ESTERHAZY, Countess Marie-Anna (Marianne) Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgina Helene Genoveva d 2021
Richard R
dpth...@gmail.com
Maria Anna Paula Ferdinandine Gfn von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (Vienna 3 Feb 1914-Monte Carlo 29 Apr 2003); m.1st New York 20 Feb 1934 (div 1935) Clendenin Ryan (New York 1905-New York 12 Sep 1957); m.2nd Preßburg 19 Nov 1935 (div 1937) Franz de Paula Gf Pálffy von Erdöd (Vienna 12 Feb 1890-Munich 11 Oct 1968); m.3rd Budapest 5 Mar 1938 (div 1944) Thomas Gf Esterházy von Galántha (Tata 25 Dec 1901-Schruns 6 Dec 1964); m.4th Ödenburg 20 Sep 1944 (div 1949) Sigismund Gf Berchtold (Buchlau 14 Apr 1900-Vienna 20 Jul 1979); m.5th Chicago 1949 (div 1951) William Deering Davis (Chicago 9 Mar 1897-1965); m.6th London 12 Jun 1954 (div) Árpád Plesch (Budapest 25 Mar 1889-London 16 Nov 1974)
https://www.angelfire.com/realm/gotha/gotha/esterhazy.html
colinp
During the Second World War she was smuggled out of Hungary under a blanket but, postwar, led a gilded life of parties and travel
Countess Bunny Esterházy, who has died aged 82, was a well-known figure in international society in the mid-1950s and in the racing world, where she had notable success in the 1970s and 1980s. She was the only daughter of Count Tamás (Thomas) Esterházy, and his wife “Etti”, Countess Wurmbrand, who had six husbands by the age of 40 and was latterly known as Mrs Arpad Plesch, a legendary figure on the turf and the only female owner to win the Derby twice.
The Esterházys were one of the most distinguished families in Central Europe, tracing their ancestry back to the Middle Ages, producing many interesting figures including a distinguished poet and a field marshal.
They were one of the greatest landowning families in the Kingdom of Hungary. Tommy himself owned some 80,000 hectares and two castles – Devescer, his favourite, and Pápa, which he hardly used and was more of a museum. He was Etti’s third husband.
Bunny was born in Vienna as Countess Marianne Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgina Helene Genoveva Esterházy on December 12 1938. She should have had a glorious childhood. She was given a pet deer and her own carriage, though her father had to confiscate a dog she was given when he realised it was a wolf.
But it was difficult from the start: Bunny was hardly born when her mother consigned her to nurses and sent her to stay with friends. She was not even a year old when the Second World War intervened, but a more serious threat came from the literary femme fatale, Louise de Vilmorin, with whom her father became infatuated.
This was particularly unfortunate since de Vilmorin had already destroyed Bunny’s mother’s marriage to her previous husband, Pali Pálffy.
Bunny was only three when her father eloped with Louise. Her parents separated and divorced in 1944......
In 1962, Bunny married Dominic Elliot, second son of the 5th Earl of Minto. He was well known in society columns as a perfect youthful escort to Princess Margaret, in the restless years between Peter Townsend and Antony Armstrong-Jones. On their engagement, he gave her a ring of aquamarine set in diamonds, which had belonged to his mother.
The wedding took place in St Mary’s, Cadogan Street, and the Queen, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester attended the reception. Mrs Plesch arranged a white sugar bunny rabbit for the top of the three-tier wedding cake, and on the way out children were given white Angora rabbits in cardboard boxes as gifts, somewhat to the displeasure of their parents.
Bunny had two sons, Alexander and Esmond. Her elder son died tragically at Oxford in 1985. She and Elliot were divorced in 1970.....
She is survived by her son Esmond.
Countess Marianne “Bunny” Esterházy, born December 12 1938, died November 27 2021