Ah, Those Europeans

Not every teenage wedding is scandalous. The most notable one that was scandalous in modern times was the rock n' roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 13 year-old cousin when he was 22. The extremely young age of the bride and the family relationship did more than stun America and the world, and just about sunk Jerry's career.

Thursday's NYT carries the six column obit of Ira von Fürstenberg who has passed away at 83, You might expect to then read a story of a Teutonic playboy and or billionaire, but no. Ira was born Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galinda von und zu Fürstenberg in Rome in 1940. Her obit headline tells us she was an "actress, artist and globe-trotter," which is code for extremely wealthy. The obit doesn't disclose how she came to be known as Ira.

I never knew of anyone who was a "von und zu." Google to the rescue tells us the words von und zu are nobility particles meaning of and at, denoting the family's place of origin and the family's continued possession of the estate. Make that filthy rich. 

The rich comes from being an heir to the Fiat fortune. Ira's mother was a granddaughter of Giovanni Agnelli and a sister of the "dashing" Fiat chief, Gianni Agnelli. The obit writer Alex Williams tells us Ira's home in Paris was fitted with solid gold bath taps because as Ira put it, "everybody needs to see something beautiful in the morning to have a good day." And that's before looking in the mirror.

Ira had homes in Rome, London, Paris, Madrid and on Lake Geneva and went back and forth by jet so often she felt her children would believe she was a flight attendant." Think of all the toothbrushes the woman had to have.

And if the name Fürstenberg sounds familiar it is because fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg married Ira's fashion designer brother, Egon, in 1969 before she married Barry Diller. Ah, all those vons.

What puts Ira in the Jerry Lee Lewis-like spotlight is that she was married at 15! to a Spanish-born prince and playboy (what else?) Alfonso Hohenlohe-Landenburg, known "affectionately as the King of Clubs for his work founding the Marbella Club, a haven for stars and socialites on Spain's Costa del Sol." What happens at the Marbella Club stays at the Marbella club. Prince Alfonso is straight out of central casting for oily looking princes.

Their wedding however was not luridly sensational as Jerry Lee's. Life magazine coved it on their cover in 1955 as "the wedding of the year." A special dispensation from Pope Pius XII likely kept the marriage from being considered statutory rape. But never mind that.

If George Clooney thinks he made a splash marrying Amal Alamuddin, the international human-rights lawyer in 2014 by tooling down the Grand Canal in Venice and having his reception at the Aman Canal Grande Hotel, then he knows nothing of Ira and Alfonso floating down the canals of Venice with a flotilla of 100 gondolas and having a celebration that lasted two weeks attended by 400 European aristocrats.

George and Amal needed no special dispensation from clergy. George is 17 years older than the stunning Amal, but both are full-fledged adults.

So, how did Prince Alfonso and Ira make out? Well, about as well you might expect. In 1960 Ira took up with Francisco Pignatari, a.k.a. Baby, a Brazilian industrialist and notorious playboy (what else?). They married in Reno in 1961 (not a good sign for longevity in a marriage) and divorced three years later.

On a flight in 1966 she met the film producer Dino De Laurentis who put her in pictures, nothing highly notable, but 20 films is enough to be able to claim you are an actress.

With her closets full of designer clothes Ira never stopped presenting herself in a manner befitting a princess. She said her father always told her, "One must cover oneself."

That and start the day with solid gold bath taps, and you make it to 83 with no regrets.

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