George John LOBKOWICZ

History of the Lobkowicz family

The Lobkowicz’s are one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. They were the only Bohemian noble family to have kept its family motto in the Czech language: „Popel jsem a popel budu.“ („I am and I shall be ashes.“) The family’s earliest documented ancestor, Knight Mareš of Újezd, lived at the time of Charles IV and he had three sons. His youngest son Nicolas, called „Poor“, became the clerk in Kutná Hora in 1401 and circa three years later he received for his services for King Wenceslas IV among others the village Lobkovice nad Labem. This village gave the name to the family and formed the basis of its property. In 1417, he became the highest clerk and acquired large estates mainly in Western Bohemia (e.g. Hassenstein Castle). His two sons founded the two principal medieval family branches: the older branch of the Hassenstein family of Lobkowicz and the younger branch of the Popel family of Lobkowicz (later the Lobkowicz family).

Between the members of the Lobkowicz family we find important politicians, diplomats, soldiers, courtiers, clerics and also scientists, poets and travelers. Most of them supported arts, culture, economic progress and architecture. 17 of them got honours of Order of Golden Fleece. They took care of the well-being of Bohemia.

George John Prince Lobkowicz

George is son of Otakar Prince Lobkowicz and Hungarian Countess Susanna Széchényi, the present owner of the Mělník estate, was born in exile in Switzerland in 1956. He studied in Switzerland and graduated with a degree in economics and business administration at the university International High School of Economics of Saint Gallen and later became a successful banker (e.g. in Monte Carlo, Zürich, Paris, London, New York). In 1990, he decided to abandon his career abroad and he returned to Czechoslovakia. He worked as an adviser to the Minister of Economy and to the federal government till 1992 and as an adviser to the Minister of Privatization in the Czech Republic till 1995. He was then after active in the investment banking advisory business with a special emphasis in the energy sector. Today he is mainly active in the real-estate development business and is expanding his successful winemaking activities.

Since 1992, Prince Lobkowicz has been restoring the Mělník and Hořín estate, which owe their present appearance solely to his private resources. He rebuilt the Lobkowicz Chateau winery in the Castle of Mělník, which was founded by the Lobkowicz family already in 1753. Today, George Lobkowicz is living with his wife Zdenka Belas Princess Lobkowicz (b. 1978), an opera singer and their sons Robert Christian Prince Lobkowicz (b. 2011) and Jacob Alexander Prince Lobkowicz (b. 2014) in the left wing of the Mělník castle.

You were born as a younger brother of twins in 1956 in Zurich. It is believed that twins have a lifelong bond. Is this your case, too?

Yes, it is even though we are fraternal twins. My Brother Anton is an artist. He lives in Belgium and visits France frequently. He had lived for a longer period of time in America. He is not as closely related to Czech Republic as I am.

You spend a part of your childhood in the Belgian Congo and later you returned to Switzerland where you studied at elementary and high school.

We have been living in Belgian Congo until I was four years old. My father had been working there as a representative of one big Swiss company. In that very country, I learned to speak French. In 1960, there was a coup in Congo and we had only three days to flee to a safe zone and we left as quickly as possible to the other shore of the River Congo. It was really a bloody coup and many people were killed. After three months, my father tried to sort things out and attempted to enquire about the future development in the country. There was a state of war and our whole family had to return to Switzerland.

You studied in Switzerland that is known for its use of several official languages. Which one did you use?

I used French. After the final exam at a private high school in Lausanne on the lakeside of the Lake Geneva I later studied in German and English at the High School of Economics in Saint Gallen.

After your studies, you worked in the banking sector in the American Chase Manhattan Bank. Afterwards, you moved to Monaco and in 1990 you moved to Czechoslovakia. Why?

After my university graduation, I joint the Chase Manhattan Bank and I spent a year training in London and a couple of months in New York and was afterwards appointed as a Vice president and director of the The Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Zurich, a year later Country manager of France in Paris. It was at the time the world’s largest bank back then. Later, I was given an offer to become the director of the bank’s branch in Monaco. A had lived there for two years. I moved with my father to my country after the Velvet Revolution. Due to the restitution, our family got back the property that had been nationalised including the Castle Mělník, Castle Hořín and a vast amount of land and vineyards. My father Otakar before he passed away in 1995 gifted me most of the family’s historic Mělník-Hořin estate.

