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Baroness Marie Alexandrine von Vetsera (19 March 1871 – 30 January 1889) was a member of Austrian "second society" (new nobility) and one of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria's mistresses. Vetsera and Rudolf were found dead, an apparent murder suicide, at his hunting lodge, Mayerling (see Mayerling Incident). ==Early life== Known by the fashionable English form of her name, "Mary" (her maternal grandfather's second wife was English), she was the youngest child of Baron Albin von Vetsera, a diplomat in foreign service at the Austrian court,〔Markus, George, ''Crime at Mayerling: The Life and Death of Mary Vetsera'', Ariadne Press, 1995, p. 23.〕 and his much younger wife, Hélène (known as Eleni) Baltazzi, member of a Greek family of reputed millionaires from Chios island, then part of the Ottoman Empire, considered at the time the richest individuals of the empire.〔Constantinople, Philip Mansel, Penguin Books Ltd, 1997, ISBN 978-0140262469〕〔A woman of Vienna, Joachim von Kürenberg, Cassell, 1955, ASIN B001882BM8〕 Albin, who was made a Baron in 1870 by the Emperor Franz Joseph, was twenty-two years older than his young and socially ambitious wife.〔The Androom Archives: (''Baltazzi, Alexander'' ), Christopher Aidan Long〕〔(''Baron Albin Vetsera'' )〕 She had three older siblings: Johanna (known as Hannah), Ladislaus, and Franz Albin. Both of Hélène's sisters had married counts, and Mary and her sister were expected to raise the family's social status by continuing the tradition of marrying into families of importance.〔Tosoni, Peter, ''The Mayerling Tragedy: How and Why did Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera Die?'', The Durham University Journal 84, no. 2, 1992, p. 204.〕 Instead of attending a school or the gymnasium, Mary Vetsera attended an "Institute for Daughters of the Nobility". These exclusive boarding schools, for girls of noble birth between the ages of 12 and 17, were geared to a moral education, not an academic one (which was thought to give a young woman "intellectual pretensions"). So, those institutes emphasized "social graces", French, music, drawing, dancing, and handicrafts, in order to prepare young women for their roles in society as aristocratic wives and mothers. "Viennese society had, since the days of Austria's eclipse at Sadowa, sought to conceal the injured patriotic emotions born of that disaster by affecting a hysterical sort of gaiety which was somewhat foreign to the real character of the people ... like all forced characteristics, the new-found frivolity of the Viennese degenerated quickly into a positive mania for wickedness, without, at the same time, taking on any of the picturesque artistry which conceals – and often condones – the refined viciousness of Parisians ... who, also, after 1870, went through for many years a phase of social madness similar to that which affected Austria. ... Viennese society was probably the most dissipated in Europe, and so became a happy mart for ladies of that type that serves the foibles of a prince."〔Grant, Hamil, ed., ''The Last Days of Archduke Rudolph'', Dodd, Mead & Co, 1916, p. 113〕 "Smart Society", made up of parvenu elements, who were "poor in pedigree", but full in purse, now began to command more attention from the leaders in more aristocratic circles of the ''beau monde''.〔Grant, Hamil, ed., ''The Last Days of Archduke Rudolph'', Dodd, Mead & Co, 1916, p. 114〕 The Vetsera family occupied this niche, and Hélène held lavish parties in attempts to socialize with the upper echelons of the Austrian court, all in order to introduce her daughter to the most eligible men. Famous for "her elegance and taste in dress",〔 the attractive and vivacious young Baroness soon acquired the nickname "The Turf Angel" for her love of horserace meets at the Freudenau course.〔Morton, Frederick, ''A Nervous Splendor'', Penguin Press, 1980〕 It was very apparent to the Imperial family, that Vetsera was being blatantly groomed by her mother for an advantageous marriage; Empress Elisabeth noted in 1877: "Madame Vetsera wants to come to Court and gain recognition for her family."〔 Countess Marie Larisch, a niece of the Empress and one of Vetsera's closest friends, claimed she had confided: "Mamma has no love for me. ... Ever since I was a little girl she has treated me like something she means to dispose of to the best advantage."〔Larisch, Marie, ''My Past'', p. 241.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baroness Mary Vetsera」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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