Etti Plesch
Encyclopedia
Etti Plesch, Austro-Hungarian
countess, huntress
, racehorse owner and socialite. Plesch lost two of her six husbands to the same woman, Louise de Vilmorin, a French literary figure, and owned two winners of the Epsom Derby
, in Psidium
in 1961 and Henbit
in1980.
Born Maria Anna Paula Ferdinandine Gräfin von Wurmbrand-Stuppach in Vienna
, Austria, of Greco-Austrian heritage, "Etti," as she was known, was putatively the elder daughter of Count Ferdinand von Wurmbrand-Stuppach
(1879–1933) and his wife May Baltazzi (1885–1981), but more likely was the countess's biological child by Count Josef Gizycki. Her mother, who was a cousin of Baroness Mary Vetsera
, a mistress of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
, said that Count Gizycki's main interest in life was "the pleasuring of women in a physical way .... He was amoral and cynical, but he was a marvellous lover." (Gizycki was famed in the early 1900s because of his stormy marriage to American newspaper heiress Cissy Patterson
.)
Etti von Wurmbrand-Stuppach was raised in Vienna and in Moravia
, with travels to other sites throughout Europe. From the age of ten until she was twelve she was treated for tuberculosis
at the Waltzaner Sanatorium in Davos
which was the setting for Thomas Mann
's novel The Magic Mountain
.
At the age of 17, she fell in love with Count Vladschi Mittrovsky, but was forbidden to marry him because he had a blood disease. She journeyed to New York and met American railway heir Clendennin Ryan III (1905–1957), grandson of Thomas Fortune Ryan
, marrying him on 20 February 1935, after he proposed on their third date, in Saint Patrick's Cathedral
in New York. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia was best man.
The marriage lasted three months (they divorced in 1935 and the marriage was annulled in 1944), and she returned to Europe where she met Hungarian Count Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd (1890–1968) and became his fourth of eight eventual wives in late 1935. They lived in Slovakia
. Their life was taken up with tiger hunts in India
: they both became good shots, killing stags, elephants, and antelopes. They attended the World Exposition of Shooting at Berlin, hosted by Hermann Göring
. Shortly afterwards, Pálffy became smitten with the siren-like writer Louise de Vilmorin (1902–1969) in Paris, divorced Etti in December 1937, and married Louise.
On the rebound, Etti married a Hungarian count, Tamás Esterházy de Galántha (1901–1964), descendant of the junior committal branch of a great princely family, on 5 March 1938, and went to live in the castle of Devecser, in Hungary. They hunted, travelled, and had one daughter, Marie-Anna Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgina Helene Genoveva (b. 12 December 1938), known as "Bunny". Her daughter married 1962 (and divorced 1972) the Hon. Dominic Elliot (b. 1931), younger son of the 5th Earl of Minto
, and had issue two sons (the elder Alexander dying unmarried in 1985).
In 1942, she journeyed abroad alone and her husband also fell under the spell of heartbreaker Vilmorin. He eloped with Vilmorin and divorced Etti in 1944. (Vilmorin and Esterházy never married)
Etti's next two husbands were the Austrian Count Sigismund Berchtold (1900–1979), son of Count Leopold Berchtold, the Minister of Foreign Affairs who advised the Emperor to declare war on the Serbs
, starting the First World War (they wed in 1944 and divorced in 1949). The fifth was Chicago
millionaire William Deering Davis, who had been briefly married to the silent film star Louise Brooks
, in the 1930s; Plesch's marriage to Davis lasted from 1949 until their divorce in 1951.
In 1954, Etti married her last husband, Dr Árpád Plesch (1889–1974), a Hungarian lawyer, international financier, and collector of rare botanical
books and pornographic esoterica
.
with Nagami and that year's Irish Oaks
with Discorea. Their 1961 Epsom Derby
winner Psidium
was bred by Etti Plesch and raced by the couple. Following her husband's death in 1974, she continued to race horses and in 1970 won France's most prestigious race with Sassafras
. In 1980, Etti Plesch became the only female to ever win the Epsom Derby twice when her horse Henbit
won England's most prestigious race. As at the end of 2011, she remains the only double winner.
Among her other notable horses, Etti Plesch owned and raced Miswaki
who was a Group 1
winner in France
as well as a stakes race winner in the United States and who became an important sire
of 97 stakes race winners and was the Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland
in 1999 and 2001.
The Plesches lived on the Avenue Foch
in Paris, and at the Villa Leonina at Beaulieu-sur-Mer
in the South of France, where he had a famous botanical garden.
