Marie Fox

Princess Marie "Mary" Henriette Adélaïde of Liechtenstein (21 December 1850 – 26 December 1878) was a French-born English writer. A foundling of unknown paternity, she was adopted by the childless English nobleman Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland (1802–1859) and his wife, and eventually married into the Princely House of Liechtenstein. Background Marie was born in Paris (though some sources wrongly say she was born in Florence) on 21 December 1850 (though some sources wrongly say she was born in January 1851). Her mother's name was given as Frenchwoman Victoire Magny of Soissons, but the identity of her father was unspecified. She was baptised at the Church of St. Augustine as Marie Henriette Adélaïde. In April 1851, aged three months, Marie was found by a physician called Dr. Séguin, who arranged for her to be adopted by the childless English aristocrat Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland (1802-1859), of Holland House in Kensington, near London, and his wife Lady Mary Augusta Coventry (1812-1889), a daughter of George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry. Lord and Lady Holland had no surviving children of their own, having suffered two stillbirths and one short-lived infant. Lady Holland was by then in her late thirties and Lord Holland insisted on adopting the girl. Her biological paternity remains a mystery; one rumour had it that she was her adoptive father's natural daughter born by his servant.