George Barbu Știrbei or Știrbeiŭ, also known as Gheorghe, Georgie, or Iorgu Știrbei (transitional Cyrillic: George Stirbeiꙋ̆; Francized Georges Stirbey; April 1, 1828 – August 15, 1925), was a Wallachian-born Romanian aristocrat and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 15, 1866, until February 21, 1867. He was the eldest son of Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, Prince of Wallachia, and the nephew of his rival, Gheorghe Bibescu; his younger siblings included the landowner and industrialist Alexandru B. Știrbei. Educated in France, he returned to Wallachia during his father's princely mandate, as a Beizadea and aspiring politician. Fleeing his country during the Crimean War, he served the French Empire before returning home to become Wallachian Minister of War and Spatharios. He is remembered for reforming the Wallachian militia during the remainder of Prince Barbu's term.
Știrbei remained a legislator of Wallachia and then of the United Principalities; his core constituency was Dolj County, though his legitimacy there was disputed by allegations of fraud. He was however strongly opposed to the Principalities' first Domnitor, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, reemerging by 1860 as a charismatic leader of the conservative opposition. His involvement in political scandals and electoral intrigues led to his brief arrest that same year, but Cuza was ultimately toppled in 1866. Following this, Știrbei abandoned his own bid for the throne to serve Domnitor Carol of Hohenzollern. As Foreign Minister, he helped secure recognition for the United Principalities, and made diplomatic overtures toward Austria-Hungary. Failing in his attempt to become Prime Minister of Romania, he was disappointed with the Domnitor, leaving politics altogether.
Știrbei divided the second half of his life between homes in Paris and Bécon-les-Bruyères, and was naturalized French. In this period, he was a collector and patron of the arts, noted as Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's last sponsor. He was also married to the actress and sculptor Valérie Simonin, adopting her daughters Consuelo and Georges Achille Fould—whom he educated artistically. His parallel work was as a cultural journalist, and, late in his life, as the posthumous editor of Jean-Jacques Weiss and as a memoirist. His controversial dealings with Carpeaux, the status of his inheritance, and his paternity disputes remained at the center of public attention long after his death.
Biography
Origins and early life
Știrbei was born in Bucharest, the Wallachian capital, on April 1, 1828, a date he himself gave against records which have 1834; other sources claim 1832. His paternal origins were in the Bibescu family, which had its roots in the petty boyar nobility of Oltenia: a yeoman Bibul, living before 1700, was the family patriarch. The clan went through a rapid social climb after the fall of the Phanariotes and the foundation of a Regulamentul Organic regime. As a protege of Prince Grigore IV Ghica in the 1820s, George's grandfather Dumitrachi married Ecaterina, a member of the Văcărescu family, and made friends with her tutor, Vornic Barbu C. Știrbei. He was a godfather to Dumitrachi's first-born, Barbu Bibescu, whom he adopted, before dying in 1813; Barbu was therefore the only one known as Știrbei among the three Bibescu brothers. On his mother Elisabeta's side, George descended from the Cantacuzino family, specifically its branch in Moldavia.
When his son was born, Barbu Bibescu-Știrbei was merely a Clucer, trailing behind his more ambitious brother Gheorghe; his climb was moreover interrupted by the Russian Empire, with its invasion of Wallachia. It resumed when he was imposed by Consul Peter I. Rikman into the cabinet of Prince Alexandru II Ghica. The liberal-minded and Westernizing Pavel Kiselyov become governor of the two Danubian Principalities, also forcing Știrbei's appointment to government offices. As reported by French expatriate Félix Colson, in the 1830s the family was already proudly Bonapartist in their politics. Their public commitment to Kiselyov prompted the Wallachian establishment to regard the Bibescu–Știrbeis as intolerable upstarts—or "Oltenian horse-breeders", in the reported sayings of Alecu Filipescu-Vulpea. Other critics jokingly referred to the brothers as the "equine dynasty".