Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi

File:Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, II and her daughters, Gladys and Gertrude, having tea in the libtary at the Breakers Newport, Rhode Island.jpg library, 1932]]

She was born Gladys Moore Vanderbilt in 1886, the seventh and youngest child of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and his wife Alice Claypoole Gwynne. Her father was the president and chairman of the New York Central Railroad and part of the prominent Vanderbilt family.

She grew up in the largest private house ever built in New York City, The Vanderbilt II family mansion on Fifth Avenue and at their summer "cottage" called The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island.{{cite book |title=Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt |url=https://archive.org/details/fortuneschildren01vand |url-access=registration |last=Vanderbilt |first=Arthur T. II |year=1989 |publisher=Morrow |location=New York |isbn=0-688-07279-8 }} She attended Miss Chapin's School in New York.{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,747181,00.html|title=EDUCATION: Death of Miss Chapin|magazine=Time|date=March 19, 1934}}

Her first cousin was Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, who had married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.

One of her siblings was Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, who was the father of Gloria Vanderbilt, the mother of Anderson Cooper.

File:Newport RI Breakers.jpg, Newport, Rhode Island]]

File:The Breakers. Newport, RI. Great Hall. 20210723 (82).jpg

She inherited about $25 million (equivalent to almost $1 billion today) from her father's estate and a further $5 million from her mother's estate.{{cite news|title=GLADYS VANDERBILT IS 21.; She Will Soon Receive $12,500,000 from Her Father's Estate.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1907/08/25/archives/gladys-vanderbilt-is-21-she-will-soon-receive-12500000-from-her.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=25 August 1907}} She also inherited The Breakers. In 1948, as a widow, she leased The Breakers to the Preservation Society of Newport County for $1 a year. She continued to maintain an apartment in The Breakers by agreement until her death. In 1951, she donated her mother's iconic Electric Light dress to the Museum of the City of New York.[http://blog.mcny.org/2013/08/06/vanderbilt-ball-how-a-costume-ball-changed-new-york-elite-society/ How a costume ball changed New York elite society]{{Cite web |title=MCNY Collections Portal |url=https://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MNYO28_4 |access-date=2022-05-27 |website=collections.mcny.org}}

In 1913, there were rumors that she was going to leave her husband due to his financial woes,{{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special Cable To The New York|title=SZECHENYI SUFFERS FINANCIAL LOSSES; With His Wife, Formerly Gladys Vanderbilt, He May Leave Hungary for London.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/04/20/archives/szechenyi-suffers-financial-losses-with-his-wife-formerly-gladys.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=20 April 1913}} including gambling away all of her dowry.{{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special Cable To The New York|title=MAY BE SZECHENYI DIVORCE; Budapest Reports That the Former Gladys Vanderbilt Will Sue.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0DEED6153FE633A25752C3A9619C946296D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=31 July 1913}}

In 1914, during World War I, she placed her palace in Budapest at the disposal of the army. Shortly thereafter, 600 reservists were quartered there, and she further intended to use the palace as a hospital.{{cite news|title=COUNTESS SZECHENYI HELPS.; Former Gladys Vanderbilt Gives Use of Palace to Army.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B06E2DB1438E033A25750C0A96E9C946596D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=3 August 1914}}{{cite news|last1=Service|first1=International Film|title=COUNTESS SZECHENYI'S STORY; Former Gladys Vanderbilt Describes Privations and Sufferings in Hungary, Where She Barely Escaped Russians Countess Szechenyi's Story|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E01EFDE123BEE32A25754C0A9649D946896D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=7 December 1919}}

File:Gladys Vanderbilt, 1906.jpg, 1906]]

File:Count László Széchényi by Philip de László 1931.jpg László Széchenyi wearing Hungarian díszmagyar by Philip de László 1931]]

On January 27, 1908, she married Hungarian Count László Széchenyi (1879–1938) in New York City.{{cite news|title=THE VANDERBILT WEDDING.; Miss Gladys to Become Count Szechenyi's Bride on Jan. 27.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/01/07/archives/the-vanderbilt-wedding-miss-gladys-to-become-count-szechenyis-bride.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=7 January 1908}}{{cite news|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=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=26 January 1908}} Their union was the most talked about and widely reported since her cousin Consuelo Vanderbilt's. The couple visited Hungary{{cite news|title=BALL FOR SZECHENYIS.; Former Miss Vanderbilt Meets the Magyar Aristocracy at Budapest.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/05/10/archives/ball-for-szechenyis-former-miss-vanderbilt-meets-the-magyar.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=10 May 1908}} almost every summer with their five daughters:

