After a short career in the French Army, he returned to the United Principalities and served terms in their Assembly of Deputies, inheriting the fortune left by his father.

He established pioneering industries around his manorial estates of Buftea and Dărmănești, and became a guest, and sometime host, of literary meetings held by the political club Junimea.

[5] At first, the Stirbey family belonged to the low-ranking boyar aristocracy of Oltenia, and more specifically Gorj County, tracing their origins to the yeoman Bibul.

[6] Its first influential member had been Alexandru's grandfather, Logothete Dumitrachi Bibescu, whose life coincided with the end of Phanariote rule and the ascendancy of native or assimilated boyars.

A protege of Prince Grigore IV Ghica in the 1820s,[7] he married Ecaterina, granddaughter of the boyaress Safta Brâncoveanu and a member of the Văcărescu family.

[9] The Bibescu and Știrbei branches remained distinct and competitive, with the two brothers even running against each other in the princely election of 1842—although eventually Barbu ceded Gheorghe his votes.

[14] A sister, Elena, had married count Leo Larisch von Mönnich from Cieszyn Silesia;[15] in 1855, she gave birth to his son Georg, later husband of the Baroness Wallersee.

[17][18] Both Alexandru and his other brother, Dimitrie, were originally chased out of Wallachia by the Crimean War: in November 1853, the country's invasion by Russia forced them to settle in Paris.

[21] By contrast with Sașa Cuza, all Știrbei and Bibescu princes renounced their vague claims to the throne following the ascendancy of a foreign-born Domnitor, Carol of Hohenzollern.

[28] Upon his father's death in 1869, and his mother and older brother withdrawing to France,[23][29] Alexandru inherited the Știrbei residence on Calea Victoriei, and a family domain in Buftea.

[40] Știrbei also joined a committee of inquiry looking into the activities of Petre Mavrogheni as Minister of Finance[41] and a group investigating allegations of embezzlement by Nicolae C. Brăiloiu, the Mayor of Bucharest.

In April 1876, with Petre P. Carp, he gave conditional support to the new Prime Minister Florescu, who, although a conservative and Știrbei's cousin, had been imposed by Domnitor Carol.

[46] The outgoing "Liberal Conservative" Prime Minister, Lascăr Catargiu, had reportedly undercut Știrbei's ability to win elections without resorting to fraud.

The claim was voiced by the National Liberal Anastase Stolojan, who argued that Catargiu had graduated 300 tenant farmers, which he viewed as more malleable, into Dolj's 1st College.

In this context, Știrbei, Pantazi Ghica, Petru Grădișteanu, Pache Protopopescu, Dimitrie Sturdza and other deputies advanced moderate backing for the Foreign Minister, Mihail Kogălniceanu, who was drafting a declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire.

[62] As Interior Minister, he had to deal with the effects of a peasant revolt that had occurred during the first half of 1888, as well as the first general strike by typographers, which ended by satisfying certain demands by the workers.

[1] In contrast, George Panu of the Radical Party mocked his "most profound muteness" as a deputy, his only visible "passion" being that of regaining a ministerial seat.

[76] On his Oltenian estates, at Pătulele, Știrbei employed horticulturist Friedrich Grunow, who reforested the area with black locust, which reputedly stopped desertification.

[77] From 1888, Știrbei also sought appointment as curator of Așezămintele Brâncovenești, a charity set up by his aunt, Zoe Brâncoveanu, having donated his estate in Cervenia for its use.

A patron of the arts, he had married actress Gustave Haller, adopting in 1888 her daughters Consuelo and Georges Achille Fould, and sponsoring their training as painters.

[85] His other brother Dimitrie left a daughter, Martha, who married in 1901 the Austrian officer Hans von Blome,[86] later opening a literary salon in Vienna.

[89] He enjoyed political influence over the new establishment, campaigning with the Conservatives alongside his brother George (who served for a while in the Assembly for Dolj),[90] but later switching sides.

[93] Ioana, herself a noted philanthropist, was married to officer Radu R. Rosetti in March 1907; she died seven years later, leaving him sole owner of Brusturoasa and Mândrești.

[33][94] Buftea became a favorite hangout of the Romanian elite from 1909,[4] but Barbu lost Dărmănești to George and his wife, Elisabeta "Lysbeth" Băleanu; they rebuilt it using the architectural talents of Nicolae Ghica-Budești.

[32] A curator of the Royal Estates upon Ioan Kalinderu's death, the "White Prince" was famous as the lover of Queen Marie of Romania, and alleged father of Princess Ileana.

[4][35] The wartime split the brothers Știrbei: before his death from typhus in December 1917, George supported the rogue Conservative faction formed by Marghiloman and Lupu Kostaki, and favored the Central Powers.

[4][34][99] His final work was as an opponent of the Romanian Communist Party, failing in his bid to return as Prime Minister in 1945, before dying, in mysterious circumstances,[4][35] the following year.

[9] His and Eliza's niece, Marina Știrbei, who inherited Dărmănești, was a war pilot with the White Squadron, fleeing the country with her children after the arrest of her husband, Constantin Basarab Brâncoveanu.

The former museum on Calea Victoriei, heavily damaged by the earthquake of March 1977,[9][103] was recovered by Ioana, baroness Kripp-Costinescu, who was sole inheritor of the "White Prince", in 2004.