Baltazzi, Helena, Baroness Vetsera (1847-1925)

Baltazzi, Helena, Baroness Vetsera

NOBLEMAN (GREECE)

BORN 1847, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône - DIED 1 Feb 1925, Wien: Prinz Eugenstrasse 10
GRAVE LOCATION Payerbach, Niederösterreich: Ortfriedhof, Friedhofstrasse

Second daughter of the banker Theodore Baltazzi and Eliza Sarrell, who was 25 years younger than her husband. After her father's dead her mother married her lover Charles Alison. When Helena married the Austrian diplomat Albin Vetsera in 1864 she was known as the richest girl of Constantinople. Albin was 22 years her senior. In 1870 the family was ennobled.

Her oldest son Ladislaus died during the theatre fire of 1881. Her daughter Marie Alexandrina was known as Mary and was the lover of crown prince Rudolph of Austria. They died together in Mayerling in 1889 under mysterious circumstances. Her second son died during the First World War in 1915 near Kukli. They had a further daughter, Johanna, who died in 1901. Helena survived all her children.

After the death of her daughter and the crown prince she became a persona non grata at the Court. She defended herself in writing and accused her former friend Marie Larisch of bringing Rudolph and Mary together. Towards the end of her life she lost her fortune because of inflation. She died impoverished, possible of hunger of because she committed suicide.

Family
• Daughter: Vetsera, Mary
• Son: Vetsera, Franz Albin, Freiherr von

Related persons
• is brother/sister of Baltazzi, Alexander

Images
The grave of Franz Freiherr von Vetsera and Helena Freifrau von Vetsera at the cemetery in Payerdorf. Picture by Androom (20 Aug 2009)	The grave of Franz Freiherr von Vetsera and Helena Freifrau von Vetsera at the cemetery in Payerdorf. Picture by Androom (20 Aug 2009)