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Olga, the Baroness de Meyer (8 August 1871 – 1930/1931) was a British-born artists' model, socialite, patron of the arts, writer, and fashion figure of the early 20th century.〔Her death year appears to be in doubt. Some sources claim circa 1930, others 1930 or 1931, while still another states she died at age 59, which gives a span of time between August 1930 and August 1931.〕 She was best known as the wife of photographer Adolph de Meyer and was rumoured to be the natural daughter of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. After 1916 she preferred to be known as ''Mahrah de Meyer''. ==Background== Of Portuguese, Italian, French, and American descent, she was born ''Donna'' Maria Beatrice Olga Alberta Caracciolo in London, England. Her father was Neapolitan nobleman Gennaro Caracciolo Pinelli, Duke Caracciolo (1849–?), eldest son of the 4th Duke of Castelluccio, while her mother was the former Marie Blanche Sampayo (1849–1890), a daughter of Antoine François Oscar Sampayo, a French diplomat who served as that country's minister to Portugal, and his American wife, Virginia Timberlake.〔''Annuario della nobiltà italiana'' (1899), page 263〕〔Simona Pakenham, ''Sixty Miles from England: The English at Dieppe, 1814–1914'' (Macmillan, 1967), page 123〕〔Samuel Gordon Heiskell and John Sevier, ''Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History'' (Ambrose Printing Company, 1921), pages 325–326〕〔According to an 1889 letter written by one of Virginia Sampayo's schoolmates, a Mrs Lee, Virginia was engaged in her youth to Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key. She was also known as "a brilliant woman in mind, appearance, and accomplishments ... in spite of her want of veracity. ... She always changes her history and gets coarser as she grows older. I suppose she may need money, or craves notoriety ..." Extract from John Fiske, ''Essays, Historical, and Literary'', Volume 1 (The Macmillan Company, 1902), pages 293–294〕〔The Sampayos married in London on 28 January 1849, when he was the former secretary of the legation of the French mission to the United States; on the marriage license his name is given as ''Anthony Sampayo''. Information on marriage published on page 94 of ''National Intelligencer & Washington Advertiser Newspaper Abstracts, 1849'', Volume 23 (Heritage Books, 2007)〕〔In a London newspaper in July 1903, Olga de Meyer placed the following advertisement: "The Baroness de Meyer highly recommends her cousin, Mlle. de Sampago (), as ladies' companion, chaperon, or traveling companion. Understands art needlework." Quoted in "Some Tea Table Confidences", ''The New York Times'', 2 August 1903〕 Her great-grandmother Margaret O'Neill Eaton was the central figure in the Petticoat affair, a scandal that plagued President Andrew Jackson.〔 Another great-grandparent was a Marshal of France, Count Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély.〔John Rothenstein and Campbell Dodgson, ''The Life and Death of Conder'' (Dent, 1938), page 115〕〔Denys Sutton, ''Walter Sickert: A Biography'', (Joseph, 1976), page 41〕 To many individuals who observed the arc of Olga's early life the most distinguished familial connection was her relationship with Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII. Though officially her godfather, the British royal was known to be one of Blanche Caracciolo's lovers and, consequently, suspected of being her daughter's actual father. Most stories related about Olga's youth describe her as illegitimate, though surely this means her legal father, the duke, was not her biological father. According to French historian Philippe Jullian, the British king believed that Olga was his child and therefore went to great lengths to ensure that she and her mother had sufficient material comforts.〔Philippe Jullian, ''Edward and the Edwardians'' (Viking Press, 1967)〕〔Though modern sources have questioned whether Olga de Meyer attended the coronation of her putative father, an eyewitness newspaper report of the day confirms her presence, which was described as "conspicuous". According to an article entitled "Coronation of King Edward VII: Splendid Scene in Westminster Abbey", ''The New York Times'', 10 August 1902, Olga sat in the front row of the King's Box at Westminster Abbey during the coronation, along with several women who were intimate friends of the new monarch, among them Mary Cornwallis-West, Minnie Paget, and the king's mistress Alice Keppel.〕 Other potential fathers have been identified, however. The strongest candidate to many was Stanislaus Augustus, 3rd Prince Poniatowski and 3rd Prince of Monte Rotondo (1835–1908), a married former equerry of Napoleon III, whom Olga reportedly resembled and with whom the newlywed Duchess Caracciolo reportedly eloped on 1 September 1869, the very day her arranged marriage with the duke took place.〔〔〔Catherine Van Casselaer, ''Lot's Wife: Lesbian Paris, 1890–1914'' (Janus Press, 1986), page 137〕〔Micheal de Cossart, ''The Food of Love: Princess Edmond de Polignac (1865–1943) and Her Salon'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1978), page 95〕〔Jacques-Émile Blanche, ''La pêche aux souvenirs'' (Flammarion, 1949), page 209〕 The duke and duchess separated soon after Olga's birth, and the child spent her youth in Dieppe, France, at a house called Villa Olga, where she lived with her mother and maternal grandmother. (Since the duchess's father-in-law, the Duke of Castelluccio, was still living, she used the title Duchess Caracciolo.) In 1916 Olga de Meyer took the forename ''Mahrah'' upon the advice of an astrologer. 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「Olga de Meyer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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