“We entered the gates and Rj (Erzsi) with tears in her eyes, said ‘Now explain everything.’ (…) We left after an incredibly great experience, particularly for Anti to have it all come back to him, and how marvelously he talked and how extraordinary he was telling the children about it all. Rj and the children were so deeply impressed, I know none of us will ever forget it.”
From Sylvia Széchényi’s diary
“Successive generations of the Széchényi, Vanderbilt and Szápáry families appear before the backdrop of the monumental transformations of the twentieth century, whose activities in themselves create an important chapter in the history of relations between Hungary and the English-speaking world. The volume that the Reader holds in hand parades through a one-hundred-and-ten-year colourful process of family history presented through the outstanding individual pieces of the legacy as memories and events are conjured up through artworks and documents.”
Benedek Varga, Director, Hungarian National Museum
“This book has an interesting history. It all started when, as Hungary’s ambassador to Washington D.C., it more than once crossed my mind that one should write a history of our embassy in America, which, beginning with the collapse of the Monarchy, has lived through our country’s oft-chequered history. Washington’s first accredited envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the independent Kingdom of Hungary was Count László Széchényi who married Gladys Vanderbilt. Angelika Orgona, the author of this book, makes accessible to the greater public the history of the Széchényi-Vanderbilt-Szápáry families, the many gripping activities of its various members, often unknown even to the current members of the family. As the author writes at the end of the book, ‘Whatever is not preserved in some form or other is lost forever. Yet it is from such strands of family history that we can thread together again the faded fabric of past societies.’”
György Szapáry, former ambassador of Hungary to the United States.
The background of the new publication is a thrilling museum event, a generous gift by Gladys and Paul Szápáry. In 2017 they donated a number of outstanding family relics, artworks, photographs and documents related to Hungary to the Hungarian National Museum. Studying the legacy, many interesting family stories came to light. The book is illustrated with more than a hundred and fifty beautiful photos, and they bring to life a barely known part of three centuries of Hungarian history.*
*In order to respect historical tradition and take into account the use of names by individual family members, this volume preserves the duality in the spelling of the familyname of Szapáry (Szápáry).
