Karl Schwarzenberg’s daughter, the rebel Lila, made a film about her father. She had a strained relationship with him, she was afraid of him for a long time

The important politician with international reach is known to most Czechs mainly thanks to the many functions that Karel Schwarzenberg performed. But little is known about his busy and sometimes stormy private life. Schwarzenberg’s daughter Anna Karolina, who he called Lila, recorded his life in the documentary “My Father, the Prince”.

By the way, it was thanks to Lila that Prince Karel Schwarzenberg became the grandfather of five children born to her in a relationship with the excellent playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan, the author of the serial hit “Koruna”.

She herself does not hide the fact that she wanted to make this film in order to record the father for her children. She did so with an admirable degree of courage, for she did not erect a monument, as is usual in such cases. On the contrary, she presented her father and herself primarily from the less benign side, opening the thirteenth chambers in the process.

Invisible wall

She admitted right at the beginning that it is very difficult for her to be in contact with her father and that she avoids him. If it happens from time to time, it will not last long. But then he regrets it. Thanks to this documentary, which was filmed from 2016-2021 alternately in the Czech Republic and in Austria, viewers can get a glimpse into the private life of the prince. And they are often surprised.

While we know Karl Schwarzenberg as a sociable and friendly man with a great sense of humor, according to Lily, he has built an invisible wall around himself that is very difficult to get through. “He always behaves to a certain extent formally,” she wailed. However, she admitted that some people managed to get through that wall, but she was not one of them. “As a child I was always madly afraid of him because he was very strict,” she confided. Only when she was thirty years old and already had children did she get rid of that fear.

Lazy to pretend

Some interesting scenes prove that relations gradually improved. For example, when Lila visits her father in his Prague apartment and is surprised to discover that he takes care of himself and even cooks himself, she only helps him with cleaning and washing “one wonderful lady”.

She was also interested in the environment in which he felt truly himself: “I hope in everyone. I’m too lazy to pretend. In order to play something, you have to exert yourself,” he replied. But Lila herself complained that she couldn’t be herself: “Everything is always spinning around him. He never adapts.’

Nevertheless, he assured her that family was very important to him, however, the fact that he did not show it too much was said to be related to his nature: “It doesn’t bother me stand up in front of a thousand people and give a speech, but I definitely have trouble talking to my own children. I have a problem with that.’ he told in the documentary “My Father, the Prince”, which you can watch, for example, on “Voyo”.

Sources: My father, prince, VOYO, Bontonfilm