Mary von Waldersee
Encyclopedia
Countess Mary von Waldersee (3 October 1837 New York City - 4 July 1914) was a philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
in Germany. She married Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
Prince Frederick Emil August of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , usually simply known by just his first name, Frederick, Prince of Noër, was a prince of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg and a cadet-line descendant of the Danish royal house.He was the second and...
-Noër and later, after his death, Count Alfred von Waldersee, the successor of Field-Marshal von Moltke
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was a German Field Marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter 19th century, and the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field...
.
Mary von Waldersee was the daughter of David Lee, a New York merchant, who left his widow and five children a large fortune. The second daughter, Blanche, married Augustus Charles Murray, a commander in the British navy, and the third, Josephine (1833 New York City - 1930 Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
), married Baron August von Waechter, ambassador of the king of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
to the French court. The baroness sent for her youngest sister, Mary, to live with her in Paris, where she met and married Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg-Noër, who had been driven into exile by the Austro-Prussian army in 1864. Miss Lee, however, not wishing to be trammelled by the exacting etiquette that attaches to high rank, induced the prince to renounce his rights and titles as a member of the royal house of Denmark. He subsequently accepted from the emperor of Austria the title of Prince of Noër, the name of his principal estate. The prince died shortly after his marriage while on a visit to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
, 2 July 1865, and the princess then returned to Paris, where she resided with her sister, the Baroness Waechter, until the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, when she accompanied the latter to Württemberg. In 1874 she married Count von Waldersee, and lived with him for some time at Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
. There she soon became widely known through her interest in local charities. While she resided in Berlin, she was equally zealous in good works. She was for years the friend of Emperor Frederick William
Frederick III, German Emperor
Frederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors. Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl known informally as Fritz, was the only son of Emperor William I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service...
, of Germany, and of the Empress Victoria.