Radowitz was born in
Frankfurt am Main, the son of
Prussian statesman
Joseph von Radowitz. He joined the diplomatic service of Prussia in 1860, and was stationed in
Istanbul,
China and
Japan until 1865. Upon his return to Europe, he was stationed in
Paris. During the
Austro-Prussian War, he served as
aide-de-camp to
Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, and was subsequently attached to the Prussian
diplomatic mission in
Munich (
Kingdom of Bavaria). He became
Consul General of the
North German Confederation to
Bucharest in 1870 and a member of the European Donau Commission. In 1872, he was appointed as
chargé d'affaires to Istanbul, before he became Director for Oriental Affairs at the Foreign Office. He was appointed as Envoy to
Athens in 1874, but remained in Berlin. In 1875, he became acting Ambassador to
St. Petersburg, where he offered Russia German support for Russian interests in the
Balkans in exchange for Russian support for German interests in Western Europe. In 1878 he took part at the
Congress of Berlin. After the death of
Bernhard Ernst von Bülow, Radowitz was appointed as acting Foreign Secretary, until he was succeeded by
Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. He became Ambassador to Istanbul in October 1882 and Ambassador to
Madrid in 1892. He died in
Berlin. ==Orders and decorations==