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Daisy, Princess of Pless

Daisy, Princess of Pless (Mary Theresa Olivia; née Cornwallis-West; 28 June 1873 – 29 June 1943) was a noted society beauty in the Edwardian period.

Daisy
Princess of Pless
BornMary Theresa Olivia Cornwallis-West
28 June 1873
Ruthin Castle, Denbighshire, Wales
Died29 June 1943(1943-06-29) (aged 70)
Waldenburg, Silesia
(present-day Poland)
SpouseHans Heinrich XV von Hochberg (m. 8 December 1891; div, 12 December 1922)
IssueHans Heinrich XVII
Alexander
Bolko
Names
Mary Theresa Olivia
HouseHochberg (by marriage)
FatherCol. William Cornwallis-West
MotherMary "Patsy" FitzPatrick

Daisy and her husband Prince Hans Heinrich XV were the owners of large estates and coal mines in Silesia (now in Poland) which brought an enormous fortune to the Hochbergs. During her marriage, she was a member of one of the wealthiest European noble families. She sought to prevent World War I by bringing together world leaders for peaceful discussions.

Early life

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Born Mary Theresa Olivia Cornwallis-West at Ruthin Castle in Denbighshire, Wales, she was the daughter of Col. William Cornwallis-West (1835–1917) and his wife, Mary "Patsy" FitzPatrick (1856–1920).[1] Her father was a patrilineal great-grandson of John West, 2nd Earl De La Warr. Her mother was a daughter of Reverend Frederick FitzPatrick, a descendant of Barnaby Fitzpatrick, 1st Baron Upper Ossory (and thus the Kings of Osraige) and Lady Olivia Taylour, daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Headfort.

Her sister Constance (Shelagh) was also a famous beauty and wife of one of the richest men of the world, Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster; and the sisters' brother George Cornwallis-West was the second husband of Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of Sir Winston Churchill.

Personal life and family

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Undated sketch of Daisy by John Singer Sargent

On 8 December 1891, in London, she married Hans Heinrich XV, 3rd Prince of Pless, Count of Hochberg, Baron of Fürstenstein (1861–1938), one of the wealthiest heirs in the German Empire. As the Cornwallis-West family was impoverished, the Hochbergs paid for and organised the wedding at St Margaret's Church in Westminster. Notable witnesses were Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and his wife Princess Alexandra of Denmark.[citation needed]

During their honeymoon, the Princess was given the longest pearl necklace in the world by her husband.[2]

The Princess was the châtelaine of Fürstenstein Castle and Pless Castle in Silesia[3][2] and had a domesticated wolf and four children:[4]

  • Daughter (25 February 1893 – 11 March 1893).[citation needed]
  • Hans Heinrich XVII William Albert Edward (2 February 1900 – 26 January 1984), 4th Prince of Pless, Count von Hochberg and Baron of Fürstenstein. Married twice but had no issue.
  • Alexander Frederick William George Conrad Ernest Maximilian (1 February 1905 – 22 February 1984), 5th Prince of Pless, Count von Hochberg and Baron of Fürstenstein. Unmarried and childless.
  • Bolko Conrad Frederick (23 September 1910 – 22 June 1936), who later caused a scandal by marrying his stepmother Clotilde de Silva y Gonzáles de Candamo (19 July 1898 – 12 December 1978), daughter of the 10th Marquis de Arcicóllar (and Hans Heinrich XV's second wife). Father of Bolko, 6th Prince.

Peace campaigning and war work

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During her marriage Daisy, known in German as the Fürstin von Pless, became a social reformer and militated for peace with her friends German Emperor William II and King Edward VII of the United Kingdom.[2]

During World War I she was suspected by Germans of being a British spy and was criticised by British people for treating German soldiers as a Red Cross nurse.[2]

Honours

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The Princess of Pless was a Dame of the Order of Theresa of Bavaria and of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain, and was awarded the German Red Cross Decoration.[5]

Inter-war life

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After her divorce at Berlin on 12 December 1922, Daisy was dependent upon alimony.[2] She published a series of memoirs that were widely read in the United Kingdom, the United States, and, in the German language, in Continental Europe.[citation needed]

The Princess introduced pasteurised milk stations for children and founded a school for disabled children.[2] She organised a cooperative for lace workers.[2]

'The Private Diaries of Princess Daisy of Pless – 1873–1914, edited by Major Desmond Chapman-Huston, were first published in London by John Murray in 1931. This was the second selection from her diaries and, according to his introduction were from a series of diaries totalling 600,000 words. The diaries describe the Princess's life as a member of the European aristocracy, and include sometimes frank descriptions of significant pre-war political and social figures.[citation needed]

World War II

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Daisy moved to Wałbrzych, then known as Waldenburg, in 1941. To ease the Hochberg's debts, the Fürstenstein castle was sold by the family and bought by the Nazis in 1943.[2]

Death and commemoration

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Memorial to Daisy in Pszczyna, Poland

Daisy had multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair toward the end of her life.[2] She celebrated her 70th birthday on 23 June 1943 with champagne and a colliery band performance before dying the next day at Waldenburg, Silesia (now Wałbrzych, Poland).[2]

The Princess was initially buried near the Hochberg family mausoleum. Her grave was plundered and her remains desecrated by Red Army soldiers in 1945, and she was reburied in an undisclosed location.[6][7]

The Princess was commemorated by a statue near the castle Schloss Pless where she had lived for a time.[2]

Ancestry

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Notes

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Citations
  1. ^ "Princess Daisy of Pless; the happy years".
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Webber, Alex (5 March 2024). "Daisy von Pless: The English princess you've never heard of". BBC Travel.
  3. ^ Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald, Fri, Dec 11, 1891 ·Page 3
  4. ^ Jan Henryk XV von Pless in: genealogia.grocholski.pl [Retrieved 5 February 2015].
  5. ^ PLESS, HSH Daisy; Princess of (Mary Theresa Olivia), Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007, Retrieved 21 December 2011
  6. ^ MacDonogh, Giles (24 February 2009). After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation (Reprint ed.). Basic Books. p. 172. ISBN 978-0465003389. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  7. ^ Writer, Staff (1 November 2015). "Polish castle steeped in WWII legends, ghost stories". The Columbus Dispatch. Gannett. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
Sources
  • Princess Daisy of Pless (1929). Princess Daisy of Pless by Herself. London, John Murray.
  • Princess Daisy of Pless (1931). Better Left Unsaid. New York: E. P. Dutton.
  • Princess Daisy of Pless (1936). What I Left Unsaid. New York: Cassell.
  • Chapman-Huston, D (1931). The Private Diaries of Princess Daisy of Pless - 1873 - 1914. London: John Murray. republished 1950
  • Koch, John (2003). Daisy Princess of Pless 1873-1943: A Discovery. W. John Koch Publishing. ISBN 0-9731579-0-9.
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