How did you adapt to life in a country that you visited for the first time but that has had centuries old tradition for the Lobkowicz aristocratic family?

I spoke French, English and German but I could not speak Czech… I had to learn the Czech language from the very basics but I managed to learn it quite quickly. I acquired the Czechoslovak citizenship. After the revolution, we met with Vladimír Dlouhý at one conference. He persuaded me to work as his advisor at the the federal Czechoslovak ministry of economy. I worked there although I did not speak Czech at the time. The negotiations with other ministers were held in English. Until 1995, my investment banking advisory company worked as an consultant to the minister of privatization of the Czech Republic.

Your wife is the opera singer Zdenka Belas with whom you have two sons Robert Christian and Jacob Alexander. How and when did you meet?

We met in 2007 at a charity concert in Karel Boromejský Church in Prague. I was the chairman of the governing board of one hospital nearby Petřín at the time. My current wife Zdenka was singing at the concert… From 2008 until 2012, my wife Zdenka used to organise the International music and opera festival of George Lobkowicz at the Castle Mělník. Zdenka was the festival’s manager and she was organising everything.

What was your motivation to create your own political party? First, you were a member of the party ODS, then you became the deputy leader of the party „Union of Freedom“and you founded your own political party „The Path of Change“ in 2001.

I was member of ODS only 3 months but when Jan Ruml left the party and created The Union of Freedom party I joined him and become vice Chairman of his party. After a couple of years however Jan Ruml retired and unfortunately the party was infiltrated by a lot of people wanting to do more business instead of politics. That is why I founded with a couple of friends „The Path of Change“ but the party was not very successful in the parliamentary elections, nor in the elections to the European Parliament. However we successfully founded with seven other European parties in the European parliament the European Democratic Party (EDP), which is today part of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party, ELDR today 3rd largest parliamentarian group with a pro European and economical liberal orientation.

Do you have any spare time for your hobbies considering that you have two young sons and you take care of the Castle Mělník and Lobkowicz Winery in Mělník?

In the past, I used to play tennis. Nowadays, I go skiing every year with my family to the Austrian or Swiss Alps. I still like hunting although less and less. I go hunting mainly in the Mělník countryside where there is plenty of roe deer and wild boars. My children are my biggest happiness. A driver or my wife Zdenka takes them to an English kindergarten to Prague every day. From time to time, I give them a ride. The winery is my other hobby. I try to keep the centuries old tradition of winemaking in the historic vaulted cellars of the Chateau Mělnik Winery going back to the 11th century and vastly expanded in the 14th century. We are proud of our wine „Ludmila “that we sell in special bottles. These bottles are a replica of an ancient bottle whose fragments we found in the Mělník Castle courtyard over 200 years ago.

Your mother is Hungarian countess Zuzana Szechenyi. What is your relation to Hungary and can you also speak Hungarian?

Although my mother is Hungarian who was born in Vienna I can’t speak Hungarian but I am only able to sing children songs she was singing to put us to bed. My mother is thankfully still alive and she is 84 years old. She inherited some property from her father. She lives 20 kilometres from Sopron and I visit several times every year or she comes to Mělník. I like Hungary, it is an interesting country and it became, through my mother, also part of my personal family roots.

La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise o ers a presentation by serving a selection from two menus consisting of tasting portions of 3 to 5 bites complemented with amuse-bouche.

The rst menu – Dégustation du Chef – is the menu of our chef Oldřich Sahajdák. He picks the best seasonal ingredients available on the market in the given season, processing and preparing them in a very fashionable way. His is a creatively conceived menu with an unmistakeable signature of the chef.

The second menu – Dégustation Bohême Bourgeoise – is a celebration of traditional Czech cuisine of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the heyday of Czech cuisine. The inspiration comes from the culinary experience of a renowned 19th century cooking personality, Mrs. Marie B. Svobodová.

The individual courses are prepared as per the current o er of the market and our suppliers. Meals vary every day, with fresh seasonal ingredients always naturally granted, and sourced from Czech organic farms and small Czech growers.

Our wine cellar boasting a wide range of wines from leading world-famous winemakers is looked after by three experienced sommeliers under the guidance of Roman Novotný, who devote the same degree of care to our guests. The individual courses in each menu may be accompanied with matching wines.

Haštalská18, Prague 1, Czech Republic

Phone: +420 222 311 234

Opening times: Mon-Sun 18:00 – 24:00 www.ladegustation.cz