Carl Georg Fugger von Babenhausen

Karl Georg Ferdinand Jakob Maria, 5th Prince Fugger of Babenhausen (15 January 1861 – 5 July 1925) was an Austrian landowner and officer. After serving in various Hussar regiments, he commanded the 3rd Hussar Regiment as Colonel during World War I. A member of the high nobility in the Kingdom of Bavaria as a Mediatized Sovereign Prince of the Empire, he was made chamberlain at the Viennese imperial court and from 1906 until his death, was the head of the House of Fugger-Babenhausen, Lord of Boos, Heimertingen, Wald, Wellenburg, Burgwalden, and Markt. and Karl Ludwig, 4th Prince Fugger von Babenhausen (1829–1906), First President of the Chamber of Imperial Councillors. In 1885, his father succeeded his childless older brother, Leopold, 3rd Prince Fugger von Babenhausen, as the sovereign 4th Prince. His sister, Countess Marie, was the wife of Count Christoph von Wydenbruck, Ambassador of Austria-Hungary to Madrid.

His paternal grandparents were Anton, 2nd Prince Fugger von Babenhausen (son of Anselm, 1st Prince Fugger von Babenhausen who was made an Imperial Prince in 1803) and Princess Franziska of Hohenlohe-Bartenstein und Jagstberg (a daughter of Charles Joseph, 1st Prince of Hohenlohe-Jagstberg).

Career Like his father, he was an Austrian officer and as chamberlain of Emperor Franz Joseph I at the court in Vienna. At the time of the death of his uncle, Prince Leopold in 1885, he was serving as a Lieutenant in the 12th Uhlan Regiment. From 1887 to 1894, he served with the 9th Hussar Regiment in Ödenburg. In 1894, he was transferred to the 11th Hussar Regiment in Steinamanger. After the death of his father in 1906, he was not introduced as his successor to the Bavarian Imperial Council with the hereditary Imperial Councillorship of the House of Fugger-Babenhausen suspended during his lifetime. In 1905, he had the Bannacker estate in Augsburg renovated, where his wife tried her hand at breeding polo horses. In 1906, however, his wife and children moved from Vienna to Fugger Castle in Babenhausen because, according to the testamentary provisions, the assets of the second-generation could not otherwise have been passed on to their son Leopold. Together, they were the parents of:

Friederike Maria Carolina Henriette Rosa Sabina Franziska Pauline Fugger von Babenhausen (1887–1949), who married Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart in 1908. Georg Constantin Heinrich Carl Friedrich Maria Fugger von Babenhausen (1889–1934), who married Countess Elisabeth von Plessen in 1914. Sylvia Rosa Eleonore Leopoldine Karolina Maria Fugger von Babenhausen (1892–1949), who married Count Friedrich zu Münster, son of Prince Alexander Münster and Lady Muriel Hay (a daughter of the 12th Earl of Kinnoull), in 1925. They divorced in 1928. Leopold Heinrich Karl Friedrich Maria Fugger von Babenhausen (1893–1966), who married Countess Vera Czernin von und zu Chudenitz in 1924. The divorced in 1936 and she married Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg. Maria Theresia Karoline Gigina Fugger von Babenhausen (1899–1994), who married Prince Heinrich von Hanau und Horowitz, He was buried in family plot at St. Michael am Zollfeld in Austria.

Incident at Hotel Bristol On 1 January 1908, Prince Karl Georg was at a New Year's party with his wife at the Hotel Bristol in Vienna when Frida Strindberg, the divorced wife of the writer August Strindberg, pointed a pistol at Prince Karl Georg and fired it during a scandalous scene after loud accusations were directed at him. Although the confiscated weapon was loaded, he was unharmed. As was recorded in the course of a court hearing, Prince Karl Georg became acquainted with Frida at a party hosted by Katharina Schratt while he was still hereditary count. His engagement to Princess Eleonora in the spring of 1886 had already been delayed by a brief romance with Mary Vetsera; his wife commented on this succinctly in her memoirs: "It was a close call and my dear cousin would have fallen into the trap of the seductive little mermaid, but it never came to that. He returned to me repentant, and the reconciliation ended beautifully when I became engaged to him... Only one thing was going through my head at that time: I should marry an exceptionally handsome and cheerful man; I would probably have to share him with others. But I accepted the idea and preferred him to someone less handsome, whom I would probably have kept for myself."