Princess stéphanie of belgium

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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  Mayerling incident

  Death of Austrian prince Rudolf and his lover Mary von Vetsera (1889)

  48°02′49″N16°05′54″E / 48.04694°N 16.09833°E / 48.04694; 16.09833

  This article is about the Mayerling incident. For other uses, see Mayerling (disambiguation).

  The Mayerling incident is the series of events surrounding the apparent murder–suicidepact of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his lover, baroness Mary Vetsera. They were found dead on 30 January 1889 in an imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling. Rudolf, who was married to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, was the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, and was heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary.

  Rudolf's mistress was the daughter of Albin von Vetsera, a diplomat at the Austrian court. Albin had been created a Freiherr (Baron) in 1870. The bodies of the 30-year-old Rudolf and the 17-year-old Mary were discovered in the Imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods, 26.6 kilometres (16.5 mi) southwest of the capital, on the morning of 30 January 1889.^[1

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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]