'True European': Former top Czech diplomat Schwarzenberg dies

FILE PHOTO: A man gestures towards a pre-election mural, depicting TOP09 political party chairman Karel Schwarzenberg, painted on an abandoned building in Prague October 8, 2013. REUTERS/David W Cerny (CZECH REPUBLIC - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)/File Photo

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, one of the leading figures in the country's post-Communist era, has died, officials said on Sunday. He was 85.

Schwarzenberg was born into a prestigious Czech family and became a senior aide to his friend Vaclav Havel after the former dissident won the country's first free election in 1990. He later served twice as foreign minister between 2007 and 2013.