Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern

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Karl Anton
Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Reign	27 August 1848 – 7 December 1849
Predecessor	Karl
Successor	Annexed by Prussia
Prince of Hohenzollern
Tenure	3 September 1869 – 2 June 1885
Successor	Leopold
Born	(1811-09-07)7 September 1811 Krauchenwies, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Died	2 June 1885(1885-06-02) (aged 73) Sigmaringen, German Empire
Spouse	Princess Josephine of Baden
Issue	Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern Stephanie, Queen of Portugal Carol I, King of Romania Prince Anthony Prince Frederick Princess Marie, Countess of Flanders
Names German: Karl Anton Joachim Zephyrinus Friedrich Meinrad
House	Hohenzollern
Father	Karl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Mother	Marie Antoinette Murat

Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen^[1] (German: Karl Anton Joachim Zephyrinus Friedrich Meinrad Fürst von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen^[1]) (7 September 1811^[1] – 2 June 1885^[1]) was the final Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen before the territory was annexed by Prussia in 1849 and Prime Minister of Prussia from 1858 to 1862, which made him the only Hohenzollern Prince to hold that post. His second son, Karl, became the first king of Romania.

Life[]

Karl Anton was the son of Karl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who abdicated in favour of his son on 27 August 1848, and his first wife Marie Antoinette Murat, niece of Joachim Murat.^[1]

After only slightly over a year ruling his family's small principality, Karl Anton abdicated in December 1849 in favor of his distant cousin, the King of Prussia, and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, along with the neighboring principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, was annexed by Prussia. After his abdication, Karl Anton became a prominent figure in Prussian politics. After the fall of the reactionary Manteuffel ministry in 1858, and the accession of Prince William as regent for his incapacitated brother, King Frederick William IV, a new, moderately liberal ministry was appointed, with Karl Anton as Prime Minister. The Prince continued in this role until 1862, when he resigned in the midst of a struggle with parliament over the military budget.

After this, Karl Anton largely resigned from active politics and focused on his role as head of the Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern family, accentuated by the extinction of the Hohenzollern-Hechingen line in 1869. In 1866, his second son, Karl, was offered the throne of Romania, where he would rule for nearly fifty years as Carol I. A few years later, in 1870, his eldest son, Leopold, was given a similar offer of the Spanish throne. This so-called "Hohenzollern candidacy" for the Spanish throne was one of the main factors in instigating the Franco-Prussian War.

Marriage and issue[]

Prince Karl Anton was married^[1] to Josephine Friederike Luise, Princess of Baden (1813–1900), daughter of Grand Duke Charles of Baden.^[1]

• Leopold (1835–1905)
• Stephanie (1837–1859) - married Peter V of Portugal
• Karl (1839–1914), future King of Romania
• Anton (1841–1866), died in battle
• Friedrich (1843–1904)
• Marie (1845–1912) - married Philippe of Belgium

Honours[]

German decorations^[2]

Foreign decorations^[2]

Ancestry[]

References[]