In 1790, during the
French Revolution, Albert Louis
de Pouilly (1731–1795), member of an old
French nobility dating back to 14th century, emigrated with his family. His sons Albert and
Emmanuel changed the family name to Mensdorff-Pouilly, which refers to a village in the county of Roussy in
Luxembourg. Apart from already holding the title of
Comte in the
Nobility of France, received in 1760 by
Louis XV, the family added another title in the
Austrian Empire, after escaping the
French Revolution. In 1808, the family was incorporated into the
Austrian nobility. Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly received an
Austrian comital title from the
Emperor Francis I, and he was recognized as
noble in
Bohemia (the
Inkolat) in 1839. Through Emmanuel's wife,
Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the family is closely related to the royal families of
Belgium,
Sweden,
Portugal,
Bulgaria and the
United Kingdom. As a result of the marriage of
Count Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly with Alexandrine von
Dietrichstein (1824–1906), daughter of
Joseph Franz, Prince of Dietrichstein, Alexander changed his branch's name to
Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein. He received the
hereditary title of
Prince von Dietrichstein zu
Nikolsburg in 1868 from
Franz Joseph I of Austria. The
princely branch of the family died out with the death of Alexander, Prince von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg (1899-1964), but the comital line still exists. The family motto is
Fortitudine et caritate. == Notable members ==