Carl-Eduard, Prince of Bismarck (''Carl-Eduard Otto Wolfgang''; born 16 February 1961), often known as Carl von Bismarck, is a German politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Union, he sat in the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

from 2005 to 2007. He is the current

Chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

of the

House of Bismarck The House of Bismarck is a German nobility, German noble family that rose to prominence in the 19th century, largely through the achievements of the statesman Otto von Bismarck. He was granted a hereditary Graf, comital title in 1865, the heredit ...

. His oldest son Alexei Count von Bismarck-Schoenhausen is his successor.

Background and education

Born on 16 February 1961 in

Zürich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, as Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Carl von Bismarck is a member of the princely

and the son of the lawyer and landowner Ferdinand von Bismarck and the Belgian countess Elisabeth Lippens. He is the great-great-grandson of the German chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

. After receiving his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1982, von Bismarck completed his two years of military service at the in Wentorf,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. In 1985, von Bismarck concluded his training in capital markets investing at

Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

and worked for Shearson Lehman in New York. In 1988 he received his bachelor's degree in international business from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Career

Business

In 1989, von Bismarck was requested by his father to return to West Germany. Between 1989 and 1992, he worked for the company ''Investor Treuhand'' in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. Since 1993 he worked for the Princely Bismarck Administration (''Fürstlich von Bismarck'schen Verwaltung'') in

Friedrichsruh Friedrichsruh () is a district in the municipality of Aumühle, Herzogtum Lauenburg district, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. Friedrichsruh manor is known as a residence of the princely House of Bismarck, mainly of Chancellor Otto von ...

Politics

Bismarck became a member of the CDU in 1995, and was elected vice-chairman of the CDU in

Lauenburg Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe (; ), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is overall the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein and belongs to ...

in 1999 (his ancestor, Otto von Bismarck, had been the nominal

Duke of Lauenburg The title of Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which, since its foundation in 1269, was ruled in succession by 29 dukes from six dynastic houses and lines, and by an additional four dukes from a temporary dynastic branch ...

in the 1890s). When

Peter Harry Carstensen Peter Harry Carstensen (born 12 March 1947) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From 2005 to 2012 he was Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as President of the Bundesrat in 2005/06. Early ...

became Prime Minister of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, Bismarck replaced him in the

, the German parliament. In the 2005 federal election, he won his constituency with a plurality (44.4%) of the vote.

Personal life

Von Bismarck was previously married to Mexican-American actress

Laura Harring Laura Elena Harring (' Herring Martínez, formerly Gräfin von Bismarck-Schönhausen; born March 3, 1964) is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1985 and later began acting in television and film. She is best kno ...

(1987–1989), Swiss heiress and humanitarian Celia Demaurex (1997–2004), and Canadian designer Nathalie Bariman (2004–2014). He married Brazilian art writer and curator

Alessandra Silvestri-Levy Alessandra, Princess of Bismarck (née Silvestri, later Silvestri-Lévy, born 1 November 1972) is a Brazilian art writer and curator. As the wife of Carl-Eduard von Bismarck, she became the Princess of Bismarck in 2019. A patron of the arts, ...

in 2016. Von Bismarck has two children with Nathalie Bariman: a son and heir apparent to the princely title, Count Alexei von Bismarck-Schönhausen, and a daughter, Countess Grace von Bismarck-Schönhausen. Bariman is Jewish, and they married in a Jewish ceremony. German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

is reported to have told the couple, "You two have united history... the next Prince of Bismarck will be a mix of both religions."

References