Adam Karol Czartoryski
 |
Adam Karol | |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms |  |
| Born | 2 January 1940 Seville, Spain |
| Family | Czartoryski |
| consort | Josette Naime Calil |
| Father | Prince Augustyn Józef Czartoryski |
| Mother | Princess Maria de los Dolores of Borbon y Orleans |
Adam Karol Jezus Maria Józef Franciszek Salezy and all the Saints Czartoryski, his Spanish name Adán Carlos Jesús María José Francisco de Sales y todos los Santos Czartoryski-Bórbon Krasinski y Orléans (born 2 January 1940 in Seville, Spain) is a Polish-Spanish aristocrat, the founder and president of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation, in Cracow.
He is the Head of the Polish House of Czartoryski, descendants of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and he is the 14th direct descendant of this line.[1]
Adam Karol was born in Seville on the 2 of January 1940. His parents fled Poland at the beginning of the 1939 German invasion and lived in Spain, his mother's native country. After his father's death, he remained in Spain where he was educated. Later, he lived for a time in England and in Ireland before returning to Spain when his maternal first cousin, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, came to the throne.
During the sixties while in Dublin, he became involved with racing cars of different modalities and classes. From Sport Cars to Formula III and was involved both in Circuit Racing and Hill Climbs in Ireland, as well as in Britain and some European Circuits for sometime.
He was also interested in martial arts and started training in Kempo Karate with John McSweeney, a direct pupil of the famous Hawaiian Master Ed Parker. Returning to Spain he continued training and he became a 5 Dan Black Belt in Karate,as well as he contributed on the organisation and creation of the Spanish Karate Federation. He was vice President of the World Union of Karate Do Organisations, the World Karate Federation and also the European Karate Union for over two decades.
In 1975, at the death of his grandmother Princess Maria Ludwika Czartoryska, the Hotel Lambert was sold by the heirs. This family residence in Paris, bought during the exile in 1842, was the rallying point of the Polish émigrés and represented the political and cultural resistance movement. Adam Karol kept the family portraits and miniatures.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the Polish High Court returned to Adam Karol the Czartoryski Museum and Library with its important collections brought to Krakow by his great-grandfather, Prince Wladyslaw, in 1876. Its most important treasure is The Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. He instituted the Princes Czartoryski Foundation to run and administer the Museum Collections. In recognition of his Grand Gesture he was awarded with the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
In 1992 during the Universal EXPO in Seville, Spain, he was chosen by the Polish Government to head the Polish Pavilion, recognising, for the first time, his Polish identity.
Nowadays Adam Karol's task is to maintain the new museum for future generations as a testimony of patriotism and national identity, through the exhibition of his family's collection.
Family
Adam Karol is the only surviving child of Prince Jozef August and Princess Dolores of Borbon y Orleans. His younger brother, Ludwik, died in infancy. He is a cousin of the royal families of Spain, Brazil and the Two Sicilies. In 1977 Adam Karol married Nora Picciotto, with whom he had one daughter, Tamara Czartoryska (b. 1978). They divorced in 1986. In 2000 he married Josette Naime Calil.
Ancestry
Selected Awards and Honours
- Knight of Ronda (Real Maestranza de Caballeria de Ronda)
- Knight of Madrid (Hijos Dalgo de la Nobleza de Madrid)
- Member of Mozarabes of Toledo (Mozarabes de Toledo)
- Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George,Naples,Italy (Sacro Militare Ordine Costantiniano di San Giorgio Napoli, Italia)
- Knight of Malta
- Commander's Cross with Star of the Polish Order of Polonia Restituta.
Selected Sports Medals
- Silver Medal Spanish Judo Federation.(FEJ)
- Gold Medal Spanish Wrestling Federation. (FEL)
- Gold Medal International Wrestling Federation. (FILA)
- Gold Medal Ministry of Sports of Taiwan.
Other Selected Activities
- Prince Adam Karol is since 1974 the Head Trustee of the Polish Dzialynska Trust in London
- Holly Order of the True Cross,Dos Hermanas,Seville,Spain (Hermandad de la Vera Cruz, Dos Hermanas,Sevilla,Espaňa ) Since 1946.
- Holly Order of Saint John of the Palm,Seville,Spain (Hermandad de San Juan de la Palma "La Amargura" Sevilla, Espaňa) Since 1948.
- Holly Order of Jesus Captive, Dos Hermanas, Seville, Spain (Hermandad de Jesus Cautivo, Parroquia de Santa Magdalena, Dos Hermanas, Sevilla) Since 1954.
- Holly Order of Saint John of the Palm, Dos Hermanas,Seville,Spain ( Hermandad de San Juan de la Palma "La Borriquita" Parroquia de Santa Magdalena,Dos Hermanas,Sevilla,Espaňa ) Co Founder and Member Since 1956.
- Holly Order of Our Father of the Passion,Seville,Spain (Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesus de Pasion,Sevilla,Espaňa) Since 1962.
References
External links
- Official website of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation. Contains the Family history and the notes on the Czartoryski Museum and Library in Cracow, Poland and its most famous painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine
- Profile of Adam Karol Czartoryski at the official website of the Princes Czartoryski Foundation