Born into one of 19th century Europe’s more powerful families, Archduchess Marie Valerie was the favorite daughter of Austria’s Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. Determined to marry for love, in 1890 she wed her cousin, Franz Salvator of Tuscany and bore him 10 children. The dashing Archduke was not faithful. His affair with Stephanie Richter, a young, middle-class Jewish woman with a knack for flattering powerful men, led to an illegitimate child, a royal title of her own and a career as a double-agent in the prelude to World War II. Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe became vital to Adolf Hitler, betraying the German Jews, the British government, and her home country of Austria—until Hitler betrayed her, leaving her without allies or protectors.

Jennifer Bowers Bahney is an award-winning journalist with a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a BA from Smith College. Her book Stealing Sisi’s Star, was a finalist for the 2016 Ohioana Book Award in Nonfiction.

Jennifer Bowers Bahney
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 230
Bibliographic Info: 30 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6872-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3044-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
Prologue: “Doubt exists in the Hohenlohe family” 3
Part I: Verblassendes Reich/Fading Empire, 1890–1924 7
1. “She can’t marry within the family again” 8
2. “Will she be a good little woman?” 16
3. “Everything is good, terribly good” 26
4. “I could only think, when a man was talking” 31
5. “Are we not the same as all other Germans?” 35
6. “We felt ourselves more deeply united on the inside” 41
7. “Antisemitism is an uncommonly diffused sickness” 50
8. “I tread the path that it is my duty to follow” 57
9. “The whole world suffered in consequence” 72
10. “There was danger in the air” 86
11. “We hope that God’s mercy will give us better times” 91
12. “One could only envy her” 98
Part II: Stehendes Reich/Rising Empire, 1927–1939 109
13. “She first came to our notice in 1928” 110
14. “Hitler is going to rule Germany” 121
15. “One blood demands one Reich” 127
16. “Sincere thanks for the great understanding” 137
17. “Austria will be ours” 146
18. “One of these days there will be a big scandal” 156
19. “Worse than ten thousand men” 171
Epilogue: “We recall the ‘Princess’ Hohenlohe” 175
Appendix I: Marie Valerie’s Diary, 1881–1890 183
Appendix II: Stephanie von Hohenlohe’s Draft Memoir Passage on Lord Rothermere’s Tactics 193
Appendix III: Stephanie von Hohenlohe on Lord Rothermere and Nazi Leaders 198
Chapter Notes 201
Bibliography 211
Index 215