Early life and career

Yikuang was born in the Aisin-Gioro clan as the eldest son of Mianxing (綿性), a lesser noble who held the title of a buru bafen fuguo gong. He was adopted by his uncle, Mianti (綿悌), who held the title of a third class zhenguo jiangjun. His grandfather was Yonglin, the 17th son of the Qianlong Emperor and the first in line in the Prince Qing peerage, one of the 12 "iron-cap" princely peerages of the Qing dynasty.

Yikuang inherited the title of a fuguo jiangjun in 1850 and was promoted to beizi in 1852. In January 1860, the Xianfeng Emperor further elevated Yikuang to the status of a beile. In October 1872, after the Tongzhi Emperor married Empress Xiaozheyi, he promoted Yikuang to a junwang (second-rank prince) and appointed him as a yuqian dachen (御前大臣; a senior minister reporting directly to the emperor).

Service under the Guangxu Emperor

In March 1884, during the Guangxu Emperor's reign, Yikuang was put in charge of the Zongli Yamen (the de facto foreign affairs ministry) and given the title "Prince Qing of the Second Rank" (慶郡王). In September 1885, he was tasked with assisting Prince Chun in overseeing maritime and naval affairs. In February 1886, he was awarded the privilege of entering the inner imperial court to meet the emperor. In January 1889, he was given an additional appointment: you zongzheng (右宗正; Right Director of the Imperial Clan Court). After the Guangxu Emperor married Empress Xiaodingjing in 1889, he granted additional privileges to Yikuang. In 1894, when Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her 60th birthday, she issued an edict promoting Yikuang to the status of a qinwang (first-rank prince), hence Yikuang was formally known as "Prince Qing of the First Rank".

Around October 1894, during the First Sino-Japanese War, Yikuang was appointed to the positions of high commissioner of the admiralty, the Zongli Yamen, and of war operations, with the latter becoming a quasi-general headquarters.

Yikuang was involved in the "sale" of official positions, in which a person could obtain an official post through the prince's recommendation by paying him a certain sum of money. He became a "go-to person" for backroom deals in politics.

During the Boxer Rebellion from 1899 to 1901, Yikuang was more sympathetic towards the foreigners whereas Zaiyi (Prince Duan) sided with the Boxers against the foreigners. Two factions were formed in the Qing imperial court – one comprised a number of "moderate" pro-foreign politicians, including Yikuang, while another xenophobic faction was headed by Zaiyi. However, Yikuang was discredited for his pro-foreign stance when a multi-national military force marched into Beijing during the Seymour Expedition of 1900. He was immediately replaced by the "reactionary" Zaiyi as the leader of the Zongli Yamen (the foreign affairs ministry). Qing imperial forces and Boxers, acting under Zaiyi's command, defeated Seymour's first expedition. Yikuang even wrote letters to foreigners, inviting them to take shelter in the Zongli Yamen during the Siege of the International Legations, when Zaiyi's men besieged the Beijing Legation Quarter. Another pro-foreign general, Ronglu, offered to provide escorts to the foreigners when his soldiers were supposed to be killing foreigners. Yikuang and Zaiyi's forces clashed several times. Yikuang ordered his own Bannermen to attack the Boxers and the Kansu Braves.

Yikuang was then sent by Empress Dowager Cixi, along with Li Hongzhang, to negotiate for peace with the Eight-Nation Alliance after they invaded Beijing in 1901. Yikuang and Li Hongzhang signed the Boxer Protocol on 7 September 1901. During the conference, Yikuang was seen as a representative while the actual negotiations were done by Li Hongzhang. Returning to Beijing as a senior member of the imperial court, Yikuang persisted in his old ways, and was despised by not only reformers, but also by moderate court officials.

In June 1901, the Zongli Yamen was converted to the Waiwubu (外務部; foreign affairs ministry), with Yikuang still in charge of it. In December, Yikuang's eldest son, Zaizhen, was made a beizi. In discussions over Manchuria, Yikuang "was bolder in resisting the Russians Li Hongzhang, though he was in the last resort weak and unable to hold out against pressure. The Japanese regarded him as a 'nonentity' but this judgment may have been influenced by the fact that he did not often accept their advice." He was also appointed to the Grand Council in March 1903. Later that year, he was put in charge of the finance and defence ministries – in addition to his position as head of the foreign affairs ministry. However, he was also relieved of his duties as a yuqian dachen (御前大臣) and replaced by his eldest son, Zaizhen.

After the Guangxu Emperor died on 14 November 1908, Empress Dowager Cixi chose Zaifeng (Prince Chun)'s two-year-old son, Puyi, to be the new emperor. Puyi was "adopted" into the emperor's lineage, hence he was nominally no longer Zaifeng's son. Empress Dowager Cixi died on the following day.

