Nancy Leishman

Nancy Louise Leishman (October 2, 1894 – February 22, 1983) was an American heiress who married into the European aristocracy.

Nancy d'Oldenburg
Born	Nancy Louise Leishman (1894-10-02)October 2, 1894 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	February 22, 1983(1983-02-22) (aged 88) Copenhagen, Denmark
Spouses	Karl, 13th Duke von Croÿ ​ ​ (m. 1913; div. 1922)​ Andreas d'Oldenburg ​ (after 1922)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	John George Alexander Leishman Julia Crawford

Early life and relatives

 

Ambassador Leishman and his family, c. 1912.

Nancy Louise Leishman was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 2, 1894. She was the youngest of three children born to John George Alexander Leishman (1857–1924) and his wife, Julia Crawford (1864–1918). Her father, the son of Scots-Irish immigrants who eventually became the president of Carnegie Steel, served as the U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, and Germany during the administrations of U.S. Presidents William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.^[1]

Her sister, Marthe Leishman, a favorite of King George V and a close friend of Cole Porter^[2] and Francis Poulenc,^[3] married twice, first to Count Louis de Gontaut-Biron and, after his death, to American heir James Hazen Hyde.^[4][5] Her brother, John Leishman Jr., married, and divorced, New York socialite Elizabeth Helene Demarest.^[6][7]

Her paternal grandparents were John Leishman and Amelia (née Henderson) Leishman, and her maternal grandparents were Edward Crawford and Nancy Harriet (née Ferguson) Crawford.^[1]

Marriages and children

While her father was serving as the American ambassador to Germany, Nancy met and fell in love with Karl (1889-1974), 13th Duke von Croÿ.^[a] Since Nancy was a commoner (and an American) and Karl was a duke who ranked among the highest nobility of titled Europeans, the opposition to their marriage was enormous. Karl's aunt, Princess Isabella of Croÿ (wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen),^[10] was chief among the European nobility who vehemently protested the match,^[11] which led Kaiser Wilhelm II to refuse to give his official permission for their marriage.^[12] In July 1912, Karl's sister Princess Isabella Antonie of Croÿ had married Prince Franz of Bavaria (third son of Archduchess Maria Theresia and Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria).

Nevertheless, Nancy and Karl married on 24 October 1913 at Versoix, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.^[11] As a result of the impasse between the Kaiser and her father over her marriage to Croÿ, her father left his post in Berlin in 1913 and retired to private life. Before their divorce in 1922,^[b][16] Nancy and Karl were the parents of:^{[citation needed]}

• Carl Emmanuel, 14th Duke von Croÿ (1914–2011),^[17] who married Princess Gabriele, daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (eldest son of Ludwig III), in 1953.
• Princess Antoinette Emma Laurenzia Charlotte Ludmille Juliette Marthe Helene Sabina von Croÿ (b. 1915), who married Jurgen von Gorne in 1944. They divorced in 1947, and she married Frederick Nelson Tucker in 1948. They divorced in 1956, and she married Douglas Auff'm-Ordt in 1981.
• Princess Marie-Luise Natalie Engelberta Ludmilla Nancy Julie von Croÿ (b. 1919), who married Richard Metz, a son of Herman A. Metz, in 1941.^[18] They divorced in 1949,^[19] and she married H. Nelson Slater III in 1952.^[20] After his death in 1968, she married Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr., son of Frederick Baldwin Adams and Ellen (née Delano) Adams (a first cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt), in 1969.^[21]

 

Villa Waldfriede, Wiesbaden, 1892

After the divorce, she lived for three years in the Villa Waldfriede in Wiesbaden.^[22] She married, secondly, Markus Andreas d'Oldenburg (1877–1939), a Danish diplomat^[23] and son of Valdemar Oldenburg.^[24][25] Regardless of the opposition to her first marriage, her son Carl was eventually deemed eligible to inherit the properties of the Croÿ family upon Karl's death in 1974, when Carl became the 14th Duke von Croÿ.^[26]

She died on 22 February 1983 at age 88 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Through her son Carl, 14th Duke von Croÿ, she was a grandmother of Rudolf, 15th Duke von Croÿ (b. 1955), who married Alexandra, a member of the Miloradović noble family.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of American heiresses

References

Notes

1. Karl, 13th Duke von Croÿ (1899–1974) was a son of Karl Alfred, 12th Duke von Croÿ, and Princess Ludmilla von Arenberg (eldest daughter of Engelbert, 8th Duke of Arenberg). The Croÿ dynastic house, which originally adopted its name from the Château de Crouy-Saint-Pierre in French Picardy, claimed descent from the Hungarian^[8] Prince Marc (great-grandson of King Géza II of Hungary), who allegedly settled in France in 1147, where he married an heiress to the barony of Croÿ. The Croÿ family rose to prominence under the Dukes of Burgundy.^[9]
2. After their divorce, Karl married another American, Helen Lewis, in 1924.^[13][14] They divorced in 1930,^[15] and he married, thirdly, Marie Louise Wiesner in 1933. They were the parents of Clemens Franz Carl Anslem Prinz von Croÿ (b. 1934). After her death in 1945, he married Hildegard von Guerard in 1949.

