Judith Márffy-Mantuano Hare, Countess of Listowell (1903–2003)
Author of A Habsburg tragedy : Crown Prince Rudolf
About the Author
Works by Judith Márffy-Mantuano Hare, Countess of Listowell
This I have seen 1 copy
Crusader in the Secret War 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Countess of Listowell, Judith Márffy-Mantuano Hare,
- Other names
- Countess of Listowel, Judith
Lady Listowel
Marffy-Mantuano, Judith de
Hare, Judith - Birthdate
- 1903-07-12
- Date of death
- 2003-07-15
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Hungary (birth)
UK - Place of death
- London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Kapasvár, Hungary
Rome, Italy
Budapest, Hungary
London, England, UK - Education
- Budapest University of Economics
London School of Economics - Occupations
- journalist
lecturer
magazine editor
biographer - Short biography
- Judith de Marffy-Mantuano was born on her family's estate in Kapasvár, Hungary, the daughter of an aristocratic Austro-Hungarian diplomat. In 1926, she won a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics, where she first met William "Billy" Hare, the future 5th Earl of Listowel. She went home to Budapest in need of funds and decided to earn a living as a journalist, writing for the weekly Magyarsâr and the daily Nemzeti Usjag. She returned to London as a foreign correspondent. In 1933, she was asked to travel to Ottawa to cover the World Economic Conference, but instead married Billy Hare. They travelled around Europe together and then separately for the rest of the 1930s. They divorced, but Lady Listowel was unable to remarry due to her Roman Catholic beliefs. She continued to write for newspapers and also became an renowned author of nonfiction books such as This I Have Seen (1943), Crusader in the Secret War (1952), an account of the activities of Jan Kowalewski during World War II, The Modern Hostess (1961), The Making of Tanganyika (1965), Dusk on the Danube (1969), a volume of short stories about Hungarian society in the 1920s, and A Hapsburg Tragedy: Crown Prince Rudolf (1978).
Members
Reviews
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 31
- Popularity
- #440,253
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 1
- ISBNs
- 5
By sally tarbox on 19 January 2018
Format: Hardcover
Having recently read a 1930s book on Empress Elizabeth of Austria, this later (1978) biography of her son, Crown Prince Rudolf, gives a much franker and more informative look at the facts of the imperial family.
I had been left wondering why, exactly, Elizabeth pretty much abandoned her husband to travel...and why he allowed it. Judith Listowel explains that the Emperor infected his wife with a venereal disease early on in their marriage; his guilt made him more tolerant.
I had also been unclear about Prince Rudolf's apparent suicide; what drove him to it? Here this too is made much clearer - a combination of physical and mental illness (he too had the illness of his father, compounded with possible family madness and increasing morphia addiction); a not particularly happy marriage; disgruntlement at being constantly ignored by his father; and fears for the country's future, as tensions in the area arose ,later to lead to WW1)
Despite Rudolf's many failings, he was undoubtedly an intelligent and far-sighted man; Listowel wonders whether if he had succeeded to the monarchy, the War might even have been averted.
But was it even suicide? Despite the Emperor's stringent efforts to keep all information on the incident hidden away, the author comes up with some intriguing evidence to the contrary...
A readable but serious work with quite a bit about the political unrest of the time. Informative and interesting.… (more)