Marie Larisch
The Disgraced Niece of Elisabeth of Austria
Marie was the illegitimate daughter of Elisabeth’s brother, Ludwig and the actress, Henriette Mendel. Ludwig renounced his royal rights so that he could marry Henriette, who was made the Baroness of Wallersee. Marie also became a Baroness of Wallersee.
Marie Mendel Marries Count Georg Larisch
Marie met the Empress (who was nicknamed Sisi) when she was 14 and went to live with her at the age of sixteen. They both loved riding and quickly became friends. Marie also became friendly with her cousin, Rudolph, the Crown Prince, who was the same age.
Marie must have been a pretty girl because she received many proposals. She finally married Count Georg Larisch of Moennich in 1877. The marriage was arranged by the empress, apparently.
They had five children, including the oceanographer, Franz-Joseph Larisch.
Marie Larisch and Mayerling
Crown Prince Rudolph married Princess Stephanie, the daughter of Leopold II of Belgium. It was a loveless marriage.
The prince fell in love with the beautiful Marie Vetsera and wanted an annulment of his marriage. Marie Larisch introduced him to Marie and acted as a go-between although she claimed in her memoirs that the couple sometimes took advantage of her.
A scandal erupted when Marie Vetsera were found dead at Mayerling, a hunting-lodge near Vienna. Legend has it that they had arranged a suicide pact but the deaths remain mysterious to this day. Rudolph was supposed to have shot himself in the head and then shot Marie. However Rudolph’s body showed signs of a violent struggle and when Marie Vetsera’s remains were examined in 1992 no gun shot wound was found.
Marie Larisch was disgraced and blamed for the tragic love affair. The Empress Elizabeth became estranged from her.
Marie Larisch’s Life After Mayerling
The Mayerling disaster had a bad effect on Marie’s marriage and she divorced the count in 1896. In 1897 Marie married Otto Bruchs, a court musician and had one child with him.
Marie worked for the Red Cross during the First World War but she became very poor when Alsace was regained by France from the Germans and she had to give up her possessions. She even worked as a servant in Berlin.
The great poet, T.S. Eliot, reportedly met Marie and she is supposed to be the Marie mentioned in his poem, The Waste Land.
She married for the third time to an American naturopath and lived in the United States. She was reportedly given a great deal of ‘hush money’ not to publish her memoirs and may have received a pension in exchange for her exile to the U.S. Marie did publish her memoirs in spite of this arrangement. She outlined her theory that the Crown Prince had been murdered by a servant.
She lived in poverty there too, however. She lived in ‘sailor’s lodgings’ which were very ‘modest’, according to her memoirs.
Marie eventually returned to Bavaria where she died in a home for the elderly.
The Marie of The Waste Land
Winterhalter Painting of Empress Elisabeth
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Marie Larisch and Marie Vetsera.
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