Service under the Xuantong Emperor

Puyi ascended the throne as the Xuantong Emperor, with his biological father, Zaifeng (Prince Chun), serving as regent. In 1911, Zaifeng abolished the Grand Council and replaced it with an "Imperial Cabinet", after which he appointed Yikuang as the Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet (內閣總理大臣).

When the Wuchang Uprising broke out in October 1911, Yikuang stepped down as Prime Minister, offering his position to Yuan Shikai instead, and appointed himself as the Chief Executive of the Bideyuan (弼德院; a government body established in May 1911 which provided advice to the emperor). Yikuang and Yuan Shikai persuaded Empress Dowager Longyu (Empress Xiaodingjing) to abdicate on behalf of the Xuantong Emperor. The empress dowager heeded their advice in February 1912.

Life after the fall of the Qing dynasty

After the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China, Yikuang and his eldest son, Zaizhen, amassed a fortune and moved from Beijing to the British concession in Tianjin. They later moved back to the Prince Qing Residence (慶王府) at No. 3, Dingfu Street in Beijing's Xicheng District.

Yikuang died of illness in 1917 in his residence. Puyi awarded him the posthumous title "Prince Qingmi of the First Rank" (慶密親王). In the same year, Li Yuanhong, the President of the Republic of China, gave Zaizhen permission to inherit the Prince Qing peerage.

Family

;Consorts

• Lady Hegiya (合佳氏), bore Zaizhen

• Lady Liugiya (劉佳氏), bore Zaibo and Zailun

• Lady Bolod (博罗特氏)

• Lady Jingiya (金佳氏)

;Children

• Zaizhen, Yikuang's eldest son

• Zaibo (載搏), Yikuang's second son

• Third son, unnamed, died prematurely

• Fourth son, unnamed, died prematurely

• Zailun (載倫), Yikuang's fifth son. He married Sun Baoqi's daughter, while his own daughter married the son of Empress Dowager Cixi's younger brother, Guixiang (桂祥).

• Sixth son, unnamed, died prematurely

• 12 daughters

生平

• 道光十八年二月二十九（1838年3月24日）出生。

• 道光三十年（1850年）襲輔國將軍。咸豐二年（1852年）正月封貝子。十年（1860年）正月，上三十萬壽，進貝勒。同治十一年（1872年）九月，同治帝大婚，加郡王銜，授御前大臣。

• 光緒十年（1884年）三月，命管理總理各國事務衙門。十月，進慶郡王。十一年九月，會同醇親王辦理海軍事務。十二年二月，命在內廷行走。十五年（1889年）正月，授右宗正。光緒大婚，賜四團正龍補服，其子載振頭品頂帶。二十年（1894年），太后六十萬壽，懿旨封慶親王。

• 二十六年（1900年）七月庚子事變中，留京會同李鴻章與各國議和。二十七年六月，改總理各國事務衙門為外務部，奕劻仍總理部事。十二月，加載振貝子銜。

• 二十九年（1903年）三月，授奕劻軍機大臣，仍總理外務部如故。尋命總理財政處、練兵處，解御前大臣以授載振。三十四年（1908年）十一月以親王世襲罔替。

• 宣統三年（1911年）出任首任清朝內閣總理大臣（首相），組成慶親王內閣。武昌起義後，邀請袁世凱代其出任總理大臣，自任弼德院總裁。後配合袁世凱勸隆裕太后同意宣統退位。民國後，據說與其子載振攜袁世凱賄賂之匯豐銀行兩百萬銀元巨資遷居天津英租界，後來又遷回北京西城區定阜街3號慶王府。

• 1917年1月28日病死青島，奕劻的家人請求遜帝溥儀賜予謚號，內務府把擬定的謚號「哲」送交溥儀，溥儀在當天患感冒沒有上課，無法與師傅們商量，只好自己決定，他沒有採納內務府擬定的謚號，另寫了幾個惡謚「謬」、「醜」、「幽」、「厲」等，溥儀的生父醇親王載灃勸說另賜個好謚號，溥儀拒絕說：「奕劻受袁世凱的錢，勸太后讓國，大清二百多年的天下，斷送在奕劻手裡，怎麼可以給個美謚？只能是這個：醜！謬！」 載灃又建議用「獻」做謚號，哄騙溥儀這有個犬旁，不是好謚，溥儀直接哭出來，乾脆不想給謚號了，最終南書房翰林決定謚號為「密」，溥儀以為不是個好字眼就同意了。溥儀後來從蘇洵的《謚法考》上看到「追補前過曰密」，想再改奕劻的謚號也來不及了。民國大總統黎元洪頒令，允許其子載振世襲慶親王爵銜。

