Agathe Whitehead

Agathe Gobertina von Trapp (née Whitehead; 14 June 1891 – 3 September 1922) was a British-Austrian heiress and aristocrat. She was the first wife of Georg Ritter von Trapp and the mother of seven children of the Trapp Family singers.

Early life and family Whitehead was born on 14 June 1891 in Fiume, the first daughter and third child of John Whitehead and Countess Agathe Gobertina von Breunner-Enckevoirth. Her father, a British engineer who had been made a knight of the Order of Franz Joseph, was the son of Robert Whitehead, namesake of the Whitehead torpedo. Her mother, an amateur architect and pianist, was a member of the Austrian and Hungarian nobility. Through her father, she was a niece of the diplomat Sir James Beethom Whitehead, who served as the British Minister to Serbia, and a first cousin of Sir Edgar Whitehead, who served as Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia. Through her mother, she was the niece of Countess Marie von Breunner-Enckevoirth, the wife of Victor II, Duke of Ratibor and Prince of Corvey, and the niece of Countess Eleonore von Breunner-Enckevoirth, the wife of Karl Maria Alexander, 9th Prince of Auersperg.

Later life On 10 February 1909, Whitehead christened the Austrian submarine SM U-5. A celebratory ball was held later that evening, where she was introduced to Georg Ritter von Trapp, a nobleman and naval officer who would eventually be assigned to command SM U-5. Shortly afterward, he was invited to vacation with the Whiteheads at Erlhof.

After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 and the start of the First World War, Whitehead's family's assets overseas were frozen and they were not permitted to leave the country.