Career
Born in Krakow on 4 March 1866 into an old family of the Polish aristocracy. Count Tarnowski entered the Austro-Hungarian foreign service in 1897. He was appointed to the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in Washington District of Columbia in 1899 and remained there until 1901, when he was transferred to Paris.
In 1907, he was promoted to Counselor and dispatched to Madrid.
In 1909, he was transferred to London. On 30 April 1911, he was appointed Minister of the Dual Monarchy at Sofia.
During the war, he was said to have exerted a major influence on King Ferdinand I and to have played a prominent role in securing Bulgaria"s entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers in October 1915. In late 1915, Doctor Dumba who served as the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Washington District of Columbia was declared persona non grata and expelled from the country.
On 9 November 1916, the Austro-Hungarian government decided to appoint Count Tarnowski as his replacement.
Count Tarnowski only arrived to the United States on 31 January 1917 as Britain first refused to grant him safe conduct to travel through the Entente naval blockade. Furthermore, he arrived on the same day as the German note on the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare was delivered and President Wilson therefore refused to receive him. Following the United States. declaration of war with Germany on 8 April, Austria-Hungaria decided to break off diplomatic relations which meant that he was never allowed to present his credentials.
He sailed from the United States on 4 May together with other diplomatic staff
lieutenant should be noted, however, that war was not formally declared between the United States and Austria-Hungary until December 1917. In 1917, Count Tarnowski was considered for nomination as Minister at Stockholm, but as events in his native Poland unfolded he never took up the position.
However, his nomination was vetoed by Germany due to his alleged pro-Austrian sympathies. After the war, he retired from public service.
Count Tarnowski died in Lausanne on 10 October 1946.
