Johann Bernhard von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen

Hochgeboren Johann Bernhard Graf von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen
Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1863
2nd Chairman of the Austrian Ministers' Conference
In office 21 August 1859 – 4 February 1861
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	Karl Ferdinand von Buol
Succeeded by	Erzherzog Rainer Ferdinand von Österreich
7th Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire
In office 17 May 1859 – 27 October 1864
Preceded by	Karl Ferdinand Graf von Buol
Succeeded by	Alexander Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly
Personal details
Born	(1806-07-17)17 July 1806 Regensburg, Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire
Died	26 February 1899(1899-02-26) (aged 92) Kettenhof Castle, Schwechat, Austria-Hungary

Count Johann Bernhard von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen (German: Johann Bernhard Graf von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen) (17 July 1806 – 26 February 1899) was an Austrian statesman.

Born at Regensburg the second son of the Bavarian statesman Count Aloys von Rechberg und Rothenlöwen (1766–1849), Johann Bernhard was destined for the Bavarian public service, his elder brother being a hereditary member of the Upper House in the parliament of Württemberg. He was educated at the universities of Strassburg and Munich, but he incurred the displeasure of King Ludwig I of Bavaria by the part he played as second in a duel, and in 1828 he transferred himself to the Austrian diplomatic service.

After being attached to the embassies in Berlin, London and Brussels, he was appointed envoy at (1841) and at Rio de Janeiro (1843). Returning to Europe in 1847, on the outbreak of the Revolution of 1848 in Vienna he was of great service to State Chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich, whom he accompanied and assisted in his flight to England. In July 1848 he was appointed Austrian plenipotentiary in the German Frankfurt Parliament, in 1851 became Austrian internuncius at Constantinople, and in 1853 Radetzky's civilian colleague in the government of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1855 he returned to Frankfurt as Austrian representative and president of the federal diet. As a pupil of Metternich he would have wished to preserve the good understanding with Prussia which seemed the necessary foundation for a conservative policy; he was, however, made the instrument for the anti-Prussian policy of Buol, the foreign minister; this brought about constant disputes with Bismarck, at that time Prussian envoy at the diet, which were sharpened by Rechberg's choleric temper, and on one occasion nearly led to a duel. Bismarck, however, always expressed a high appreciation of his character and abilities. In May 1859, on the eve of the war with France and Piedmont, he was appointed Austrian minister of foreign affairs and minister-president, surrendering the latter post to the Archduke Rainer in the following year.