Beatrix, Countess of Schönburg-Glauchau ('' née '' Countess Beatrix Maria Valeria Thérèse Emerica Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék; 30 January 1930 – 30 September 2021) was a Hungarian-German aristocrat and socialite. By birth a member of the Széchényi family, a Hungarian noble family, she fled Hungary in 1956 during the Communist Revolution. After arriving in Germany, she married Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, the nominal head of the House of Schönburg-Glauchau, and moved to Africa. She lived in

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

and

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, where her husband worked as a journalist, before returning to Germany in 1970. After divorcing her husband in 1986, she moved to

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

to live with her daughter, Gloria, Princess of Thurn und Taxis.

Biography

Countess Beatrix Maria Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék was born in Hegykő,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

on 30 January 1930 to Count Bálint Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék and Princess Marie ''Maya'' Pavlovna Galitzine. She had three older sisters. Beatrix was a great-granddaughter of the Hungarian statesman Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék. Her parents divorced in 1931, a year after her birth. During the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, Beatrix and her family fled to Germany in order to escape the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

regime. In 1957 she married Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau, a German journalist and head of the Glauchau branch of the comital

Schönburg family The House of Schönburg (also ''Schumburg''; Czech: ''ze Šumburka'') is a noble family of princely and historically sovereignty, sovereign rank. It formerly owned large properties in present-day Saxony, Thuringia and Bohemia. As a former ruling ...

. Her husband's family's castles and estates in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

were seized by the Communist government during the

Soviet Military Administration in Germany The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (; ''Sovyetskaya Voyennaya Administratsiya v Germanii'', SVAG; , SMAD) was the Soviet military government, headquartered in Berlin- Karlshorst, that directly ruled the Soviet occupation zone in German ...

. She and her husband had four children: * Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau (1958–2019) * Gloria, Princess of Thurn und Taxis (born 1960) * Count Carl Alban von Schönburg-Glauchau (born 1966) *

Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau Alexander, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau (born August 15, 1969), known professionally as Alexander von Schönburg, is a German journalist and writer. He is, after his older brother Carl's abdication, the current head of the comital branch of the ...

(born 1969), a best selling author who married Princess Irina of Hesse, a daughter of Prince Karl Adolf Andreas of Hesse, in 1999. After her husband accepted a journalist post in Africa, she and her family spent five years living in

and

, returning to Germany in 1970. She and her husband divorced in 1986. After suffering a fall at her apartment, she was taken to the Munich Municipal Clinic and underwent an operation. She was later transferred to the Brothers of Mercy Hospital in Regensburg, where she died on 30 September 2021. Her requiem mass took place on 6 November 2021 at the Kreuzkirche, Munich. The mass was celebrated by Hungarian bishop János Székely. Music for the ceremony was performed by opera singer Countess Christine Esterházy and the Fürstlichen Hofkapelle Thurn und Taxis. She was buried at Nordfriedhof.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beatrix, Countess of Schönburg-Glauchau 1930 births 2021 deaths Countesses in Germany German socialites Hungarian countesses Hungarian emigrants to Germany Hungarian people of Greek descent Hungarian people of Russian descent Hungarian refugees Hungarian Roman Catholics House of Schönburg-Glauchau People from Győr-Moson-Sopron County People of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Széchenyi family Victims of post–World War II forced migrations