Karel, 12th and 7th Prince of Schwarzenberg was a Czech politician, diplomat and statesman who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2009 and then again between 2010 and 2013. Schwarzenberg was leader and co-founder of the TOP 09 party and its candidate for president of the Czech Republic in the 2013 election. He served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 2010 to 2021 and in the Senate from 2004 until 2010.

TOP 09 is a liberal-conservative political party in the Czech Republic, led by Markéta Pekarová Adamová. 14 of its members sit in the Chamber of Deputies, and three of them are MEPs.