Alice Széchenyi
{{Short description|Hungarian noble (1911–1974)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Hungarian name|Széchenyi Alice}}{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = Countess
| birth_date = 27 July 1911
| birth_place = Remetské Hámre
| death_date = 25 February 1974
| death_place = Lisbon, Portugal
| occupation = heiress, socialite and educational founder
| organization = White Pines College
| spouse = Béla Hadik (m. 1931, died 1971)
| children = 2
| parents = László Széchenyi and Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi
| relatives = Imre Széchényi (paternal grandfather), Cornelius Vanderbilt II (maternal grandfather), Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt (maternal grandmother), Cornelius Vanderbilt III (maternal uncle), Gertrude Vanderbilt (maternal aunt)
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (maternal uncle), Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (maternal uncle), Gladys Moore Vanderbilt (maternal aunt), Christopher Finch-Hatton, 15th Earl of Winchilsea (brother-in-law)
| family = Széchenyi
}}
Countess Alice Széchenyi (July 27, 1911 – February 25, 1974) was a Hungarian-American heiress, socialite and educational founder.
Family and education
Széchenyi was born in 1911 at Remetské Hámre,{{Cite book |last=Raineval |first=Melville Henry Massue |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jVE4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1418&dq=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi8rO2b6O6LAxXoZ0EAHZt4Ov04ChDoAXoECAwQAw |title=The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who," of the Sovereigns, Princes, and Nobles of Europe |date=1914 |publisher=Burke's Peerage |isbn=978-0-85011-028-9 |pages=1418 |language=en}} on the Slovakia-Hungary border. She was the daughter and second child of Count László Széchenyi, the former Hungarian Minister to the U.S., and his American born-wife, Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi.{{Cite news |date=1911-08-05 |title=SZECHENYI'S SECOND CHILD.; Daughter Born to Him and the Countess |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/08/05/archives/szechenyis-second-child-daughter-born-to-him-and-the-countess-son.html |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |date=1908-01-26 |title=THE HOUSE OF SZECHENYI IN MAGYAR ANNALS; Long and Hungarian Family Into Which Miss Gladys Vanderbilt will be Married To-morrow. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/01/26/archives/the-house-of-szechenyi-in-magyar-annals-long-and-hungarian-family.html |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} She had four sisters,{{Cite news |title=Countess Szechenyi Left Bulk Of Her Estate to Four Daughters |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/02/14/97183996.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} and was photographed with her sisters as a socialite for publications such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z1PC1dhlR2QC&q=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&dq=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTnIXO6u6LAxVxQ0EAHeoABE44FBDoAXoECAUQAw |title=Vogue |date=1914 |publisher=Condé Nast Publications |volume=43 |pages=69 |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TBTE3mFxijgC&q=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&dq=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1z-Ki8u6LAxUVWUEAHXssExU4RhDoAXoECAQQAw |title=Harper's Bazaar |date=1920 |publisher=Hearst Corporation |volume=55 |pages=50 |language=en}}
Her paternal grandparents were Count Imre Széchenyi de Sárvár-felsővidék, the former Austrian Minister at the Court of Berlin and his wife, Countess Alexandra Sztaray-Szirmay et Nagy-Mihály. Her maternal grandparents were Cornelius Vanderbilt II and Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt.{{Cite book |last=Commire |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EkEOAQAAMAAJ&q=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&dq=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtkIuf4-6LAxUfQkEAHZifLO4Q6AF6BAgFEAM |title=Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia |date=2002 |publisher=Yorkin Publications |isbn=978-0-7876-4074-3 |pages=796 |language=en}}
Széchenyi was educated at St. Wills Convent in Ascot, England.
Marriage
Széchenyi married Count Béla Hadik on April 18, 1931.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=r47Swz5DX08C&q=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&dq=Alice+Sz%C3%A9chenyi&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiDrbKB7-6LAxV6VUEAHVoBK7g4PBDoAXoECAgQAw |title=Great Stories of American Businessmen |date=1972 |pages=205 |language=en}} The wedding took place at St. Matthew's Church in Washington, D.C. and was officiated by the Most Rev. Pietro Fumasoni Biondi, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States (who later became a Cardinal in 1933), followed by a reception at the Hungarian Legation.{{Cite news |title=ALICE SZECHENYI IN BRILLIANT BRIDAL; 1,000 Members of Society See Countess Married to Count Bela Hadik. RITE BY PAPAL DELEGATE Most Rev. Fumasoni-Biondi Reads Blessing From the Pope--Bridal Party Large. The Bridal Costume. Gifts from Bride's Relatives. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/04/19/107572269.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} As a wedding gift to Alice, his mother sent a "diamond necklace with earrings to match, which had been the gift of the Empress, Queen Maria Theresa, to an ancestor of the bride and bridegroom."
- Count László Hadik (1932–1973), who married Countess Vita Stachwitz in 1956.{{Cite news |title=Countess Vita Strachwitz Is Wed In Bavarian Town to Laszlo Hadik |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/06/12/84700978.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} He died in a plane crash during the summer of 1973.
- Count János Béla Hadik (1933–2004), who married Edith Genevieve Gaillet in 1962.{{Cite news |title=Father Escorts Edith G. Gaillet At Her Nuptials; She Is Bride of Count John Bela Hadik in Georgetown, Conn. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/01/21/89489721.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}
Later life
Széchenyi and her family lived in Hungary until 1946, then moved to the United States and lived in Chester, New Hampshire, where they bought a house from a Vanderbilt cousin.{{Cite book |last=Stephaich |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TfW1DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=The Last Hussar |date=2017-01-24 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7618-6869-9 |pages=86 |language=en}} She was instrumental the founding of, the now defunct, White Pines College in New Hampshire.{{Cite news |date=February 27, 1974 |title=Countess Hadik, 63; Was a Descendant Of the Vanderbilts |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/02/27/91435530.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} She also loaned family artwork to the Preservation Society of Newport County.{{Cite book |last=Quimby |first=Ian M. G. |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GFMNAQAAIAAJ&q=countess+alice+hadik&dq=countess+alice+hadik&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1zLDe9e6LAxUaQEEAHYD9Gd8Q6AF6BAgIEAM |title=American Painting to 1776: a Reappraisal |date=1971 |publisher=Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum |isbn=978-0-8139-0378-1 |pages=225 |language=en}}
Széchenyi's husband died in 1971.{{Cite news |title=COUNT BELA HADIK, A DOG BREEDER, 66 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/02/20/81875275.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |access-date=2025-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} Széchenyi died in 1974, after suffering a stroke, in Lisbon, Portugal.
References
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