Dionys Széchényi
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(as Charge d'Affaires)
(as Charge d'Affaires)
1 December 1866
Dionys Széchenyi | |
|---|---|
| Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Denmark | |
| In office 1908–1917 | |
| Preceded by | Iván von Rubido-Zichy (as Charge d'Affaires) |
| Succeeded by | Otto von Franz (as Charge d'Affaires) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Dénes Széchenyi de Sárvár-felsővidék 1 December 1866 |
| Died | 26 January 1934 (aged 67) |
| Spouse |
Emilie de Caraman et Chimay
(m. 1896; died 1934) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Imre Széchényi Alexandra Sztáray |
Count Dénes "Dionys" Széchenyi de Sárvár-felsővidék (1 December 1866 – 26 January 1934), was an Austro Hungarian soldier and diplomat.
Széchenyi was born on 1 December 1866 in Pest, Kingdom of Hungary. Born into a prominent Hungarian noble family, he was the eldest son of Count Imre Széchenyi de Sárvár-felsővidék (1825–1898), the former Austrian Minister at the Court of Berlin and his wife, Countess Alexandra Sztáray de Sztára et Nagy-Mihály (1843–1914).[1] The Széchényi family were one of the oldest and wealthiest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[2] His younger brothers were Count Peter Széchenyi (who married Maria Ilona Esterházy de Galántha),[3] Count István Széchenyi, and Count László Széchenyi (who married American heiress Gladys Vanderbilt).[4]
His paternal grandparents were Count Ludwig "Lajos" Maria Aloys Széchenyi (eldest son of Count Ferenc Széchényi) and, his second wife, Austrian Countess Francisca (née von Wurmbrand-Stuppach) Széchenyi.[5] His maternal grandparents were Count Ferdinánd Sztáray de Sztára et Nagy-Mihály, and Matilda Klobusiczky.[6]
Career
Széchényi and his three brothers were all Reserve Lieutenants in the Imperial and Royal Hussars as well as Chamberlains at the Court.[7] His father owned thousands of acres divided into scores of farms and forest preserves on which the Széchenyis grew wheat, Turkish pepper, tobacco, hemp, and grapes.[8] In 1898, upon the death of his father, he became the head of the Széchényi family.[9]
Like his father, he became a diplomat.[10] After serving in Paris, and as Secretary to the Legation in Dresden and Munich, he was appointed the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Denmark in 1908 succeeded Christoph von Wydenbruck, who left in 1907. The interim head of mission was Charge d'Affaires Iván von Rubido-Zichy.[11] He served until 1917, until he was called back on account of his Entente sympathies.[12] After he left Copenhagen, he returned to his estates in Hungary where the Hungarian Republic was established in 1918 by pacifist Count Mihály Károlyi following the end of World War I and the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Széchényi, however, was forced to flee fourteen months later after the establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, a Soviet socialist republic run by the Red Guards under the command of Mátyás Rákosi who nationalized all private property.[13]