• Countess Cornelia "Gilia" Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék (1908–1958),{{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special Cable To The New York|title=DAUGHTER TO SZECHENYIS.; Former Miss Gladys Vanderbilt Becomes a Mother at Her Castle|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1908/10/28/archives/daughter-to-szechenyis-former-miss-gladys-vanderbilt-becomes-a.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=28 October 1908}} who married Eugene Bowie Roberts (1898–1983), an heir of the Roberts family of Bowie, Maryland (a colonial family of Maryland), they had three children;
• Countess Alice "Ai" Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék (1911–1974),{{cite news|title=SZECHENYI'S SECOND CHILD.; Daughter Born to Him and the Countess -- Son to Viscountess Maidstone.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/08/05/archives/szechenyis-second-child-daughter-born-to-him-and-the-countess-son.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=5 August 1911}} who married Hungarian Count Béla Hadik (1905–1971), they had two sons;
• Countess Gladys Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék (1913–1978),{{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph To The New York|title=DAUGHTER TO SZECHENYIS.; She Was Born at Her Parents' English Home on Thursday.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/08/16/archives/daughter-to-szechenyis-she-was-born-at-her-parents-english-home-on.html|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 August 1913}} who married the half American English peer Christopher Guy Finch-Hatton, 15th Earl of Winchilsea (1911–1950), they had two sons;
• Countess Sylvia Anita Gabriel Denise Irene Marie "Sylvie" Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék (1918–1998), who married Hungarian Count Antal Szapáry von Muraszombath Széchysziget und Szapar (1905–1972), they had two children;
• Countess Ferdinandine "Bubby" Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék (1923–2016), who married Austrian Count Alexander von und zu Eltz (1911–1977), they had two sons.

In March 1912, Countess Széchenyi's jewelries worth $200,000 ($8 million today) was stolen from her town residence in Budapest, the detective afterward found the jewels in a motor car garage, where they had been hidden by being wrapped in a piece of newspaper behind a barrel. The countess promptly sent a $600 reward to the investigator. Upon learning of this, the Chief of Police issued an order for the money's return, stating that the police officer had fulfilled his duties and didn't need any further compensation.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph To the New York |date=1912-03-07 |title=COUNTESS SZECHENYI ROBBED OF JEWELS; Gems Worth $200,000 Stolen from Her in Budapest -- Policeman Recovers Them. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1912/03/07/archives/countess-szechenyi-robbed-of-jewels-gems-worth-200000-stolen-from.html |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Her sister Gertrude was married to Harry Payne Whitney, brother to Dorothy Payne Whitney, whose son Whitney Straight married Lord Winchilsea's sister, Lady Daphne Finch-Hatton.File:Countess Sylvia Széchényi by Philip de László 1931 (later Countess Anthony Szápáry).jpg

Countess Széchenyi died in 1965. In 1972, the Preservation Society purchased The Breakers for $365,000 from her heirs.{{CN|date=May 2024}} Her daughter, Countess Sylvia Szapáry, maintained a residence at The Breakers{{cite news|last1=Times|first1=Special To The New York|title=Countess Szechenyi a Citizen|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3DA133CE13BBC4B51DFBF66838C659EDE&legacy=true|access-date=28 April 2017|work=The New York Times|date=23 September 1947}} on the third floor until her death on March 1, 1998.

Through her eldest daughter, Cornelia, she was the grandmother of three – Gladys Vanderbilt Roberts (b. 1934), Cornelia Roberts (1936–1982), who married Count Hans-Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi (1926–2004), and Eugene Bowie Roberts, Jr. (1939–2020). Through her daughter Alice, she was grandmother to Count László Hadik von Futak (1932–1973) and Count János Hadik von Futak (1933–2004). Through her daughter Gladys, she was the grandmother of Christopher Denys Stormont Finch-Hatton, the 16th Earl of Winchilsea (1936–1999) and the Hon. Robin Finch-Hatton (1939–2018). Through her daughter Sylvia, she was the grandmother of Count Pál László Szapáry (b. 1950) and Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Szapáry (b. 1952). Through her youngest child, Ferdinandine, she was the grandmother of Count Peter von und zu Eltz (b.1948) and Count Nicholas (Nicky) von und zu Eltz (1950–2012).{{cite book|url=http://194.171.109.12/download/cbg_patriciaat_lijst.pdf |title=List of Dutch patrician families in the Nederland's Patriciaat 1910-2007/2008}}

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Category:1886 births

Category:1965 deaths

Category:American emigrants to Hungary

Category:American socialites

Category:Hungarian countesses

Gladys

Gladys

Category:Burials at the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum