Prince Karl of Auersperg

Durchlaucht Karl Fürst von Auersperg
Prince Karl of Auersperg
1st Minister-President of Cisleithania
In office 30 December 1867 – 24 September 1868
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von Beust (as Chairmen of the Ministers' Conference)
Succeeded by	Eduard Graf von Taaffe
Personal details
Born	(1814-05-01)1 May 1814 Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austrian Empire
Died	4 January 1890(1890-01-04) (aged 75) Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
Spouse(s)	Countess Ernestine Festetics de Tolna
Religion	Roman Catholic Church

Karl von Auersperg, 8th prince of Auersperg, (1 May 1814 in Prague – 4 January 1890 in Prague) was a Bohemian and an Austrian nobleman and statesman. He served as the 1st Minister-President of Cisleithania (13th overall).

The 8th Prince of Auersperg, Karl Wilhem, was heir to one of the most prominent princely families of the Holy Roman Empire, whose sovereign principality was mediatized in the Austrian Empire following the German Mediatisation of the post-revolutionary era.

He was married to Countess Ernestine Festetics de Tolna, daughter of Count Ernő János Vilmos.

On the advent of the new constitutional era, in 1861, he became a member of the Upper Chamber of the Reichsrat and eventually its President.

As a representative of the Liberal landed proprietors of the Diet of Bohemia, and afterward as president of the Austrian House of Peers (Herrenhaus), he took a conspicuous part in defending the constitutional system against clerical and feudal reaction and the union of the Empire.

He presided over the Austrian ministry as the 1st Minister-President of Cisleithania as a result of the reorganisation of the Empire following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. After the term of his ministry he kept being a zealous supporter of Liberal cabinets. From 28 November 1871 to 15 February 1879, his brother Prince Adolf Wilhelm Daniel von Auersperg was also to be Minister-President of Cisleithania (the 8th).