Mary von Waldersee

Who was Mary von Waldersee?

Countess Mary von Waldersee, born Mary Esther Lee, was an American-born philanthropist in Germany. She was married in turn to Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg-Noër and Count Alfred von Waldersee, the successor of Field-Marshal von Moltke.

Mary von Waldersee was the daughter of David Lee, a New York merchant, who left his widow and five children a large fortune. The second daughter, Blanche, married Augustus Charles Murray, a commander in the British navy, and the third, Josephine, married Baron August von Waechter, ambassador of the king of Württemberg to the French court. The baroness sent for her youngest sister, Mary, to live with her in Paris, where she met and married Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg-Noër, son of Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark, who had been driven into exile by the Austro-Prussian army in 1864. Miss Lee, however, not wishing to be trammelled by the exacting etiquette that attaches to high rank, induced the prince to renounce his rights and titles as a member of the royal house of Denmark. He subsequently accepted from the Emperor of Austria the title of Prince of Noër, from the name of his principal estate. The prince died shortly after his marriage while on a visit to the Holy Land, 2 July 1865, and the princess then returned to Paris, where she resided with her sister, the Baroness Waechter, until the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War, when she accompanied the latter to Württemberg.