Hermann Speck von Sternburg

Sternburg was educated in the Fürstenschule Saint Afra, Meissen, Saxony, and the military academy of Potsdam.

He became consul general for British India and Ceylon in 1900, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to the United States in 1903, and ambassador in July 1903, succeeding Theodor von Holleben.

[citation needed] After the bombardment of San Carlos island, Venezuela, by the Kriegsmarine on January 31, 1903, US President Theodore Roosevelt castigated Sternburg for Germany's actions.

[citation needed] In December 1900, Sternburg married Lillian Langham, an American citizen.

The illustrated catalogue of The Important Collection of Art Treasures, formed by his Excellency the late Baron Speck von Sternberg, German Ambassador to the United States [1] demonstrates that as a cultured aristocrat and German ambassador in many countries, he collected works of art all from over the world.