Prince Victor of Thurn and Taxis
| Prince Victor | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 18 January 1876 Ecska | ||||
| Died | 28 January 1928 (aged 52) Vienna, Austria | ||||
| Spouse | Princess Lida of Thurn and Taxis | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Thurn and Taxis | ||||
| Father | Egon Maximilian Prince of Thurn and Taxis | ||||
| Mother | Viktoria Edelspacher de Gyoryok | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||
Prince Victor Theodore Maximilian Egon Maria Lamoral of Thurn and Taxis (Template:Lang-de)[1] (18 January 1876, Ecska [1] – 28 January 1928, Vienna, Austria [1]) was a member of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis and a Prince of Thurn and Taxis.[1][2]
Family
Prince Victor, who was born in 1876, is the youngest child of the late Prince Egon Maximilian of Thurn und Taxis and his wife Viktoria Edelspacher de Gyoryok.[1] On 1 November 1911, Prince Victor married Mrs. Gerald Fitzgerald, Born Lida Eleanor Nicolls in 1875 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania,[3][4][5] she was the daughter of grocer John A. Nicolls and his wife Lenora T. Nicolls.[4][6] Mrs. Fitzgerald's first husband was Gerald Fitzgerald of Ireland. She returned to the United States from England last Friday. She was born Lida Eleonor Nicholls in 1875 in Uniontown. Lida married her first husband, Irish-born General Gerald Purcell Fitzgerald in Los Angeles in late 1899.
Life
Prior to the marriage, Lida was reportedly said to possess $1 million in her own right.[7] Following her marriage to Prince Victor, Lida announced that she and her husband would reside in Europe and she would never again return to the United States. Prince Victor of Thurn and Taxis is a son of the late Prince and Princess Egon, and is a Hungarian citizen by virtue of his father having become naturalized in Hungary at the of his marriage.
Following the outbreak of World War I, Prince Victor was called to serve as an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army causing Lida to return to the United States.[5] Shortly before Lida was to sail to Europe to rejoin her husband in the Austrian Republic, Bernard Francis S. Gregory, known as "Count Gregory", filed a lawsuit against her for $50,000 in damages on 8 May 1920 in the New York Supreme Court alleging she had made false statements about him which had caused him to be "shunned by social circles" in New York City.[5] Gregory received the order from Justice Robert Paul Lydon shortly after he learned from Lida's son Gerald Fitzgerald, Dr. Stewart Hastings, and Prince Herman of Saxe-Weimar that she was soon returning to Europe.[5]
As Prince Victor of Thurn and Taxis is coming in for a good deal of attention just at present on both sides of the Atlantic in connection with his vain appeal to the English tribunals to prevent a young New York actress from styling herself his wife, and also as defendant in an action brought at Paris by a woman for money advanced to him in order to enable him to press his suit for the hand and fortune of some American heiress, it may be just as well to call attention to the fact that he left the Austrian army under extremely discreditable circumstances, entailing his retirement, not to say worse, from all the clubs which he belonged to at Vienna and at Pesth.
He formerly held a commission in the Ninth Austrian Hussar Regiment, a crack corps, but was deprived thereof without being even permitted to have his name carried on the reserve list of officers of the Austrian army, and it may be added that Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who spent some months in this country last year, and was one of his fellow-officers in the Ninth Hussars, not only refused to hold any intercourse whatsoever with him, but even went so far as to warn people against him. This was all the more necessary, as well as timely, as the princely and ducal house of Thurn and Taxis is one of the most illustrious and historic families of Europe.
In fact, I am betraying no confidence by stating that Gen. Frederick D. Grant, who, while American envoy at Vienna, had received many attentions from various members of the Thurn and Taxis family, was about to entertain Prince Victor at Governors Island in recognition of these courtesies, when warned in time of the nature of Prince Victor's shortcomings. It is amazing that the prince, in view of what has taken place in Austria, should so impudently court publicity in England and in France. The chief of the family, of which Prince Victor is the black sheep, is Prince Albert, Duke of Woerth and of Donaustaufen, a nephew of the late Empress of Austria, married to an Austrian archduchess, and one of the very wealthiest nobles in Europe. He still bears the title of hereditary postmaster general of the Holy Roman Empire, conferred on the head of his house 300 years ago, and he is also titular postmaster general to the crown of Bavaria.
References
- ^ a b c d e Darryl Lundy (1 Dec 2008). "Viktor von Thurn und Taxis". thePeerage.com. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ Paul Theroff. "THURN und TAXIS". Paul Theroff's Royal Genealogy Site. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
- ^ The Morning Herald–The Evening Standard Staff (2 July 1976), "City Had Its Own Princess", The Morning Herald–The Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), retrieved 17 August 2010
- ^ a b Storey, Jr., Walter J. (25 November 1972), "Princess Lida's Estate Closed", The Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), retrieved 17 August 2010
- ^ a b c d The New York Times Staff (9 May 1920), "'Count' Asks $50,000 of Princess Victor", The New York Times, retrieved 17 August 2010
- ^ The New York Times Staff (16 February 1914), "American Princess Guards Her Name", The New York Times, retrieved 17 August 2010
- ^ The New York Times Staff (12 February 1914), "'Princess' Thurn Alleges Blackmail", The New York Times, retrieved 17 August 2010