Ignaz Ritter von Rudhart (; 11 March 1790 – 11 May 1838) was a

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

n scholar and public servant who was dispatched to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

to serve as President of the Privy Council (

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

) during the reign of King Otto. Von Rudhart had received a doctorate of law from the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, had authored two books, one of them a statistical survey of the Bavarian Kingdom, which he served as a member of the Council of State, prior to his appointment as Prime Minister of Greece. When he arrived in Athens in February 1837, he was received suspiciously by the English legate

Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

(who had been a supporter of his predecessor, von Armansperg) and immediately found himself at odds with the king over the role of the prime minister. King Otto was committed to an absolute monarchy and was resistant to a powerful chief minister. Von Rudhart had a series of clashes with king, and being disliked by Queen Amalia, his resignation was accepted by King Otto 10 months after he arrived in Greece. Otto served as his own President of the Privy Council until a constitution was forced on him during the 3 September 1843 Revolution.

References

* John A. Petropulos; ''Politics and Statecraft in the Kingdom of Greece''; Princeton University Press, 1968 1790 births 1838 deaths 19th-century prime ministers of Greece People from Lichtenfels (district) Naturalized citizens of Greece History of Greece (1832–1862) Members of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Immigrants to Greece {{Greece-politician-stub