Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich

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Countess Marie Larisch (L) and Baroness Mary Vetsera (R)
Countess Marie Larisch (L) and Baroness Mary Vetsera (R)

Countess Marie Louise Larisch von Moennich (also known as Countess Marie Louise Larisch-Wallersee) (24 February 1858 - 4 July 1940), niece and confidante of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, was born Marie Louise Elizabeth Mendel in Augsburg, Bavaria, the illegitimate daughter of Ludwig Wilhelm, Duke in Bavaria (1831-1920) and actress Henriette Mendel (1833-1891). [1][2]

Her father renounced, on 9 March 1859, his rights as firstborn son, and Henriette (or Henrietta) Mendel was created Baroness of Wallersee (Freifrau von Wallersee) on 19 May 1859 in preparation for their morganatic marriage on 28 May 1859 in Augsburg. From 28 May 1859, Marie was thus a Baroness of Wallersee (Freiin von Wallersee). [3]

Marie became the confidante of her aunt, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, being selected at least partly because of her skills on horseback. Their relationship was shattered by the revelation, after Crown Prince Rudolf's death at Mayerling, that Marie had acted as go-between for him and his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera.

On 20 October 1877 at Jagdschloß Gödöllő in Hungary she married Count Georg Larisch of Moennich, Baron of Ellgoth and Karwin (1855-1928). [3] The marriage had been arranged by the Empress. They divorced on 3 December 1896. Marie had five children during this marriage, though only the first two were indisputably fathered by her husband: their first-born was oceanographer Franz-Joseph Ludwig Georg Maria, Count Larisch of Moennich, Baron of Ellgoth and Karwin (1878-1937), followed by Marie Valerie (1879-1915), Mary (1884-1907), Georg (1886-1909), and Friedrich Karl (1894-1929).

On 15 May 1897 at Munich she married musician Otto Brucks (1854-1914). [2]They had one child, Otto (1899-1977).

Marie met and conversed with the poet T. S. Eliot, and part of their conversation found its way into his epochal poem The Waste Land. [4][5][6][7]

Marie is said to have been given a great deal of "hush money" not to publish her memoirs, and to have accepted voluntary exile to the United States in exchange for an annual pension of $25,000. She, of course, published her memoirs anyway — a series of ghost-written works which are completely undependable factually. [8][9]

On 2 September 1924 at Elizabeth, New Jersey, she married naturopath William H. Meyers (born 1859). They lived initially in New Jersey and later in Florida. They divorced in 1928. [2]

Marie died in 1940 in a home for the elderly at Augsburg and is buried in Munich at the Ostfriedhof. [2]

[edit] Notes

Regarding personal names: Gräfin is a title, translated as Countess, not a first or middle name. The male form is Graf. Regarding personal names: Freiin is a title, translated as Baroness, not a first or middle name. The title is for the unmarried daughters of a Freiherr.

[edit] Works

  • 1913: My Past[10]
  • 1922: Behind the Scenes with the Kaiser. [11]
  • 1935: Secrets of a Royal House[12]
  • 1936: My Royal Relatives. In this work she claims to have been the daughter of Marie, Queen of the Two Sicilies by a "Count Armand de Lavaÿss" who cannot be found outside the pages of this work. [13]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tourtchine, Jean-Fred. Le Royaume de Baviére (Les Manuscrits du CEDRE), volume II, p. 29. 
  2. ^ a b c d Sokop, Brigitte (1985). Jene Gräfin Larisch...: Marie Louise Gräfin Larisch-Wallersee: Vertraute der Kaiserin - Verfemte nach Mayerling. Wien, Köln, Graz: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf. ISBN 3-205-07231-6. 
  3. ^ a b von Ehrenkrook, Hans Friedrich (1955). Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels: Gräfliche Häuser A Band II. Glücksburg/Ostsee: C. A. Starke Verlag, 245. ISBN 3-7980-0710-1. 
  4. ^ Morris, George K. L., Partisan Review, 21 no. 2, 1954.
  5. ^ Eliot, T. S.; Valerie Eliot (1971). The Waste Land: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts including the annotations of Ezra Pound. San Diego, New York, London: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. ISBN 0-15-194760-0. 
  6. ^ Hecht, Anthony (2003). Melodies Unheard: Essays on the Mysteries of Poetry. Johns Hopkins University Press, "Uncle Tom's Shantih", pp. 122-130. ISBN 0-8018-6956-0. 
  7. ^ Parker, Rickard A.. Exploring The Waste Land. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
  8. ^ Powell, Violet (1967). A Substantial Ghost. London: Heinemann. 
  9. ^ ffoulkes, Maude M. C. (1915). My Own Past. London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne: Cassell and Company, Ltd.. 
  10. ^ Larisch, Marie; Maude Mary Chester ffoulkes (1913). My Past. New York & London: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
  11. ^ Larisch, Marie (1922). Behind the Scenes with the Kaiser. New York: Hertag Publishing Co.. 
  12. ^ Larisch, Marie; Paul Maerker Branden and Elsa Branden (1935). Secrets of a Royal House. London: John Long, Ltd.. 
  13. ^ Larisch, Marie; Paul Maerker Branden and Elsa Branden (1936). My Royal Relatives. London: John Long, Ltd..