Mary Vetsera – The “pure angel” who accompanied Rudolf into the other world (Part one)

Baroness Mary Vetsera was born on 19 March 1871 as the daughter of Albin Freiherr (Baron) von Vetsera and Helene Baltazzi. Her parents’ marriage was not a love match but rather one that was advantageous for both – Helene was rich, and Albin had a title. Albin was also 22 years older than Helene. Mary was the third of four children. She had an older brother named Ladislaus, an older sister named Johanna (Hanna) and a younger brother named Franz.

Mary was raised in a family environment that promoted marrying into families of importance. She was educated at the Institute for Daughters of the Nobility, but Mary had little interest in schooling. Helene often threw parties and tried to find her way into the Austrian court to find a suitable husband for Mary.¹ Helene had once been the lover of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, and she also knew his cousin Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich well. Marie had an ongoing affair with Helene’s brother Heinrich and two of her children: Marie Henriette (born 1884) and Heinrich Georg (born 1886) were likely fathered by him rather than her husband. It was Marie who would facilitate the relationship between Mary and Crown Prince Rudolf that was to come. It was only after the tragedy had happened that Marie claimed that Mary had sought out Rudolf on her own and that the relationship had surprised her.

It all began in the spring of 1888. Marie would collect the 17-year-old Mary from her mother’s residence every few days, ostentatiously to take her shopping or to the Prater, but they always ended up with Rudolf. It was hardly a secret, and even Rudolf’s wife Stéphanie knew of it after she had followed her husband to the Prater one night. She angrily declared that Mary “ought to be packed off to school or somewhere where she’d be taught to respect the holy commandments!”²

By the autumn, the affair was spiralling out of control with Mary so profoundly infatuated with Rudolf that she visited him in just a nightgown with a fur coat over it. Marie was beginning to lose control over the situation. Mary told Marie, “That stupid Crown Princess knows that I am her rival!”³ She also delighted in mocking Stéphanie, and she began to believe that Rudolf would have his marriage annulled and that he would marry her instead. Never mind the fact that he still regularly saw other women as well. He told Marie that Mary was “just a woman who loves me. I’ve known many far more beautiful, but I have never met with one more faithful.”⁴

On 5 November 1888, Marie collected Mary to go shopping and to have their pictures taken, “for him, of course.”⁵ Afterwards, they were spirited into Rudolf’s apartments in the Hofburg. Mary later wrote, “If we could live together in a hut, we would be happy. We always talk about how happy it would make us. But unfortunately, it is not to be. If I could give my life for him, I would gladly do so, for what does my life mean to me? We have made a pact toward this possibility.”⁶ Rudolf gave her a simple iron ring with the inscription ILVBIDT (translated as United by love until death).

As the relationship continued, Mary and Rudolf became less discrete. Even Marie found it distasteful and told her, “I think you display very questionable taste in flaunting yourself.”⁷ On 21 December 1888, the two lovers met for the last time that year at the Hofburg. Soon, the affair would turn tragic indeed.

Rudolf’s fascination with death had been brewing for quite a while by then. He suffered from the painful symptoms of gonorrhoea, which he attempted to lessen with alcohol and drugs. He told Marie, “Altogether, I’m in a bad way. I’m tired of life.”⁸ He began to erratically speak of suicide to anyone who would listen, but he wasn’t taken seriously. Then he began asking members of his staff to join him in a suicide pact, and many of his staff asked to be reassigned. He even threatened Stéphanie, telling her he was going to shoot her and then himself. He then went to his other mistress, Mitzi Caspar, who didn’t think it was very funny at all and reported his request to the police. Nothing was done.

On 13 January 1889, Mary and Rudolf were reunited at the Hofburg. Mary returned home in despair and told her maid, “Oh, it would have been so much better had I not gone to see him today! Now I no longer belong to myself alone but exist only for him. From now on, I must do everything he asks.”⁹ She later wrote, “We both lost our heads. Now we belong to one another body and soul.”⁹ They met again on 19 January and 24 January. By then, her mother had been panicking at home over the affair. She would later claim not to have known about it until then. The two argued, and Mary fled to the Grand Hotel where Marie was staying. She cried, “Oh, Marie darling, do get me away from Vienna! I shall die if I have to remain at home!”¹⁰ Marie managed to calm Mary down and returned her home, where Mary promptly fainted and had to be put to bed.

Read part two here.

1. Mayerling Revisited: The Short Life and Death of Mary Vetsera
2. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.87
3. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.90
4. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.91
5. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.93
6. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.94
7. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.95
8. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.108
9. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.113
10. Twilight of Empire: The Tragedy at Mayerling and the End of the Habsburgs by Greg King and Penny Wilson p.115