Countess Margit Szapáry (née Countess Margarete Henckel von Donnersmarck; 21 February 1871 – 17 May 1943) was a German salonnière, philanthropist, and member of the

German Catholic Women's Association The German Catholic Women's Association (), abbreviated as KDFB, is a federally registered Catholic lay women's organization and political interest group. The association has roughly 180,000 members in Germany with 1,800 branches in twenty-one G ...

. She owned Finstergrün Castle in Austria.

Early life and ancestry

Szapáry was born Countess Margarete Luise Laura Wanda Regina Henckel von Donnersmarck in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

on 21 February 1871. A member of the House of Henckel von Donnersmarck, she was the daughter of Count Hugo ll Henckel von Donnersmarck (1832-1908) and Countess Wanda von Gaschin zu Rosenberg (1837-1908). She was the granddaughter of an entrepreneur, landowner and industrialist Count

Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck Count Hugo Karl Anton Lazarus Henckel von Donnersmarck (26 April 1811 – 4 October 1890) was a German-Austrian entrepreneur, landowner, and industrialist. He was active in agriculture, livestock, and the metal industry and built the first Puddlin ...

Biography

She married the Hungarian aristocrat Count Sándor Szapáry (1858-1904) on 18 July 1900. They had two children, Count Béla Szapáry (1901-1993) (father-in-law of Prince Karl of Hesse) and Countess Jolánta Szapáry (1902-1987). After her husband's death in 1904, she took over the renovations of their home, Finstergrün Castle. In the 1920s, Countess Szapáry hosted salons at the castle, hosting influential guests including Rudolf Rameck and Kurt von Schuschnigg. In the 1930s and 1940s, she rented rooms in the castle to selected paying guests.

Hume Cronyn Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter and playwright. He appeared in many stage productions, television and film roles throughout his career, and garnered numerous accolades, includ ...

, ''A Terrible Liar: A Memoir'' (1991), p. 100: “The schloss, a beautiful medieval castle, belonged to the Gräfin (Countess) Szapary and accommodated a few selected paying guests.” She was active in the

Death

She died on 17 May 1943 in Ramingstein.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szapáry, Margit 1871 births 1943 deaths Austrian countesses Countesses in Germany German Roman Catholics German salon-holders

Margit Margit is a feminine given name, a version of Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, Engli ...

Hungarian countesses Hungarian salon-holders Nobility from Dresden