Mizzi kaspar

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Baroness Mary von Vetsera was a mistress of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the only son of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and Elisabeth of Bavaria. On January 30, 1889, Mary and Rudolf were found dead by suicide pact, at Rudolf’s hunting lodge Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, which this writer has visited.

Marie Alexandrine von Vetsera was born on March 19, 1871, in Vienna, Austria. Known by the English form of her name, Mary, she was the younger of the two daughters and the third of the four children of Albin von Vetsera, a diplomat in foreign service at the Austrian court, originally from Bratislava, Slovakia, and his wife Helene Baltazzi (link in German), daughter of a wealthy Greek banker. In 1870, Mary’s father was made a Baron (Freiherr in German) by Emperor Franz Joseph and his children were entitled to be styled Baron (Freiherr) and Baroness (Freiin, unmarried daughter)

Mary had three siblings:

• Baron Ladislaus von Vetsera (1865 – 1881), died at age 16
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  Baroness Mary Vetsera

  Austrian noble adolescent, mistress to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (1871–1889)

  Baroness Marie Alexandrine "Mary" von Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was an Austrian noblewoman and the mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Vetsera and the crown prince were found dead at his hunting lodge in Mayerling on 30 January 1889, following an apparent murder-suicide, which is known as the Mayerling incident.

  Family and early life

  Marie Alexandrine MaryFreiin von Vetsera was born on 19 March 1871 as the third child and second daughter of Albin Freiherr von Vetsera (1825–1887), an Austrian diplomat from Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary (present day Bratislava, Slovakia),^[1] and his wife, born Eleni Hélène Baltazzi (1847–1925), member of a wealthy noble family from Chios, Greece (then part of the Ottoman Empire).^[2][3] Albin Vetsera had been the guardian of the orphaned Baltazzi children and married the eldest daughter. He was raised to the rank of Freiherr in 1870 by Emperor Franz Joseph.^[4]

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  Vetsera, Marie (1871–1889)

  Austrian baroness who died at Mayerling. Name variations: Marie Alexandrine; Baroness Mary Vetsera. Born on March 19, 1871, in Vienna, Austria; died on January 29, 1889, at Mayerling, near Vienna; daughter of Baron Albin Vetsera and Helene Baltazzi Vetsera ; never married; no children.

  The short and tragic life of Marie Vetsera began in 1871 in Vienna. She was the eldest daughter in a prosperous Austrian family. Her mother was Helene Baltazzi Vetsera ; her father Albin Vetsera was a career diplomat in the Austro-Hungarian Empire who was made a baron in 1870. Marie spent most of her childhood traveling with her parents on the baron's assignments; she was not well educated, preferring horses and fashion to her studies. She was particularly fond of horse racing, a very popular sport in Austria at the time. It was at one race in around 1885 that the Vetseras met the future King Edward VII of England. Edward subsequently introduced them to the Austrian crown prince Rudolf (1858–1889), son of Elizabeth of Bavaria (1837–1898) and Emperor Franz Jose