Imre Széchényi

Count Emmerich "Imre" Széchényi of Sárvár-Felsővidék (15 February 1825 – 11 March 1898), was a Hungarian nobleman and landowner, and Austro-Hungarian diplomat and politician. He was Austrian ambassador in Berlin during the government of Bismarck. He signed for the Austrian emperor Bismarck's Alliance of the Three Emperors 1873, and represented Austria at the Berlin Conference on the Congo 1884.

Early life Széchényi was born on 15 February 1825 in Vienna into a prominent Hungarian noble family. He was the son of Count Ludwig "Lajos" Maria Aloys Széchenyi (1781–1855) and, his second wife, Austrian Countess Francisca (née von Wurmbrand-Stuppach) Széchenyi (1797–1873). The Széchényi family were one of the oldest and wealthiest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

His maternal grandparents were Count Heinrich von Wurmbrand-Stuppach and Baroness Josefa von Ledebur-Wicheln. His father was the eldest son of Countess Julia Festetics de Tolna and Count Ferenc Széchényi, founder of the Hungarian National Library (today named the National Széchényi Library) and the National Museum in Budapest.

His paternal uncle was Count István Széchenyi, the Hungarian Minister of Public Works and Transport who is widely considered to be one of the greatest statesmen in Hungarian history.

Széchényi received a private education and studied from 1838 to 1843 at the Imperial and Royal Law Academy in Pressburg (now Bratislava). Together, they were the parents of four sons: he married Countess Emilie de Caraman et Chimay, a daughter of Eugène Auguste de Riquet, Prince de Caraman-Chimay (son of Joseph de Riquet de Caraman, 17th Prince de Chimay). Her sister, Hélène, was married to John Francis Charles, 7th Count de Salis-Soglio. Count Peter Széchenyi (1870–1924), who married Maria Ilona Esterházy de Galántha, a daughter of Moric Esterházy de Galántha and Pauline von Stockau, in 1904. Her sister, Mária Franziska, married Count Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd and Prince Béla Odescalchi. Count István Széchenyi (1873–1963) Count László Széchenyi (1879–1938), the Hungarian Minister to the United States and United Kingdom who married American heiress Gladys Vanderbilt, the youngest child of Alice Claypoole Gwynne and Cornelius Vanderbilt II, president of the New York Central Railroad, in 1908.

Count Széchényi died in Budapest on 11 March 1898. 1889: Grand Cross of the Imperial and Royal Order of Saint Stephen