HOW MUCH IS THAT BUNNY IN THE WINDOW?
Born in Budapest, her full name was Countess Maria Anna Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgiana Helena Genoveva Esterhazy. She was always known as ‘Bunny’.
Her father was Count Tamas Esterhazy (always known as Tommy), equerry to the Hungarian royal family. He spent much of his life big game hunting in Africa.
Bunny’s mother was Etti Von Wumbrand-Stuppach.
Tommy was her mother’s third husband. Her second marriage had ended when her then partner ran off with socialite and beauty Louise de Vilmoran.
Bunny was just a year old when the Second World war broke out. She was smuggled out of Hungary under a pile of coats.
Her father’s estates were confiscated by the Russians at the end of the war.
Bunny’s mother did not look after her. “We had one daughter…Of course I did not look after Bunny myself when she was little. We had lovely English nurses to do that.”
One nurse was chosen solely because she had been the nanny to the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret of Great Britain.
This nanny insisted Bunny be allowed her pet dog in the nursery for comfort.
The dog was eventually ‘confiscated’ when her father realised it was actually a wolf.
As a child, Bunny was given her own pet deer. For a present. she was also given her own carriage.
Bunny was usually ‘farmed out’ to stay with friends so that her mother could continue with her social life.
In her autobiography, Etti admitted, “I know that I was neither a good nor attentive mother.”
Bunny’s parents’ marriage ended when Tommy ran off with Louise de Vimoran. Etti had now lost two husbands to the same woman.
Etti went on to have a total of six husbands before she was forty years old.
As a teenager, Bunny lived with her mother in Switzerland, Italy, Detroit in the USA and then Chile.
Etti married her sixth shady businessman, Arpad Plesch. The family lived in a plush house on the Avenue Foch in Paris.
At various times, their house guests were Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Elizabeth Taylor, Graham Sutherland, Paul Getty, Orson Wells and Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
In 1956, Bunny’s mother and stepfather held a ‘Coming Out Ball’ for her at Claridges in London. On the menu was caviar, beef wellington and pineapple sorbet – all largely unheard of in post-war Britain.
Although Bunny was just seventeen, she was already great friends with the Aga Khan, who was a bit older than her and her mother had great hopes of an engagement.
Six hundred people attended the ball, including Princess Margaret. It was the social event of the year and continued all night, spilling out into a ‘moonlit garden’. It was the talk of all the papers.
An engagement came out of the party, but, unexpectedly, to another man – the Honourable George Esmond Dominic Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, the fifth son of the Earl of Minto. He preferred to be called Dominic Elliot.
Bunny’s mother and step-father were obsessed with horse racing. Her mother owned the 1961 Derby winner, ‘Psidium’.
Her mother also won the 1980 Derby as the owner of ‘Henbit’.
Etti remains the only female owner to have won the Derby twice.
Bunny married Dominic in 1962, at a church in Chelsea. The reception was held at Lord Astor’s home.
Queen Elizabeth 2nd, Princess Margaret and Earl Snowdon attended the wedding in Chelsea.
Bunny’s wedding cake had a sugar rabbit (a bunny) on top.
Bunny and Dominic had two sons: Alexander and Esmond.
It was not a happy marriage, both partners having numerous affairs – and it ended in 1972.
After that, Bunny declared that she was dedicating the rest of her life to partying and horse racing – which is exactly what she did.
She owned many racehorses and won at Ascot twice and also the Selsey Stakes at Goodwood.
Bunny had a house in Belgravia and a large mansion in East Sussex.
She collected jewellery and artworks, and also bunny-themed porcelain.
Bunny had many love affairs, but once claimed she would never date a man who didn’t have a double-barrelled surname.
Her son, Alexander, predeceased her.
Bunny died at home aged eighty-two.
RIP – Rich, Indolent Party-goer
