Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza

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Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza
Born April 13, 1921(1921-04-13)
Scheveningen, Netherlands
Died April 26, 2002(2002-04-26) (aged 81)
Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain
Spouse Princess Teresa of Lippe-Weissenfeld (m.1946, div.1954)
Nina Sheila Dyer (m.1954, div.1956)
Fiona Campbell-Walter (m.1956, div.1965)
Denise Shorto (m.1967, div.1984)
Carmen Cervera (b.1985, wil.2002)
Children Georg Heinrich Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza (b.1950)
Archduchess Francesca of Austria (b.1958)
Lorne Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza (b.1963)
Alexander Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza (b.1974)
Parents Heinrich Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva
Margit Freiin Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva

Hans Henrik (Hans Heinrich "Heini") Ágost Gábor Tasso Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (13 April 1921 – 26 April 2002), a noted industrialist and art collector, was a Dutch-born Swiss citizen with a(n) (Austrian-)Hungarian title, a legal resident of Monaco for tax purposes, with a declared second residency in the United Kingdom, but in actuality a long-time resident of Spain, and son of a German father and a Hungarian and English American mother (related to Daniel M. Frost and John Kerry).[1] His fifth and last wife, Carmen "Tita" Cervera, is a former Miss Spain.

Contents

[edit] Origins

He was born in Scheveningen, The Hague, Netherlands, the son of Heinrich Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (1875–1947) and his first wife, Margit Freiin Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (1887–1971). The Thyssen family's fortune was built upon a steel and armaments empire: Heinrich Thyssen had abandoned Germany as a young man and settled in Hungary in 1905. In Budapest, Heinrich married the daughter of the King's chamberlain, who, having no sons of his own, adopted Heinrich and passed on his barony to him. The passing along of the title has raised numerous questions over whether Heinrich Thyssen could actually call himself Baron at all.

[edit] Career

With his father's death, Hans Heinrich inherited a business empire that included naval construction and oil, and a major art collection with hundreds of paintings of European masters from between the 14th and the 19th century. He was also an avid horse lover. From then on his business were limited to art. Fifteen years after his father's death he bought his first piece, a watercolor painting by Emil Nolde dated from between 1931 and 1935, starting the entry of 20th century's paintings in the collection, including Edgar Degas, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. His preference however went to German Expressionism, and he soon became a real expert in painting.

[edit] First marriage and issue

He married firstly at Lugano-Castagnola, 1 August 1946, Austrian aristocrat Teresa (Theresia) Amalia Franziska Elisabeth Maria Lippe-Weissenfeld (Wien, 21 July 1925 – 16 July 2008). They divorced on 14 May 1954, and she married secondly civilly at Kloten bei Zürich, 9 April 1960 Friedrich Maximilian Egon Hubertus Joseph Maria Karl Anna Fürstenberg (Schloss Wechselburg, 26 July 1926 – Wien, 2 November 1969), by whom she had issue. Their only son was:

  • Georg Heinrich Alfred Gábor Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (b. Lugano-Castagnola, 19 March 1950), who had one son by Catharina Eleonore Meran Brandhofen (b. Klagenfurt, 20 January 1967)[2] daughter of Maximilian Joseph Otto Johannes Graf von Meran Freiherr von Brandhofen (b. Csákberény, 20 April 1930) and wife (m. Wien, 16 September 1961) Colienne Ida Franziska Kathleen Eleonore Maria Prinzessin zu Schwarzenberg (b. Berlin, 16 February 1937):
    • Simon Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (b. Wien, 1 December 2001)

[edit] Second marriage

He married secondly at Colombo, Ceylon or Paris, 23 June 1954, Anglo-Indian fashion model Nina Sheila Dyer (London or Sri Lanka, 15 February 1930 – Paris, 3 July 1965), a rich heiress with properties in Ceylon; they had no children and divorced on 4 July 1956, by which settlement she got a château in France. She later married and divorced Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan and committed suicide in 1965.

[edit] Third marriage and issue

He married thirdly at Lugano-Castagnola on 17 September 1956 New Zealand-born British photographic and fashion model Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter (b. Takapuna, Auckland Region, New Zealand, 25 June 1932). They divorced on 20 January 1965, and she went on to have a well-publicized relationship with Greek shipping heir Alexander Onassis, the only son of Aristotle Onassis. She was a daughter of Rear Admiral Keith McNeill Walter (later Campbell-Walter) (Hazaribagh, British Raj, 31 August 1904 – 24 April 1976) and wife (m. 16 December 1930), Frances Henriette Campbell (Semarang, Java, Dutch East Indies, 30 November 1904 – ?), paternal granddaughter of Alexander McNeill Walter, of Hazaribagh, India, Zamindari Manager (Calcutta, British Raj, 12 May 1875 – Hazaribagh, British Raj, 12 February 1936), and wife Florence Ruth Gisella Downing (Purnesh, Bengal, British Raj, 5 October 1879 – Holloway Sanatorium, Egham, Surrey, 8 April 1976), and maternal granddaughter of Sir Edward Taswell Campbell, 1st Baronet, and wife Edith Jane Warren. Their children were:

[edit] Fourth marriage and issue

He married fourthly at Lugano-Castagnola, 13 December 1967, Liane Denise Shorto (b. Garça, São Paulo, São Paulo, 23 December 1942), a Brazilian banker's daughter, divorced in 29 November 1984. They had one son:

  • Wilfried Alexander August Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (b. Zurich, 20 November 1974), unmarried and without issue

The prolonged matrimonial dispute between the Baron and his fourth wife was reported as Thyssen-Bornemisza v Thyssen-Bornemisza[1985] FLR 670.

[edit] Fifth marriage

He married, lastly, fifthly at Daylesford, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on 16 August 1985, the beautiful María del Carmen Rosario Soledad Cervera y Fernández de la Guerra, popularly known as Carmen "Tita" Cervera, (b. Sitges, Barcelona, 23 April 1943), who was Miss Spain in 1961, daughter of N Cervera y N and wife María del Carmen Fernández de la Guerra (d. Madrid, 22 February 1992), without issue. Hans Heinrich adopted her son, Alejandro Borja Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva (b. Madrid, 1980, son of Manuel Segura), who married at Terrassa, Barcelona, 11 October 2007 Blanca Cuesta and had a child Sacha Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva on 31 January 2008. His widow has also adopted two baby girls, twins, called Guadalupe Sabina and María del Carmen in July 2006.

[edit] Assets dispute

As part of an attempt to dissolve a trust and thereby gain control of her third husband's assets, she (Tita) cast doubt on the paternity of Baron Georg Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, alleging that his father was actually Count Iván Batthyány de Német-Ujvár, the husband of Thyssen's sister, Margit Batthyány. However, a settlement was reached between the parties before the Baron's death, which brought to a "peaceable" conclusion the wrangling over control of the vast Thyssen art collection, which will remain in Spain, for what he was the founder of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

[edit] Death

Hans Heinrich died in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Catalonia, Spain. He is buried in the family burial vault of Landsberg Palace in the Ruhr valley near Essen, Germany.

[edit] Ancestry

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Ancestors of Senator John Forbes Kerry (b. 1943)
  2. ^ Former wife (m. Klagenfurt, 17 June 1989, div.) of Alexander Kahane (b. Wien, 1 May 1955), an Austrian businessman of Jewish ancestry, by whom she had a son and a daughter Ludwig Kahane (b. Wien, 13 October 1991) and Alice Kahane (b. Wien, 1 July 1993).

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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