Count Aleksander Stanisław Potocki (, 1778–1845) was a

Polish noble The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

, landowner and politician. He was the senator-castellan of the

Polish Kingdom The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavic tribe of Polans who lived in what is today the historic region of Greater Po ...

in 1824 and chamberlain of

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. He was awarded Order of the White Eagle on 24 May 1829.

Biography

Youth and family

Born in Warsaw, he was the son of the third

Prime Minister of Poland A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only wa ...

Count

Stanisław Kostka Potocki Count Stanisław Kostka Potocki (; November 1755 – 14 September 1821) was a Polish nobleman, politician, writer, public intellectual, and patron of the arts. He was involved in public education and active in the period that has been terme ...

and his wife Aleksandra Lubomirska. On 15 May 1805, in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, he married

Anna Tyszkiewicz Anna Tyszkiewicz (1779–1867) was a Polish noblewoman and diarist. Anna was the daughter of Ludwik Tyszkiewicz and Konstancja Poniatowska, and married Aleksander Stanisław Potocki on 15 May 1805 in Wilno Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of ...

(with whom he had Augustus, Maurycy and Natalia Potocka). The unsuccessful marriage ended in divorce in 1821. In 1823 he entered into a marriage with Izabella Mostowska, with whom he had Stanisław Potocki. He divorced Izabella soon after the birth of the child. At the end of his life Potocki was involved in a romance with a widow, Aleksandra Stokowska, which he never married.

Politics and career

In 1802 was made a

Knight of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

. From 1805 he lived with his wife in the estate in the district of

Wilanów Wilanów () is a dzielnica, district of the city of Warsaw, Poland. It is home to historic Wilanów Palace, the "Polish Palace of Versailles, Versailles," and second home to various List of Polish rulers, Polish kings. Wilanów is home to many v ...

, named in 1807 in honour of his daughter Natalia –

Natolin Natolin is a neighbourhood and a City Information System area located in Warsaw, Poland, within the district of Ursynów. It is a predominantly mid-rise multifamily residential area, with a smaller presence of low-rise single-family housing in ...

(property several times rebuilt by

Piotr Aigner Chrystian Piotr Aigner (1756 in Puławy, Poland – 9 February 1841 in Florence, Italy) was a Polish architect and theoretician of architecture. Life Chrystian Piotr Aigner acquired extensive knowledge of architecture in the course of several jou ...

, and after the divorce with his first wife in the years 1821–1845 under the supervision of

Henryk Marconi Enrico Marconi, known in Poland as Henryk Marconi (7 January 1792 in Rome – 21 February 1863 in Warsaw), was an Italian-Polish architect who spent most of his life in Congress Poland. Initially he was taught by his father Leander, later on, bet ...

). Potocki was a chamberlain Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, 1812 has been a member of the Committee set up by him of the Provisional Government of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. In 1824 he was the Senator-Castellan of

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

. On 24 May 1829 he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle. Potocki did not participate in the

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

, nor in any of the sessions of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

, for which in 1831 was expelled from the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. On 12 April 1843 he inherited the title of count.

External links

Alexander Potocki at the Wilanow Palace Museum

Biography

Youth and family

Politics and career

External links

Further reading