Melanie Metternich-Zichy

Princess Melanie Marie Pauline Alexandrine von Metternich-Zichy (Vienna, 27 February 1832 — Vienna, 16 November 1919) was an Austrian aristocrat.[1]

A member of the House of Metternich, she was the daughter of Austrian diplomat and politician Prince Klemens von Metternich and his third wife, Countess Melanie Zichy-Ferraris (1805–1854).[1]

She married Count József Zichy de Zich et Vásonkeő (1814–1897), brother of Antónia Zichy, on 20 November 1853.[2]

A traditional conservative like her father, Princess Melanie Metternich-Zichy played a role in founding the Christian Social Party (Austria). For example, in 1888, her palace was the site of a meeting of politicians who would eventually found the Christian Social Party; that meeting was attended by, among others, Karl Lueger and Karl Freiherr von Vogelsang.[3]

French journalist Dominique Paoli claimed to have found evidence that Maxime Weygand was the illegitimate offspring of Belgian general Alfred van der Smissen and Mélanie Zichy-Metternich, lady-in-waiting to Empress Carlota. Paoli further claimed that Weygand had been born in mid-1865, not January 1867 as is generally claimed.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Profile from Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
  2. ↑ Profile from Österreichische Nationalbibliothek; Article on Antónia Zichy from Hungarian Wikipedia
  3. ↑ Carl Schorske, Fin-de-Siècle Vienna (1961), p. 142
  4. ↑ “Maxime ou le secret Weygand”, Domnique Paoli, Racine, Collection “Les racines de l’Histoire”, 2003
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