Melinda Esterházy (born Melinda Ottrubay, May 24, 1920, in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

– August 27, 2014, in

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; ; ; or ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Austria, Austrian state of Burgenland. With a population of 15,074 (as of 2023), it is the smallest state capital and the 38th-largest city in Austria overall. It lies at the foot o ...

) was a Hungarian-Austrian landowner and former

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

. She was the wife of Prince Paul Esterházy, an Austro-Hungarian nobleman of the

Esterházy The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, durin ...

family. Esterházy inherited Paul's wealth after his death. Since she had no children, she created several foundations to preserve the cultural and historic heritage of the Esterházy family, with the historic family seat

Schloss Esterházy Schloss Esterházy () is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622. Under Paul I, 1st Prince Esterhá ...

as the centre of all activities.

Life

Early life and marriage

Her parents were Dezsö (or Demeter) Ottrubay, president of the Budapest Higher Regional Court, and his wife Rose, née von Schmidt. She had a younger brother, Josef Ottrubay (1926–2015), who lived as a university lecturer in Lucerne. Family Tree House Esterhazy

After high school, she starred in two feature films in 1939. At the age of 24 Melinda Ottrubay was appointed prima ballerina assoluta of the Budapest Opera. On August 3, 1946, Melinda Ottrubay married Prince Paul V Esterházy de Galántha in Budapest. The marriage remained childless.

Title and name

In 1921, when today's Burgenland was added to the

Republic of Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, Paul opted for Hungarian citizenship. This left him with the Hungarian personal status and with it his princely title and his nobility name, which he would have had to do without if he had opted for Austrian citizenship due to the nobility in Austria that was repealed in April 1919. After the Hungarian monarchy ceased to exist at the beginning of 1947 and Hungary had become a people's democracy, the nobility and denominations in Hungary was abolished. Thus the names of the couple in Hungary and internationally became Paul Esterházy and Melinda Esterházy.

Escape from Hungary and further life

In 1949 Paul Esterházy was sentenced to fifteen years in prison during the show trial of Cardinal József Mindszenty. It was only in 1954 that Melinda was allowed to visit her husband in

Kőbánya Kőbánya (, , ) is the 10th district of Budapest () and one of the largest by territory. It is located in southeast Pest (city), Pest, easily accessible from the downtown by Budapest Metro, Metro 3, whose Terminal station, terminus is named ' ...

prison after having been without news of him for over four years. He was finally released on October 30, 1956, in the course of the Hungarian uprising. Paul and Melinda Esterházy fled to Austria on November 1, 1956, in a car disguised as a Red Cross vehicle via the Nickelsdorf border crossing. Her escape was planned and organized by the Viennese lawyer Kurt Werner and the

Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...

member of the National Council, Franz Strobl.Molden, S. 262 They traveled on to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, where they lived in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

until Paul's death in 1989.

Death and posthumous exhibition

Esterházy died on August 27, 2014, in Eisenstadt in the presence of her family. On October 15, 2016, the exhibition ''Melinda Esterházy: "Life has given me a lot"'' opened at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, showing both her career as a prima ballerina and her life at the side of Prince Paul V. Esterházy.

Career

She started dancing as a young girl and later became a dancer with the

Budapest Opera House The Hungarian State Opera House ( ) is a historic opera house located in central Budapest, on Andrássy avenue. Originally known as the Hungarian Royal Opera House, it was designed by Miklós Ybl, a major figure of 19th-century Hungarian architect ...

. Esterházy also acted in movies. She is best known for her role as Éva in Hungary's ''Revival'' (1939). She portrayed a ballet

prima donna In opera or ''commedia dell'arte'', a prima donna (; Italian for 'first lady'; : ''prime donne'') is the leading female singer in the company, the person to whom the ''prime'' roles would be given. ''Prime donne'' often had grand off-stage pe ...

in the movie ''Pénz áll a házhoz'' (1939).

References

External links

*
Princess Melinda Esterházy: Life Has Given Me So Much
Biography. {{DEFAULTSORT:Esterházy, Melinda 1920 births 2014 deaths Hungarian ballet dancers

Melinda Melinda is a feminine given name. Etymology The modern name ''Melinda'' is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melina meaning "sweet like honey ...

Hungarian emigrants to Austria