Anna Aloysia Maximiliane von Lamberg

Anna Aloysia Maximiliane von Lamberg

Anna Aloysia Maximiliane Louise von Lamberg (died 28 June 1738) was an Austrian countess who was successively the mistress of Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland, and Aleksander Benedykt Sobieski. She is known to history as Countess Esterle.

Early life

Countess Maximiliane of Lamberg was the only daughter of an Austrian nobleman Kaspar Friedrich Count von Lamberg-Kunstadt (1648-1686) by his first wife, Countess Marie Františka Terezie Hýzrlová z Chodů, a Bohemian noblewoman.

Court life

In 1695, she married firstly Graf Franz Michael Hiserle (Esterle) von Chodau (Czech: Hýzrle z Chodů) (1649-1709). She became the mistress of Augustus II the Strong in either 1696, with the affair lasting until 1699, or 1704 (the latter date favoured by the author of Sex with Kings).

Her first husband divorced her in 1697, and, in 1698, she married Count Gustav Hanibal von Oppersdorff (Oppersdorf) (died 1744). On 1 November 1698, she gave birth to a son, Count von Oppersdorf, whose father was supposedly Augustus II. The child died soon after birth. Her relationship with Augustus II ended when the "playboy king" discovered that Maximiliane had been having affairs with several gentlemen at court; she was given 24 hours to leave the country.

Later, in Wrocław, she became the mistress of Aleksander Benedykt Sobieski, who had been Augustus's rival in the 1697 election for the Polish throne. She died on 28 June 1738 in Wrocław. Her husband, Graf von Oppersdorff (Oppersdorf), died on 29 December 1744 in Kostelec nad Orlicí.

References

See also: Lamberg and Kunstadt