like Lueger, he was considered an
Antisemite. He is buried in a dedicated grave in Vienna's central cemetery, the
Zentralfriedhof (32A, 54). == First marriage and issue ==