Descent A member of the Hardenburg branch of the
House of Leiningen, Karl was born in
Amorbach on 12 September 1804, the son of
Prince Emich Karl of Leiningen (1763–1814) by his second marriage with
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861). He was the only son, as Emich Karl's son by his first wife, Friedrich, had died in 1800. Prince Emich Karl had received the
Principality of Leiningen during the
German mediatisation (
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) in 1803, as a compensation for the lost
Hardenburg estates in the
Palatinate occupied by French revolutionary troops, and took his residence at the secularised
Amorbach Abbey. The princely territory, however, soon after passed to the newly established
Grand Duchy of Baden, the
Kingdom of Bavaria and the
Grand Duchy of Hesse. Prince Emich Karl died on 4 July 1814 and Karl succeeded him as third Prince of Leiningen. On 11 July 1818, his widowed mother married
Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King
George III of the United Kingdom, at
Kew Palace, Surrey. In 1819, when the duchess's pregnancy was reaching full term, Karl and his younger sister,
Princess Feodora, were taken from Amorbach to
London, where their half-sister, Princess Victoria of Kent, was born on 24 May at
Kensington Palace. (1833)
Marriage and issue On 13 February 1829, Karl married Countess Marie von
Klebelsberg-Thumburg (27 March 1806 – 28 October 1880), younger daughter of Count Maximilian von
Klebelsberg-Thumburg (1752–1811) and his wife, Maria Anna von
Turba (1763–1833). They had two sons: •
Ernst, Prince of Leiningen (9 November 1830 – 5 April 1904); married
Princess Marie of Baden on 11 September 1858. They had two children. • Prince Eduard Friedrich Maximilian Johann of Leiningen (5 January 1833 – 9 April 1914). Never married.
Minor prince Karl had attended a private school in
Bern and from 1821 onwards studied law at the
University of Göttingen with the jurist
Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, then one of the principal authorities on German constitutional law and leading proponent of the
German Historical School of jurisprudence. At the British court, his multifaceted interests in art were aroused. From 1828, he had Waldleiningen Castle near
Mörschenhardt (named after
Waldleiningen in the Palatinate) erected as his private residence, a
Romantic complex resembling
Neo-Gothic castles in Britain, such as
Abbotsford House. As a
mediatized house, the Princes of the Leiningen were members of the
Landtag diet in Baden, as well as in Bavaria and Hesse. Prince Karl became president of the Bavarian upper house (
Reichsrat) in 1842 and also pursued a career in the
Bavarian Army as Lieutenant general
à la suite of the Cavalry. On 20 April 1842, he and 20 other noblemen gathered at
Biebrich Palace, where they established the
Adelsverein to organize the settlement of German emigrants in
Texas; Karl was elected president of the society.
1848: Brief moment of glory By the
German revolutions of 1848–49, Leiningen had achieved much reputation as a
liberal reformer and
freethinker. He advocated the implementation of
parliamentarism and openly criticized aristocracy's privileges; therefore, he was appointed Prime Minister of Revolutionary Germany by Regent (
Reichsverweser)
Archduke John of Austria on 6 August 1848. With a Catholic
head of state and a Lutheran
head of government, an equilibrium was reached in
German dualism; moreover, Leiningen's close relations to the British Royal House were generally appreciated. His cabinet initially could rely on a liberal and left-wing majority in the newly established Frankfurt Parliament, however, as early as on 5 September, he resigned over the
Schleswig-Holstein Question when in the
First Schleswig War King
Frederick William IV of Prussia unilaterally signed an armistice with Denmark at Malmö. The delegates of the Frankfurt assembly reacted with outrage and Leiningen, unable to assert the powers of the central authority, was forced to step down. He was succeeded by the
Austrian politician
Anton von Schmerling, who acted as prime minister until December.
Later life and death In 1851, Karl also resigned as president of the Adelsverein and was succeeded by
Prince Hermann of Wied. Shortly after his half sister's daughter
Victoria became engaged to
Prince Frederick of Prussia, in 1855, he suffered a severe
apoplectic attack. A second attack in November the following year was fatal, and he died at Waldleiningen Castle at the age of 52, with his sister Feodora at his bedside. Upon hearing of her half-brother's death,
Queen Victoria, who referred to him by his English name Charles, wrote in her journal: ==Honours==