Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi

Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi (August 27, 1886 – January 29, 1965) was an American heiress from the prominent United States Vanderbilt family, and the wife of a Hungarian count.

Family background

Countess Széchenyi was born Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, in 1886, the seventh and youngest child of Alice Claypoole Gwynne with Cornelius Vanderbilt II, the President and Chairman of the New York Central Railroad. Gladys grew up in the family home on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and their summer "cottage", The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island.^[1]

Her first cousin was Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough.

Marriage

Gladys Vanderbilt married Hungarian Count László Széchenyi on January 27, 1908 in New York City. The couple visited Hungary almost every summer with their five daughters:

• Cornelia Széchenyi who married Eugene B. Roberts of Bowie, Maryland, and had three children, Gladys, Cornelia and Eugene.
• Alice Széchenyi married Hungarian Count Béla Hadik and had two sons, László and János.
• Gladys Széchenyi married the English Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, and had two sons, Stormont and Robin.
• Sylvia Széchenyi married Hungarian Count Antal Szapáry, and had two children, Pál and Gladys.
• Ferdinandine Széchenyi married the Austrian Count Alexander zu Eltz and had two sons, Peter and Nicholas.

Death

Countess Széchenyi died in 1965. Her daughter, Countess Sylvia Szapáry maintained a residence at her grandparents' summer "cottage", The Breakers until her death on March 1, 1998.

References