Magdolna Purgly

Magdolna Purgly de Jószáshely (born 10 June 1881 in Sofronya, Kingdom of Hungary; died 8 January 1959 in Estoril, Portugal) was the wife of Admiral Miklós Horthy.

She was born to a rural landowning family in Transylvania in 1881. Her attitude, especially her behavior to the other sex, was very restrained. Purgly spent the first two decades of her life in accordance with accepted convention for a woman from the gentry.

Purgly and Horthy, who was 13 years her senior, met thanks to chance. Not only did the uniform made Miklós Horthy an arresting man - he traveled all around the world, and had an ability to tell stories about distant lands colorfully. The attraction was mutual, and Horthy felt he had found someone valuable.

They were married on 22 July 1901 at Arad. Miklós and Magdolna spent their honeymoon in Semmering, Austria. After this, Mrs. Horthy lived the life of an officer's wife, accompanying her husband on his official voyages.

Between 1901 and 1908, Horthy was stationed in Pula. Their children were born there: Magdolna (1902), Paula (1903), István (1904) and Miklós (1907). Afterwards, in 1908-1909, Horthy became the commandant of the Taurus, so they moved to the location of the cruiser: Istanbul. The family owned a villa on the banks of the Bosporus. Subsequently, they lived in Vienna for five years.

Mrs. Horthy and her children spent the war years in Pula. She met with her husband very rarely. By 1917-1918, it was clearly visible that a chaotic time was coming for the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Magdolna gleaned information about Horthy's appointment to rear-admiral only from mutual acquaintances. When the Monarchy collapsed, Magdolna and the four children were forced to leave Pula since it had been taken over by Yugoslavia. With her family's lands in Arad having been lost to Romania, Magdolna and her children temporarily moved to Vienna. There Miklós Horthy rejoined his family, and they travelled to Horthy's hometown of Kenderes.

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