Count Alexandre Colonna-Walewski

Walewski started his diplomatic career in 1830, being dispatched by the Polish leaders of the November Uprising as a diplomatic envoy to London. After a career in the military and having undertaken several missions to Egypt and Argentina, Walewski’s career was furthered when Prince Louis Napoleon acceded to power as Emperor Napoleon III. Walewski was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to London (1851-1855) and charged with the task of announcing Napoleon’s coup d’état to Lord Palmerston, who was prime minister of the Unitked Kingdom at that time. In 1855, Walewski became Minister of Foreign Affairs and acted as the French plenipotentiary during the Congress of Paris in 1856. He left the office in 1860, taking up the function of France’s Minister of State until 1863.