Alexander von Schleinitz

Alexander Gustav Adolf Graf von Schleinitz (29 December 1807, Blankenburg am Harz – 19 February 1885, Berlin) was the Foreign Minister of Prussia from 1858 to 1861 and minister for the royal household from late 1861 to his death. Life Early years He came from an old aristocratic family from the Margraviate of Meissen that was elevated to the rank of Reichsfreiherr already in the 16th century; his father was the Regierungspräsident of Blankenburg, and later minister of state in the Duchy of Brunswick, Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Schleinitz (1756–1837); his mother was Barbara von Hochstetter (1768–1819). He was the brother of the minister of state of Brunswick, Wilhelm von Schleinitz (1794–1856), and of the Prussian Regierungspräsident Julius von Schleinitz (1806–1865). Schleinitz studied in Göttingen and Berlin, and joined the Prussian civil service in 1828. In 1835 he became an embassy attaché, in 1841 he was made an Expert Councillor (Vortragender Rat) in the foreign ministry. In July 1848 he replaced Heinrich Alexander von Arnim as Foreign Minister, thus joining the government of Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen. However, after a few days he resigned from his post, and subsequently represented Prussia at the court of Hannover.