After her husband's death in 1974, she took up partying and writing her memoirs, which were almost completed at the time of her death. They were edited by Hugo Vickers and published posthumously in 2007 as Horses and Husbands.
She died 28 April 2003 in Monte Carlo
.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
countess, huntress
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, racehorse owner and socialite. Plesch lost two of her six husbands to the same woman, Louise de Vilmorin, a French literary figure, and owned two winners of the Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
, in Psidium
Psidium (horse)
Psidium was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career that lasted from 1960 to 1961 Psidium ran eleven times and won twice. He is best known for his win, as a 66/1 outsider in the 1961 Epsom Derby...
in 1961 and Henbit
Henbit (horse)
Out of the mare, Henbit was an American-bred and British-trained Thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Epsom Derby in 1980. He was bred in Kentucky by Helen Drake Jones, owner of Mineola Farm near Lexington. His sire was Hawaii, a South African Champion at two and three and then in the United...
in1980.
Born Maria Anna Paula Ferdinandine Gräfin von Wurmbrand-Stuppach in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria, of Greco-Austrian heritage, "Etti," as she was known, was putatively the elder daughter of Count Ferdinand von Wurmbrand-Stuppach
Wurmbrand-Stuppach
Wurmbrand-Stuppach is an old noble family of Austria, and the name of the County they ruled. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Counts of Wurmbrand-Stuppach gained notability in wars against the Turks in the Balkans, and Prince Eugene gained fame fighting against the French in the Netherlands...
(1879–1933) and his wife May Baltazzi (1885–1981), but more likely was the countess's biological child by Count Josef Gizycki. Her mother, who was a cousin of Baroness Mary Vetsera
Baroness Mary Vetsera
Baroness Marie Alexandrine von Vetsera was a member of Austrian high society nobility and one of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria's mistresses...
, a mistress of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
Rudolf , archduke of Austria and crown prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, was the son and heir of Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, and his wife and empress, Elisabeth...
, said that Count Gizycki's main interest in life was "the pleasuring of women in a physical way .... He was amoral and cynical, but he was a marvellous lover." (Gizycki was famed in the early 1900s because of his stormy marriage to American newspaper heiress Cissy Patterson
Cissy Patterson
Eleanor Josephine Medill "Cissy" Patterson was an American journalist and newspaper editor, publisher and owner...
.)
Etti von Wurmbrand-Stuppach was raised in Vienna and in Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, with travels to other sites throughout Europe. From the age of ten until she was twelve she was treated for tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
at the Waltzaner Sanatorium in Davos
Davos
Davos is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of 11,248 . Davos is located on the Landwasser River, in the Swiss Alps, between the Plessur and Albula Range...
which was the setting for Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
's novel The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain
The Magic Mountain is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of 20th century German literature....
.
At the age of 17, she fell in love with Count Vladschi Mittrovsky, but was forbidden to marry him because he had a blood disease. She journeyed to New York and met American railway heir Clendennin Ryan III (1905–1957), grandson of Thomas Fortune Ryan
Thomas Fortune Ryan
Thomas Fortune Ryan was a U.S. tobacco and transport magnate. Part of his fortune paid for the construction of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Virginia.-Early days:...
, marrying him on 20 February 1935, after he proposed on their third date, in Saint Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
in New York. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia was best man.
The marriage lasted three months (they divorced in 1935 and the marriage was annulled in 1944), and she returned to Europe where she met Hungarian Count Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd (1890–1968) and became his fourth of eight eventual wives in late 1935. They lived in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. Their life was taken up with tiger hunts in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
: they both became good shots, killing stags, elephants, and antelopes. They attended the World Exposition of Shooting at Berlin, hosted by Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
. Shortly afterwards, Pálffy became smitten with the siren-like writer Louise de Vilmorin (1902–1969) in Paris, divorced Etti in December 1937, and married Louise.
On the rebound, Etti married a Hungarian count, Tamás Esterházy de Galántha (1901–1964), descendant of the junior committal branch of a great princely family, on 5 March 1938, and went to live in the castle of Devecser, in Hungary. They hunted, travelled, and had one daughter, Marie-Anna Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgina Helene Genoveva (b. 12 December 1938), known as "Bunny". Her daughter married 1962 (and divorced 1972) the Hon. Dominic Elliot (b. 1931), younger son of the 5th Earl of Minto
Victor Gilbert Lariston Garnet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 5th Earl of Minto
Victor Gilbert Lasiston Garnet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 5th Earl of Minto was a member of the British nobility. He was the son of Gilbert John Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto and Lady Mary Caroline Grey. He married Marion Cook, daughter of George William Cook, on 19 January 1921...
