Princess of Noer-The Chess Master





Mary Ester Lee, Princess of Noer

Mary Lee was born in New York 3 October 1837, the youngest of five children of a wealthy merchant. Upon her father's death her mother took her four daughters to Europe, with the hope of finding them suitable husbands. The eldest daughter had no plans to marry, and instead took her share of her inheritance and went to Paris to study art. However, the second daughter, Abbigail met and married Captain Augustus Charles Murray, grandson of the Earl of Dunmore. Captain Murray's sister had married the Prince de la Tremouille, and when Captain Murray was station in Paris his sister took a liking to her new sister-in-law, and her family. It was at one of the Princess' parties, that the third Lee sister met her future husband, the Baron de Waechter, who was the minister from the court of Wurttemburg. It was while staying with her sister Josie, now Baroness de Waechter, Mary met Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. 

Prince Frederick had some impressive connections. His sister was queen of Denmark, and he was the younger brother of the reining Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. He was also quite a bit older than the 27-year old Mary, over 60-years of age, and a widower with four grown children. The prince must have been truly smitten, for he was wealthy and had no need to marry an heiress. Mary for her part stood firm on a condition of the marriage, she would not agree to a morganatic marriage, but instead had Prince Frederick renounce his rights to not only his brother's Duchy, the Danish throne as well. Prince Frederick, after renouncing his rights, was created Prince of Noer by the Emperor of Austria, who conveyed upon Mary the title of Princess of Noer. On 3 November 1864 Mary and her Prince were married. However, Mary was not to enjoy married life for long, for her husband died while on their honeymoon in the Holy Land in 1865.

Nine years later, Mary, who had been left a wealthy window, married again, this time to Count Alfred von Waldersee, who had close ties to the Prussian court. She became friends with her first husband's niece, Augusta-Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, who married the future Kaiser, Wilhelm II. She used her friendship and influence with the Kaiser and Kaiserin to try to further the career of her second husband. Although the big prize she angled for, Chancellor of Germany, eluded her husband, he was eventually made into a Field Marshall. There are a number of contemporary accounts that speak of her influence at the German court, including that of the Geneva (New York) Daily News that in 2 June 1902 wrote of Mary Lee "She chose a husband-first a pawn, now a gallant knight-whom she could move forward along the chessboard of life."

Mary died 4 July 1914, just before the beginning of The Great War.

For more information on Mary Lee read "The Kaiser's Confidante; Mary Lee, The First American-Born Princess" by Richard Jay Hutto.    


  

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