家庭

妻妾

• 嫡福晉博羅特氏，總督裕謙之女。同治十二年，禮部為該年八月榮安固倫公主下嫁奉朱筆圈出年命相合貝勒奕劻夫人博勒忒氏送親之事致宗人府。光緒十一年十一月，慶郡王嫡福晉博勒忒氏薨逝。

• 大側福晉合佳氏，護軍合平之女。光緒十一年十二月二十日，禮部為知照多羅慶郡王之側室合佳氏封為側福晉事致內務府。

• 側福晉金佳氏，護軍阿昌阿之女。中國第一歷史檔案館有藏光緒十三年八月初七日慶郡王門上長史福壽《為呈報慶郡王庶福晉金佳氏生第六女事致宗人府 》。

• 四側福晉劉佳氏，護軍色普珍之女。中國第一歷史檔案館有藏光緒二十八年三月二十六日，慶親王門上長史德楞額《為呈報慶親王之側福晉劉佳氏所生之第十女病故日期事致宗人府黃檔房》。

• 側福晉李佳氏，福常之女。光緒二十四年十二月十五日，禮部為知照和碩慶親王奕劻之媵妾李佳氏封為側福晉事致內務府。

子女

• 長子慶貞親王載振（母：大側福晉合佳氏），有四子：溥鐘、溥銳、溥鈞、溥鋼。

• 二子載𢱿（母：四側福晉劉佳氏），有二子：溥鈞、溥銘。

• 三子載授，早殤。

• 四子，早殤。

• 五子載掄（母：四側福晉劉佳氏），娶山東巡撫孫寶琦之女。他的女兒嫁給慈禧太后胞弟承恩公桂祥的兒子，有一子溥鈺。

• 六子載鐠，早殤。

奕劻有十二個女兒，其中五格格、七格格及九格格早年夭折，除十格格和十二格格的出嫁情況不清楚外，其他女兒均出嫁，三格格和四格格常陪伴慈禧太后遊玩。 ​

長女郡主，同治七年七月二十一日酉時生，母嫡福晉博羅忒氏，總督裕謙之女。光緒十年四月嫁喀爾喀親王那彥圖為嫡福晉，卒于光緒二十六年。

次女郡君，光緒四年十二月二日巳時生，母側福晉合佳氏，光緒二十三年嫁正黃旗伍彌特氏希賢之子監生世梁，卒年不詳。

三女，光緒五年十一月七日丑時生生，母側福晉金佳氏，光緒二十一年十二月嫁葉赫那拉氏蔭生德恆，即慈禧太后之侄。

四女，光緒七年九月十九日丑時生，生母側福晉合佳氏，光緒二十五年九月二十一日許給直隸總督喜塔臘氏裕祿九子三等承恩公熙俊為妻，當月成婚。

五女，光緒十一年七月二十五日申時生，庶福晉劉佳氏生。未婚早卒。

六女郡君，光緒十三年七月七日子時生，側福晉金佳氏生，光緒三十一年八月二十日嫁瓜爾佳氏一等男榮祿之嗣子良揆為妻，宣統三年七月二十四日卯時卒，年二十五歲。

七女，光緒十五年三月十八日未時生，生母庶福晉劉佳氏。未婚早卒。

八女，光緒十九年生,母側福晉李佳氏，宣統三年二月初二日嫁馬佳氏提督紹英長子世傑，民國三年三月十九日生第三子馬延通產後死，年二十二歲。

九女，光緒二十一年生,母側福晉李佳氏，宣統元年十二月二十八日，年十四歲。早卒。

十女，光緒二十一年九月二日辰時生，生母庶福晉劉佳氏，光緒二十八年三月二十六日卒，年八歲。早卒。

十一女載揆，字芝卿，號知青？光緒二十六年生，母側福晉李佳氏。民國九年十月初一日即陰曆八月二十日，下嫁烏梁海濟爾莫特氏扎薩克輔國公漢羅扎布（字鳳池）為繼福晉。

十二女，光緒二十七年生，母側福晉李佳氏，不詳。

評價

。

1917年2月1日，溥儀召見世續、善耆、紹英三人，商量如何給奕劻謚號。溥儀認為不用給謚號，說：「慶親王將大清國都賣了，對不住列祖列宗，毋庸予謚。」後經醇親王斡旋得到謚號為密。

慶親王內閣

慶親王府

慶親王府位于北京西城區定阜街3號。該府原是道光朝大學士琦善的第宅。因擅許割讓香港獲罪，琦善被查辦並籍沒家產。咸豐五年（1855年），恭親王奕訢獲賜慶親王老府為邸，居住該邸的慶親王永璘六子綿性之子奕劻（已世襲遞降至輔國將軍）遷至原琦善宅。光緒十年（1884年），奕劻被晉封為慶郡王，按王府規制對住宅進行了改建，其府始稱為王府。1949年後被軍事單位占用，為北京市重點保護文物。