Friedrich von Keller

August Friedrich Wilhelm Keller, from 1906 Friedrich von Keller, (7 November 1873 in Munich – 8 May 1960 in Tutzing) was a German diplomat. He served as ambassador in Belgrade, Brussels, Buenos Aires and Ankara, and represented Germany at the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1933.

Career Keller came from a family originally based in Swabia, first mentioned in documents in 1733. He was born in Munich, son of the later-ennobled Royal Bavarian Lieutenant General (1843–1938) and Berta Hassold (1846-1929).

Keller studied law at the Würzburg University, worked for the Bavarian Ministry of Justice from 1895 in earned his doctorate in 1896. In 1899 he joined the Foreign Service and spent the first years in Berlin. In 1901 he was sent as deputy consul to Cairo, Egypt, in 1902 to Cape Town, South Africa, and in 1904 to Maputo, Mozambique. From 1905 to 1908 he was a vice consul in Calcutta, India. From 1908 he worked in the legal department of the Foreign Office in Berlin.

Keller was married on 12 October 1905 in Munich to Irene (7 December 1880 in Munich – 7 March 1965 in Tutzing), the daughter of the Royal Bavarian State Minister of State (1845-1926) and Gabriele von Auer. The couple had three sons, Robert von Keller (1906-1940), Rupprecht von Keller and Theodor von Keller (born 1914), and a daughter, Gabrielle. She was married to Guido Dessauer, a notable physicist and specialist in paper engineering, who commissioned Horst Janssen to produce a portrait of Keller. The artist chose to portray him with the many orders he had earned during his career.

Literature Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Adelige Häuser B. Band XVI. = Band 86 der Gesamtreihe. C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1985, S. 281. Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes 1871–1945. Herausgegeben vom Auswärtigen Amt, Historischer Dienst. Band 2: Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: G–K. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2005.