Esperanza de Sarachaga
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Background
Esperanza was born Doña Esperanza Felicitas Alexandra de Saráchaga y Lobanova Rostovskaya on July 7, 1839 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Known in Russian as “Spera”, she was the eldest daughter of Don Jorge de Saráchaga y Uría-Nafarrondo[1] and his Russian wife Princess Ekaterina Lobanov-Rostovskaya.
Don Jorge was a Spanish noble, while Ekaterina was the daughter of Russian statesman Prince Alexei Lobanov Rostov, and his wife Countess Rucheleff.
Family
The family descends from the Counts of Biscay, the Jiménez dynasty , House of Trastámara, and the The House of Haro.[2] Senior branch (Pariente Mayor)
Doña Esperanza's grandfather lost his life in the guerrilla struggle of the Peninsular War during the Napoleonic Wars. Her grandmother then took shelter with a French general who was originally from Baden and sent the children out of Spain to Karlsruhe to better ensure their safety. After the war, the general married the widow and the children received their education in Baden.[3]
In honor of his step father, Don Jorge volunteered military service. Don Jorge was an elegant and handsome officer and very well-known personality in Karlsruhe.[3] Esperanza’s mother was Princess Ekaterina Lobanov-Rostovskaya, a maid in honor in 1833 to the Empress of Russia (Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)) and the eldest daughter of Russian statesman and Prince Aleksey Alexandrovich Lobanov-Rostovsky and his wife Countess Rucheleff/Countess Kusheleva, Alexandra Grigorievna. Ekatarina was granddaughter of Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Lobanova-Rostovskaya, born Princess Kurakina (1735–1802), wife of Prince Ivan Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky.[4]
Childhood
Doña Esperanza’s father and mother met in St. Petersburg as children. Esperanza would later write that her childhood was good because she had so many people around her who loved her, but that it was also very sad because by the time she was almost ten years old she had lost both her parents and her grandfather. When Esperanza was six years old, she and her brother inherited her father’s massive fortune upon his untimely death in a duel in 1845. After his death, their bereaved mother, Ekatarina Dowager de Sarachaga, Dowager Princess Lobanov Rostovsky was unable to care for them. Upon their mother's departure, Doña Esperanza and her brother were adopted by their maternal grandparents, Prince Alexei Alexandrovich Lobanov-Rostovsky and his wife Countess Kusheleva, Alexandra Grigorievna. Doña Eperanza’s grandmother, Princess Lobanov-Rostovsky, died in Paris during the French Revolution of 1848, and Esperanza was sent to be brought up as a Russian Princess in St. Petersburg away from her brother Alexis. She was summoned to and joined the Russian imperial court at sixteen, presented by her aunt, the Countess Kucheleff.[5] Dona Esperanza entered the court as a Lady in waiting to the Empress. She and her brother spent their childhood apart between Russia, France, Norway, and Spain.[6]
Marriage
Doña Esperanza married diplomat and statesman Friedrich Freiherr Truchseß von Wetzhausen, First Minister of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. They were wed on 15 July 1862.[7]
Esperanza first met Friedrich when he was working as a diplomat at the Prussian and Russian court. It was love at first sight, and they were married soon after. During their marriage she often took him back to Bilbao, Spain to visit her family. Her sense of humor often manifested itself in harmless games of trickery. Once, when they were newly-wed, she took her new husband on a long hiking trip in Spain where they came upon a beautiful country palace. Her husband loved it and said that he wanted to know more about the owners because he was going to buy it for her. The gardener was the one to reveal to him that Esperanza was the owner all along.[3]
Prince Philipp zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld commented that Esperanza was considered by her peers at age 44 to have beauty, be generous and a strong intelligence, and a generous nature,[3]
The couple longed to have children but were unable to. In 1885 Doña Esperanza and her brother Don Alexis became guardians of their recently orphaned nephew and niece, Don Ricardo de Saráchaga y Arribalzaga, Count de Sarachaga and Doña Gloria de Saráchaga y Arribalzaga, Countess de Sarachaga.
Esperanza died in Cannes, France on January 28, 1914.
