Lichnowsky, Mechthilde (1879–1958)

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Lichnowsky, Mechthilde (1879–1958)

German playwright, essayist and travel writer. Name variations: Mechtild, countess von Arco; Mechtild Peto. Born Mar 8, 1879, in Schönburg, Germany; died 1958 in London, England; dau. of Maximilian, count von Arco, and Olga von Werther; great granddau. of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria; m. Karl Max Lichnowsky, 1904; m. Major Ralph Harding Peto, 1937; children: (1st m.) Wilhelm, Leonore, and Michael Lichnowsky.

Traveled widely in Europe and Egypt and recorded impressions; also wrote of decline of aristocrat European culture and had contempt for Nazism; works include Götter, Könige und Tiere in Ägypten (1913) and Gespräche in Sybaris (1946).

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