Prince Alfred of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst

Prince Alfred was born in Salzburg, Austria on 31 March 1889. He was the eldest son of Prince Konrad of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Countess Franziska von Schönborn-Buchheim (1866–1937).^[1] Among his siblings were Prince Erwin (who married Alexandra Olga Eugenia (née Countess Festetics de Tolna) Windisch-Graetz);^[2] Prince Hubertus (who married Contess Eleonora "Elly" Hadik-Barkóczy);^[3] Princess Franziska (who married Baron Franz IV Mayr-Melnhof);^[4] and Princess Franziska (who married Archduke Maximilian of Austria).^[4]

His paternal grandparents were Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, k.u.k. Chief Intendant and General of the cavalry, and Marie, née Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (a daughter of Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, known for her liaison with Franz Liszt). Through his father, he was a grand-nephew of Viktor I, Duke of Ratibor, of Chancellor Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and of Gustav Adolf, Cardinal Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst.^[5] His maternal grandparents were Erwein, 4th Count of Schönborn-Buchheim, and Countess Franziska von Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg.^[1]

Prince Alfred was an officer in the Austrian cavalry and served as a chamberlain to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria until his death in November 1916. As an Austro-Hungarian diplomat, he served as the attaché to the embassy in Montreal (where he was arrested on "the instance of the militia headquarters" in 1914 before being released),^[6] and then in Washington, D.C.^[7] Reportedly, to stifle his romance with Catherine Britton, he was sent to the consular service in San Francisco.^[8]

At the end of World War I, he reached out to the United States, through Swiss contacts, to inform the American government that the Austrian Government desired a separate peace independent of Germany.^[9] He also warned of the rise of Bolshevikism in Austria which "may lead to chaos and anarchy against which no continental country is today immune" and to request help with the starvation threatening Austria and an end to the "military offensive now in progress is causing needless loss of life without its being possible for it to secure greater concessions since the capitulation of Austria-Hungary is already intended to be complete."^[9]