Charitable work
Esperanza was described as very generous to those around her. She founded many institutions and foundations including a Bavarian Kindergarten[3] and "Friedrich's Home", a Bavarian elder care home named after her husband. in addition she was a benefactress of her brother's legacy the Musée du Hiéron
Diplomacy and politics
Doña Esperanza was one of the wealthiest women in Europe during a time of great upheaval, especially in both Prussia and Spain. She was a well known figure at the Spanish, French and some German courts. This was sometimes an awkward position to be in when many of her close friends were in governments at war with each other. Esperanza skilfully moved through their circles always trying to maintain balance. She was also very loyal to friends. Philipp zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld relays that Esperanza found out the plot to depose King Ludwig II of Bavaria and confronted the conspirators with an umbrella at the entrance to Schloss Hohenschwangau, winning enough time to alert the King and the military.[3][8]
Children
Friedrich and Esperanza's adopted children were her niece and nephew, Doña Gloria and Don Ricardo.
| Date | Name | Details |
|---|---|---|
| *Born in 1871 in Bilbao | Don Ricardo de Saráchaga | Don Ricardo Alfonso Mateo de Saráchaga y Arribálzaga, Marquis de Planquet, Baron de Saráchaga, Baron de Arribálzaga, Baroness de Torre de Zubialdea, Baron de Urrutia, Senor de McMahon, was born on the 23rd of September, 1871 in Bilbao, Spain and died 1919 in exile in Mexico in 1919 assassinated by poison.
He married in Bilbao to Vizcayan Senora Doña Maria Luisa de Carrouche, His children were Doña Elvira de Saráchaga, Don Enrique de Saráchaga, who drowned in a canal in Mexico City without descendants, and Don Alfredo Alejo de Saráchaga MacMahon, Marquis de Planquette, Baron de Saráchaga, Baron de Arribálzaga, Baron de Urrutia etc. |
| Born in 1914 in Mexico City | Don Alfredo Alejo de Saráchaga | married Mexican noblewoman Vizcondessa Doña Lidia de Garcia de Leon y Avellaneda,[9]Senora de Solar de Tejada, Senora de la Vasca Casa de Avellaneda de Urrutia and Hurtado de Mendoza and House of Cortes. Alfredo was a diplomat and worked as CEO of Mexican oil company Pemex. Don Alfredo took up the important work of the de Sarachaga family and supported the Basque National Government in exile in Mexico with Santiago Aznar Sarachaga.
Don Alfredo's daughter was Doña Ekatarina (Katia) de Saráchaga y Garcia de Leon, Marquess and Countess de Sarachaga. Baroness de Saráchaga, Baroness de Arribálzaga, Baroness de Torre de Zubialdea and other honors and dignities of the family. She was born on the 14th of February, 1946 and married to Don Seraphino di Ferrari of the noble Ferraris of Korzula, Venice and Parma. She died young and was succeeded by her daughter, Princess Stephanie. |
| Princess Doña Stephanie Zobel de Saráchaga (Estefania de Sarachaga) | Don Alfredo and his wife were then to leave the bulk of their fortune to their granddaughter, Doña Stephanie Zobel de Saráchaga, Marquess and Countess de Sarachaga, Vizcondessa de Avellaneda, Baroness de Saráchaga, Baroness de Arribalzaga, Baroness de Torre de Zubialdea, Bilbao etc. She married in 2010 to Yacov Crawford Zobel heir to the Counts of Bykovskŷ and Zeballos, and descendant of the Earls of Crawford.
Through their joint foundation Zobel de Sarachaga Family Trust, Dona Stephanie and Don Yacov currently run the de Sarachaga-Lobanov Rostovsky foundation who is actively involved with preserving Esperanza's and her brother, Alexis's legacy and the charitable institutions they were a part of.[10] | |
| * Born in 1878 Bilbao | Doña Ciriaca María de la Gloria Josefa de Saráchaga y Arribálzaga | "Comtesse de Sarachaga" *born on the 8th of August 1878, married in Brussels on the 21st of January 1902 to Baron Maurice Greindl raised to Count Greindl. |
See also
References
- ^ Euskalnet
- ^ Torre de Vizcaya, 1946, Ibarra
- ^ a b c d e f Prince Philipp zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld (1934), Princess Augusta of Eulenburg-Hertefeld (ed.), The end of King Ludwig II and other experiences, Fri Wilh. Grunow publisher, retrieved 2012-04-08 Cite error: The named reference "eulenburg-hertefeld" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ George Mitrevski, Argunov, I. P. Portrait of Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Lobanova-Rostovskaya. 1754, retrieved 2012-04-08
- ^ La Gaulois newspaper , Paris 1914
- ^ Politica Hermetica (1999), Politica Hermetica 12: Les ContrÉes SecrÈtes, retrieved 2012-04-08
- ^ Gothaisches genealogisches taschenbuch der freiherrlichen Häuser, Volume 30.
- ^ Werner Bertram, King Ludwig II of Bavaria: A royal recluse; memories of Ludwig II of Bavaria
- ^ La casa Urrutia de Avellaneda y familias enlazadas españolas y americanas [estudios sobre varios linajes de las Encartaciones del Señorío de Vizcaya
- ^ Le Gaulois Newspaper