Helene von Vetsera

Baroness Helene von Vetsera (; 1847 – 1 February 1925) was an Austrian noblewoman and socialite. She was the daughter of a wealthy lawyer and financial advisor, and she married Albin Freiherr von Vetsera in 1864. She became a baroness when her husband was created a baron in 1870. She enjoyed significant prestige in the social life of Vienna until she was disgraced by the Mayerling incident in 1889, when her daughter Baroness Mary von Vetsera and Crown Prince Rudolf were found dead together. Helene von Vetsera left high society after the incident, and she lost her fortune after World War I.

Biography

Helene Baltazzi was born in Marseille in 1847 as one of ten children to Theodor Baltazzi and Elizabeth Sarell. Her father was a lawyer from a Venetian–Greek family,

In 1889, Helene von Vetsera was disgraced following the Mayerling incident, in which her teenage daughter Baroness Mary von Vetsera and Crown Prince Rudolf died after engaging in a secret affair and making a suicide pact. She moved to Payerbach, where she purchased a villa and converted it into the Villa Vetsera. She moved to Wieden in 1897. Austria underwent severe hyperinflation after World War I, and Helene von Vetsera lost her fortune. She died on 1 February 1925.