Carl-Eduard Otto Wolfgang Jayme Anders, Prince of Bismarck, often known as Calle von Bismarck, is a German politician. A member of the CDU, he was a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

from 2005 to 2007.

Background and education

Born in Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, as Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Carl is a member of the princely

House of Bismarck The House of Bismarck is a German noble family that rose to prominence in the 19th century, largely through the achievements of the statesman Otto von Bismarck. He was granted a hereditary comital title in 1865, the hereditary title of Prince of ...

and the son of the lawyer and landowner

Ferdinand von Bismarck Ferdinand Herbord Ivar, Prince of Bismarck (German: ''Ferdinand Herbord Ivar Fürst von Bismarck''; 22 November 1930 – 23 July 2019) was a German lawyer and landowner from the family of statesman Otto von Bismarck. He was the head of the prince ...

and the Belgian countess Elisabeth Lippens. He is the great-great-grandson of the German chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

. After receiving his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1982, von Bismarck completed his two years of military service at the Bismarck Kasern in Wentorf, West Germany. In 1985, von Bismarck concluded his training in capital markets investing at Citibank and worked for Shearson Lehman in New York. In 1988 he received his bachelor's degree in international business from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Career

Business

In 1989, von Bismarck was requested by his father to return to West Germany. Between 1989 and 1992, he worked for the company ''Investor Treuhand'' in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. Since 1993 he worked for the Princely Bismarck Administration (''Fürstlich von Bismarck'schen Verwaltung'') in

Friedrichsruh Friedrichsruh () is a district in the municipality of Aumühle, Herzogtum Lauenburg district, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. Friedrichsruh manor is known as a residence of the princely House of Bismarck, mainly of Chancellor Otto von Bis ...

Politics

Bismarck became a member of the CDU in 1995, and was elected vice-chairman of the CDU in

Lauenburg Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe ( en, Lauenberg on the Elbe), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein ...

in 1999 (his ancestor, Otto von Bismarck, had been the nominal

Duke of Lauenburg The title of Duke of Lauenburg derives from the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which, since its foundation in 1269, was ruled in succession by 29 dukes from six dynastic houses and lines, and by an additional four dukes from a temporary dynastic branch ...

in the 1890s). When

Peter Harry Carstensen Peter Harry Carstensen (born 12 March 1947) is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. From 2005 to 2012 he was Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as ...

became Prime Minister of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

, Bismarck replaced him in the

, the German parliament. In the 2005 federal election, he won his constituency with a plurality (44.4%) of the vote. Criticism arose, however, because after initial efforts he was only loosely exercising his mandate and rarely appeared in parliament. He resigned his mandate on 19 December 2007. If he had resigned in January, as planned, he would have been eligible for a pension, inciting more criticism.

Personal life

Von Bismarck was previously married to Mexican-American actress

Laura Harring Laura Elena, Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen (née Martínez Herring; March 3, 1964), known professionally as Laura Harring, is a Mexican-American actress. In 1985, Harring became the first Hispanic woman crowned Miss USA. She later began her a ...

(1987–1989), Swiss heiress and humanitarian Celia Demaurex (1997–2004), and Israeli-born Canadian designer Nathalie Bariman (2004–2014). He then married Italo-Brazilian art writer and curator

Alessandra Silvestri-Levy Alessandra, Princess of Bismarck (née Silvestri-Lévy, born November 1, 1972, in São Paulo) is an Italo-Brazilian art writer and curator. As the wife of Carl-Eduard von Bismarck, she became the Princess of Bismarck in 2019. A patron of the ...

in 2016. Von Bismarck has two children with Nathalie Bariman, i.e. a son and heir apparent to the princely title, Count Alexei von Bismarck-Schönhausen, and a daughter, Countess Grace von Bismarck-Schönhausen. Bariman is Jewish, and they married in a Jewish ceremony. German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

is reported to have told the couple, "You two have united history … the next Prince of Bismarck will be a mix of both religions."

References