, and had issue two sons (the elder Alexander dying unmarried in 1985).
In 1942, she journeyed abroad alone and her husband also fell under the spell of heartbreaker Vilmorin. He eloped with Vilmorin and divorced Etti in 1944. (Vilmorin and Esterházy never married)
Etti's next two husbands were the Austrian Count Sigismund Berchtold (1900–1979), son of Count Leopold Berchtold, the Minister of Foreign Affairs who advised the Emperor to declare war on the Serbs
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, starting the First World War (they wed in 1944 and divorced in 1949). The fifth was Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
millionaire William Deering Davis, who had been briefly married to the silent film star Louise Brooks
Louise Brooks
Mary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
, in the 1930s; Plesch's marriage to Davis lasted from 1949 until their divorce in 1951.
In 1954, Etti married her last husband, Dr Árpád Plesch (1889–1974), a Hungarian lawyer, international financier, and collector of rare botanical
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
books and pornographic esoterica
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
.
Thoroughbred racing
The very wealthy Dr. Plesch shared Etti Plesch's passion for Thoroughbred horse racing, something that had been influenced by her maternal grandfather Alexander Baltazzi who won the 1876 edition of the Epsom Derby with Kisber. She and her husband began racing Thoroughbreds in 1954 and would win major races such as the 1959 Coronation CupCoronation Cup
The Coronation Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 10 yards , and it is scheduled to take place each year in June....
with Nagami and that year's Irish Oaks
Irish Oaks
The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in July....
with Discorea. Their 1961 Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
winner Psidium
Psidium (horse)
Psidium was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career that lasted from 1960 to 1961 Psidium ran eleven times and won twice. He is best known for his win, as a 66/1 outsider in the 1961 Epsom Derby...
was bred by Etti Plesch and raced by the couple. Following her husband's death in 1974, she continued to race horses and in 1970 won France's most prestigious race with Sassafras
Sassafrás (horse)
Sassafras was an French Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.Owned by Arpad Plesch he was trained by Francois Mathet and ridden in most of his races by Yves Saint-Martin. He was the champion 3-year-old colt in France, 1970...
. In 1980, Etti Plesch became the only female to ever win the Epsom Derby twice when her horse Henbit
Henbit (horse)
Out of the mare, Henbit was an American-bred and British-trained Thoroughbred race horse, winner of the Epsom Derby in 1980. He was bred in Kentucky by Helen Drake Jones, owner of Mineola Farm near Lexington. His sire was Hawaii, a South African Champion at two and three and then in the United...
won England's most prestigious race. As at the end of 2011, she remains the only double winner.
Among her other notable horses, Etti Plesch owned and raced Miswaki
Miswaki
Miswaki was an American bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was a Group 1 winner in France as well as a stakes race winner in the United States...
who was a Group 1
Group 1
*Group 1 element, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal*Group 1 , a historic classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars...
winner in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
as well as a stakes race winner in the United States and who became an important sire
Sire
Sire may refer to:* Father, the counterpart of a dam, particularly in animal breeding. See also stallion* James W. Sire, author on worldviews* Sire Records, a record label* Sire Advertising, an advertising agency...
of 97 stakes race winners and was the Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland
Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland
The list below shows the leading sire of broodmares in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1899. This is determined by the amount of prizemoney won during the year by racehorses which were foaled by a daughter of the sire.-----References:*...
in 1999 and 2001.
The Plesches lived on the Avenue Foch
Avenue Foch
Avenue Foch is a street in Paris, France, named after Ferdinand Foch in 1929. It was previously named Avenue du Bois de Boulogne. It is one of the most prestigious streets in Paris, and one of the most expensive addresses in the world, home to many grand palaces, including ones belonging to the...
in Paris, and at the Villa Leonina at Beaulieu-sur-Mer
Beaulieu-sur-Mer
Beaulieu-sur-Mer , Italian: Belluogo, is a seaside village on the French Riviera between Nice and Monaco. It is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department and borders the communes of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Èze, and Villefranche-sur-Mer.-History:...
in the South of France, where he had a famous botanical garden.
After her husband's death in 1974, she took up partying and writing her memoirs, which were almost completed at the time of her death. They were edited by Hugo Vickers and published posthumously in 2007 as Horses and Husbands.
She died 28 April 2003 in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
.