Myra Abigail Pratt (''née'' Pankhurst and formerly Wright, later Daria, Princess Karageorgevich, March 21, 1859 – June 26, 1938) was an American

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er who competed in the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1900, link=no), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 1 ...

. She won the bronze medal in the women's competition. By virtue of her third marriage, she was member of the

House of Karađorđević A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

Early life

Myra Abigail Pankhurst was born on March 21, 1859, to Maria Louise (''née'' Coates) and John Foster Pankhurst, vice-president of Globe Iron Works Company and co-owner of

American Ship Building Company The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the World War II, Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898. It changed ...

of Cleveland.

Marriages, issue and golf career

Her first husband was Herbert Wright. It is unclear whether Wright died in 1880 or the two were divorced in the 1890s. She later married Thomas Huger Pratt shortly before the 1900 Olympics. The two were frequently in Europe and were members of the

Dinard Dinard (; br, Dinarzh, ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine Departments of France, department, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern France. Dinard is on the Côte d'� ...

Golf Club in France. Huger Pratt played in the handicap event (which is not recognized as Olympic), not starting in the main men's tournament. Abbie Pratt finished third in the women's competition, with a score of 53 in the 9-hole

stroke play Stroke play, also known as medal play, is a scoring system in the sport of golf in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In stroke play, the winner is the player who has taken the fewest strokes over the ...

tournament. The fate of Abbie Pratt's marriage to Thomas is also unclear. He may have died in 1905, or possibly in 1907. Alternatively, he may have instead gone missing in 1907; there is one newspaper article reporting that Abbie Pratt was seeking a divorce then due to his disappearance. Another article indicates that he died in 1912 while still married to Abbie. Abbie Pratt married

Prince Alexis Karageorgevich Prince Alexis Karageorgevitch, or Karađorđević ( sr, Алекса Карађорђевић / ''Aleksa Karađorđević''; 10 June 1859 – 15 February 1920), was the head of the senior branch of the House of Karageorgevitch and a claimant to th ...

, the unsuccessful claimant to the throne of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, on June 11, 1913, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, taking Daria as her royal orthodox name and was thereafter referred to as

Her Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adject ...

Princess Daria Karageorgevich. She was received in the Eastern Orthodox faith and Myron Timothy Herrick, US Ambassador to France, served as one of her witnesses at the marriage. The couple honeymooned in the South of France before heading to her home city of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the Prince's first trip to the U.S. in 14 years. She had one daughter from her first marriage, Harriet Louise Wright (1871-1946). Harriet married first, by 1901, Count Alexander Mercati (1874-1947), a son of Count Leonardo Mercati (1838-1901) and his wife, Catherine Venizelos (1848-1919). Count Alexander, a boyhood friend of King

Constantine I of Greece Constantine I ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αʹ, ''Konstantínos I''; – 11 January 1923) was King of Greece from 18 March 1913 to 11 June 1917 and from 19 December 1920 to 27 September 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army ...

(for whom he served as Grand marshal of the Court), was one of the original members of the

Hellenic Olympic Committee The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) ( el, Ελληνική Ολυμπιακή Επιτροπή) is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is the second oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee), it o ...

. After their divorce, she married secondly, at Paris on 5 Feb. 1914,

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Emmerich von Pflügl (1873-1956), son of Freiherr Richard von Pflügl and of Marianne Hengelmüller

Edle Edler () was until 1919 the lowest rank of nobility in Austria-Hungary and Germany, just beneath a ''Ritter'' (hereditary knight), but above untitled nobles, who used only the nobiliary particle ''von'' before their surname. It was mostly given t ...

von Hengervár.

First World War

During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the Prince and Princess Karageorgevich went to Serbia to support the war effort. After the fall of the wartime capital

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

to the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

the couple became part of the mass retreat from Serbia through the treacherous mountains of

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in the winter of 1915 and arrived in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on Christmas Eve 1915."Big battle raging in Mid Albania" ''New York Times''. 1915-12-25p. 8. Prince Alexis died in

St. Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 1920, Princess Daria surviving him and dying in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

on 26 June 1938.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Abbie American female golfers Amateur golfers Golfers at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in golf Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Golfers from Cleveland Serbian princesses Princesses by marriage Karađorđević dynasty American emigrants to France 1859 births 1938 deaths 19th-century American sportswomen