The picture of a glittering socialite, she was greeted by the press—and by the FBI. Stephanie’s wit and charm endeared her to nearly everyone she met—everyone, that is, except Allied intelligence. They thought Adolf Hitler’s own “dear Princess” was a devious “gold digger,” a blackmailer, and an amoral Nazi agent. But getting her out of the country, well, that would be tough. PRINCESS PARTIER SCHMOOZER SPY Born into a middle-class family in Vienna in 1891, Stephanie clawed her way into the aristocracy armed with little more than a fine profile, an ability to flirt, and a useful manipulative streak. In 1914 she married an Austro-Hungarian prince, despite being two months pregnant with another man’s child. Though they divorced in 1920, Stephanie kept her title and, more important, her connections to more than half the royal houses of Europe. It didn’t take long for her to realize the value of her high-society contacts. She’d always had a taste for luxury (this was the woman who had brought her servants and a bathtub to the front lines while serving as a nurse in World War I), so when the cash ran out, she took to selling the only assets she had left: introductions and connections.
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