I am surprised myself not to have introduced Princess Trautson earlier, despite her being one of the central figures of the narrative since its very first page. It is high time to correct that unfortunate omission.
Karolina Magdalena, Freiin Hager von Altensteig, was born in 1701, and was therefore fifty-six years old at the time of the narrative. As a young maid of honour, she gained the trust of Empress Elisabeth Christine, who appointed her governess to her eldest daughter, Maria Theresa — who, in turn, years later entrusted her with the same position for her own eldest daughter, Marianne, the protagonist. Karolina Magdalena remained unmarried until her mid-forties, when she married the twice-widowed Prince Trautson. She never had children of her own.
Princess Trautson must have had an amiable personality. In the unanimous accounts of contemporaries, she appears as a sensible, open-minded and warm-hearted lady — kind, cheerful, and understanding. For Marianne, in whose service she remained from 1746 to 1763, she became virtually a substitute mother. Emotionally close and deeply trusted, she was precisely the right person to answer Marianne’s delicate inquiry.
Since no confirmed portrait of Princess Trautson has survived, Goldegg Castle, her private residence near Sankt Pölten in Lower Austria, is shown illustratively in her stead.
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