Background
He was born as a son of Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Count Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly, a member of the House of Mensdorff-Pouilly.
He was born as a son of Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Count Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly, a member of the House of Mensdorff-Pouilly.
He was a first cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Their mothers were sisters. He entered the Austrian army in 1829 and was promoted to captain in 1836 and major in 1844. In 1848-1849 he fought in the First Italian War of Independence and against the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
In 1849 he was promoted to colonel and the following year to major general.
In 1851 he was appointed as the Austrian commissioner to Schleswig-Holstein. In 1852 he became the Austrian ambassador to Russia.
Mensdorff-Pouilly was promoted to Feldmarschallleutnant in 1858. During the Polish Uprising of 1863, Mensdorff-Pouilly served as the governor of Austrian Galicia.
Mensdorff-Pouilly was appointed as the Austrian on 23 October 1864.
Mensdorff-Pouilly"s policies during his tenure as for Emperor Franz Joseph were often largely a continuation of the conservative traditionalism of Rechberg, his predecessor. Mensdorff, like Rechberg, sought to maintain conservative dominance of the German Confederation through an alliance between Austria and Prussia (in which Prussia was the junior partner), and he steadfastly refused to consider British suggestions that Austria surrender Venetia to Italy. After Austria"s defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Mensdorff-Pouilly resigned his functions in November of that year.
After his resignation he was appointed commanding general in Zagreb and Prague.
Prince Hugo Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg, married in 1892 Princess Olga Alexandrovna Dolgoruky (a former mistress of Alexander II of Russia)
Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein.