Botho Graf von Wedel (23 December 1862 – 5 February 1943) was a
German nobleman and a diplomat who served as the
German ambassador to
Austria.
Life
He was born as a younger son of Count Carl Georg Friedrich von
Wedel-Jarlsberg (1827-1898) and his wife, Baroness Frieda Julie Adolphine Gabriele von Wangenheim (1838-1881).
After studying law, he became a law clerk in 1885 and at the same time performed his military service in the
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
. After he left as a Lieutenant, he entered the diplomatic service and was initially posted to the embassy in France. In 1889, he was appointed an attaché in the
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* Unit ...
and in 1890 was made a Legation Secretary. He worked until 1896 as Third Secretary at the embassy in France. Later, he was posted as embassy secretary to the embassy in Spain and then, from 1898 to 1899, as First Secretary in Japan. In 1899, he returned to the Foreign Office and in 1901, he was appointed a Councillor at the embassy in Austria.
In 1904, he was appointed
Consul-General in Budapest, and from 1907 to 1909, he was the ambassador to the
Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (german: Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) was a historical German state, created as a duchy in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, which had been in personal union since 1741. It was raised ...
in Weimar. Then, he returned to the Foreign Office.
In late 1916, he was appointed ambassador to Austria and succeeded Heinrich von Tschirschky. In 1919 he retired and was succeeded as ambassador in Vienna by William, Prince of Stolberg-Wernigerode.
As the owner of the Philippsburg in Leer, he had the building greatly enlarged in 1906.
{{DEFAULTSORT:von Wedel, Botho
Ambassadors of Germany to Austria
Wedel family