Ilona Edelsheim-Gyulai

Ilona Edelsheim-Gyulai
Born	(1918-01-14)14 January 1918 Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died	18 April 2013(2013-04-18) (aged 95) Lewes, East Sussex, England
Spouse(s)	István Horthy (1940–1942) John Bowden (1954–2002)
Children	István Jr.
Parent(s)	Lipót Edelsheim-Gyulai Gabriella Pejacsevich

The native form of this personal name is marosnémethi és nádaskai grófnő Edelsheim-Gyulai Ilona. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Countess Ilona Edelsheim-Gyulai de Marosnémethi et Nádaska (14 January 1918 – 18 April 2013) was a Hungarian noblewoman and wife of István Horthy, son of Regent Miklós Horthy and Deputy Regent of Hungary for a short time in 1942.

Biography

She was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, the third daughter of Count Lipót Edelsheim-Gyulai and Gabriella Pejacsevich (Croatian: Gabriela Pejačević). She spent her childhood in Felsőelefánt (today: Horné Lefantovce, Slovakia), the family's estate in the former Upper Hungary, though during her early life it was part of Czechoslovakia. She married István Horthy in April 1940. Their only son, István Horthy Jr. was born in 1941. Her husband died in an unexplained airplane crash over the Eastern Front in August 1942. In 1954 she married Colonel John Wallace Guy Bowden of the Queen's Own Hussars; during the early 1960s they lived in Baghdad, Iraq, where Bowden was a British military attaché, and in the mid 60's they moved to Portugal. Bowden died in 2002.

She worked as a nurse for the Red Cross during World War II. She also had a role in rescuing Jews. After the unsuccessful desertion attempts and Operation Panzerfaust, she emigrated with her father-in-law, the Regent. She wrote her memoir with the title of Becsület és kötelesség ("Honor and Duty"). She lived in England until her death in Lewes, East Sussex, aged 95.

References

• Horthy Istvánné gróf Edelsheim-Gyulai Ilona a kiralyihagyomanyőrzők honlapján (in Hungarian)
• Marek, Miroslav. "Edelsheim-Gyulai Ilona családfája". Genealogy.EU. (in Hungarian)
• Edelsheim-Gyulai Ilona Becsület és kötelesség című könyvének ismertetője. (in Hungarian)
• Az „irigyelt házasság, majd a hontalanság" című cikk a História honlapján. (in Hungarian)