Sources

1. "J. G. LEISHMAN DIES; A FORMER DIPLOMAT; Found Dead in Bed of Heart Attack in Hotel at Monte Carlo". The New York Times. 28 March 1924. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
2. Cole Porter, by Charles Schwartz, page 56.
3. Entrancing Muse, by Carl B. Schmidt, 2001, page 191
4. "J. HAZEN HYDE WEDS COUNTESS IN PARIS; Marries Widow of L. de Gontaut-Biron, the Daughter of Ex-Ambassador Leishman. PRIVATE CHURCH CEREMONY Bride's Brother-In-Law, Duke of Croy, Gives Her Away ;- Ambassador Herrick Best Man". The New York Times. 26 November 1913. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
5. "MRS. MARTHE L. HYDE; Daughter of Late Diplomat Had Been Wife of James Hazen Hyde" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 July 1944. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
6. "WED TO LORD ALASTAIR.; Mrs. Helene D. Leishman's Second Marriage in Paris a Surprise" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 May 1918. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
7. Beard, Patricia (2009). After the Ball : Gilded Age Secrets, boardroom betrayals, and the party that ignited the Great Wall Street Scandal of 1905. Xlibris Corp. ISBN 978-1436357852.
8. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (11 December 1913). "DUCHESS OF CROY SNUBBED OFFICIALLY; Almanach de Gotha Declares She Is Not of "Equal Birth" with the Duke" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
9. Times, Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph To the New York (20 April 1913). "CROY-LEISHMAN MATCH A ROMANCE; Duke Wooed the Ambassador's Daughter Persistently After Falling in Love at Sight" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
10. Times, Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph To the New York (10 October 1913). "CROY FAMILY MAY MAKE FINAL EFFORT; But Have Little Hope of Inducing Duke to Break Engagement to Miss Leishman". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
11. "MISS LEISHMAN WEDS DUKE OF CROY; Ex-Ambassador's Daughter Was Married Very Quietly Yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland". The New York Times. 25 October 1913. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
12. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (9 October 1913). "TO WED CROY ON OCT. 28.; Arrangements for Miss Leishman's Marriage Made, It Is Reported". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
13. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (26 October 1930). "SECOND WIFE WILL SUE THE DUKE OF CROY SOON; Former Helen Lewis of Albany to Seek Divorce--First Duchess Also Was American". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
14. "Denies Croy Divorce Suit". The New York Times. 27 October 1930. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
15. "DUCHESS OF CROY ENGAGED TO MARRY; Former Helen Lewis of Albany to Be Wed to Count Anthony de Bosdari. KINSMAN OF KING OF ITALY Was Educated at Winchester in England--At One Time Was Fiance of Tallulah Bankhead. Warren--Shriver". The New York Times. 3 November 1931. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
16. Times, the New York Times Company Special Cable To the New York (17 February 1922). "No French Citizenship for 3 Princes of Croy; Brothers Who Fought as Germans Lose Estate". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
17. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (7 November 1914). "SON TO DUCHESS OF CROY.; Husband of Former Miss Leishman Now Serving in Kaiser's Army". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
18. "PRINCESS CROY ENGAGED; Granddaughter of John Leishman Fiancee of Richard E. Metz" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 February 1941. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
19. "RICHARD E. METZ DIVORCED; Former Princess of Croy Gets a Decree in Reno" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 June 1949. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
20. "H. Nelson Slater, Textile Executive" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 May 1968. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
21. "Frederick Adams, 90, Morgan Library Director". The New York Times. 25 January 2001. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
22. Birgit Funk, Thorsten Reiß: Villa Waldfriede: Eine Spurensuche im Wald. In: Wiesbaden. Gestern, heute, morgen, Nr. 3, 2003, ISSN 1617-9641, pp. 16–25.
23. Proceedings of the Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War: Held in Geneva, May 4 to June 17, 1925. Impr. réunies. 1925. p. 99.
24. "THE FOUR CORNERS OF EUROPE; Italy Pleased With Ambassador Child -- New Roman Rains of Subarban Colony". The New York Times. 8 July 1923. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
25. Congress, United States (1926). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 2426. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
26. TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (18 June 1929). "REICH DENIES DUCHY TO AMERICAN'S SON; Court Rules Wedding of Nancy Leishman, Envoy's Daughter, to Duke of Croy Mesalliance. TRADITIONAL LAW UPHELD But Decision in Republican Germany Meets Criticism--Duke's Brother, Who Asked Ruling, to Get Estate". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2020.