Aloys von Harrach was the envoy of the Austrian Emperor in Dresden in 1694, served in the same function in Spain from 1697 to 1700 and was in Dresden again in 1711, and thereafter in Berlin and Hanover on diplomatic missions. From 1715 to 1742 he acted as 'Landmarschall' in Lower Austria, and from 1728 to 1733 as viceroy of Naples, from where he gathered numerous art pieces (Gallery in Rohrau). From 1734 to his death Count Harrach was a member of the Secret State Conference (Geheime Staatskonferenz) in Vienna.
Joseph Haydn's mother, Maria née Koler, once served as a cook in his palace.
Private life
The Count was married three times:
His firstly married on 22 April 1691 to Countess Marie Barbara von Sternberg, daughter of Count Wenzel Adalbert von Sternberg (1638-1708) and his wife, Clara Bernhardine von Maltzan (1645-1719). They had issue.
He married secondly on 22 August 1695 to Countess Anna Caecilie von Thannhausen, widow of Count Michael Oswald von Thun und Hohenstein (1631-1694), daughter of Count Johann Joseph Ignaz von Thannhausen (1650-1684) and his wife, Anna Eleonore Truchsess von Wetzhausen (1657-1692). They had issue.
He married for the third time on 7 June 1721, to Countess Ernestine von Dietrichstein (1683–1744), widow of Count Johann Wenzel von Gallas, daughter of Count Philipp Sigmund of Dietrichstein and his first wife, Baroness Marie Elisabeth Hofmann von Grünbühel und Strechau (1663-1705). They didn't have children.[1]
