Esperanza de Sarachaga
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Doña Esperanza Felicitas Alexandra de Sarachaga y Lobanov Rostovsky was a 19th-century
courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...
and socialite of Spanish and Russian descent. Born in
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, she was informally known as “Spera”. She was the eldest daughter of
Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...
Jorge de Sarachaga y Uría and his Russian wife Princess Ekaterina Lobanov-Rostovskaya.Sentencias del Consejo de Estado. Madrid : Impr. del Ministerio de Gracia y Justica, 8--1867. pg. 513 Her father, also known as Georg von Sarachaga-Uria (23 April 1811 – 14 December 1843) was born in Manzanares, Spain and killed near
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
in a duel. Esperanza married Bavarian diplomat, Friedrich Freiherr Truchseß von Wetzhausen.


Family and childhood

Esperanza was a member of the
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...
family of Sarachaga. The family belonged to the landed nobility, although in a publication by Prince Dolgokurov, who was in exile in France for falling out with the Russian Imperial family when he wrote this, they were referred to as of baronial rank, While the family never had a listing in the Almanach de Gotha's publications, whenever mentioned the family was referred to without hereditary title. Her paternal grandmother, Maria Micaela de Uria y Alcedo, who married Florentino de Sarachaga, had been a courtier during the Spanish reign of
Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
. She left Spain for
Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
in 1813 with a
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
general in French service, Carl von Lasollaye, and accompanied by her children, one of whom became Spera's father Jorge. After the death of her husband who had been left behind in Spain, she married Lasollaye. In 1833, Esperanza’s mother became a
maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen ...
to Empress Alexandra Fjodorovna. She was the eldest daughter of Russian Prince Aleksey Aleksandrovich Lobanov-Rostovsky and his wife Countess Alexandra Grigorievna Kucheleff. Doña Esperanza’s father and mother met in St. Petersburg as children, although he eventually joined the military service in Baden. Esperanza would later write that her childhood was happy, but that it was also very sad because by the time she was almost ten years old she had lost both her parents and her grandfather. When Esperanza was six years old, she and her brother inherited her father’s fortune upon his death in a duel with Moritz von Haber in 1843. Haber was a Jewish banker who, according to a group of aristocratic army officers to which Jorge belonged, had an undue influence on the Grand Ducal house. A series of duels followed, in the final one of which Jorge was a victim. After his death, Esperanza and her brother were placed under the guardianship of their maternal grandparents, Prince and Princess Lobanov-Rostovsky.Sentencias del Consejo de Estado. Madrid : Impr. del Ministerio de Gracia y Justica, 8--1867. pg. 513 Her grandmother died in Paris during the French Revolution of 1848, and Esperanza was sent to be brought up in St. Petersburg away from her brother Alexis. She was summoned to and joined the Russian imperial court at the age of sixteen. She and her brother spent their childhood apart between Russia, France, Norway, and Spain. Alexis, together with the Jesuit Victor Drevon, later became the founder of the Hiéron du Val d'Or, a Roman Catholic
esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...
political cabal that sought to prepare the political landscape in Europe for the second coming and reign of Christ. They also founded the Musée du Hiéron


Marriage

Doña Esperanza wed Bavarian diplomat Friedrich Freiherr Truchseß von Wetzhausen on 15 July 1862. Esperanza first met Wetzhausen when he was working as a diplomat at the Russian court, and they were married soon after. During their marriage she often took him back to
Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...
, Spain, to visit her family. Once, when they were newly-wed, she took her new husband on a long hiking trip in Spain where they came upon a beautiful country palace. Her husband loved it and said that he wanted to know more about the owners because he was going to buy it for her. The gardener was the one to reveal to him that Esperanza was the owner all along.
Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, Count of Sandels (german: Philipp Friedrich Karl Alexander Botho Fürst zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld Graf von Sandels; 12 February 1847 – 17 September 1921) was a diplomat and composer of Imperial Ger ...
, commented that Esperanza was considered, at age 44, to have beauty, generosity and intelligence. The couple remained childless. In 1885, Doña Esperanza and her brother became guardians of their recently orphaned family members, Don Ricardo de Sarachaga y Arribalzaga and Doña Gloria de Sarachaga y Arribalzaga. Esperanza died in
Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. T ...
, France, on January 28, 1914.


Diplomacy and politics

As a courtier she had friends in many circles. Sometimes her friends had loyalties to governments in conflict with each other. Philipp zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld relays that when Esperanza found out that King
Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...
was about to be institutionalized for mental illness, she attacked the commission that came to get him at the entrance to
Hohenschwangau Castle Hohenschwangau Castle (german: Schloss Hohenschwangau) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the Ge ...
, protesting and flailing at the men with her umbrella. She then rushed to the king’s apartments to identify the conspirators. Ludwig had the commissioners arrested, but after holding them captive for several hours, released them, and was taken into their custody.


Charitable work

Esperanza founded many charitable institutions, including a Bavarian Kindergarten and "Friedrichsheim", a Bavarian elder care home in StadtlauringenMain Post
/ref> named after her husband. She was also a benefactress of her brother's legacy, the '' Musée du Hiéron''.


See also

*
Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...


References


External links


Freifrau von Truchsess
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarachaga, Esperanza de 1839 births 1914 deaths Nobility from Saint Petersburg Russian people of Basque descent Russian people of German descent Bavarian nobility German baronesses Lobanov-Rostovsky family Spanish nobility German philanthropists