The granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller moved to Zurich with her parents in 1913. Her love for a riding instructor became a scandal

Max Oser, owner of the St. Jakob Riding School in Zurich, trains young riders. Then the 45-year-old bachelor unexpectedly encounters great fortune in the form of a dollar princess. Mathilde McCormick Rockefeller, the granddaughter of the richest men in the world at the time, and Oser fall in love. It is the beginning of a fairytale. The only hitch in the story: The princess is just 16 years old at the time.

The fact that Mathilde's parents, the billionaire couple Harold Fowler McCormick and Edith, née Rockefeller, settled on the Limmat River in 1913 was thanks to the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung, who had become famous at the time for his analytical psychology, first treated the depression-stricken descendant of the long-established McCormick dynasty in 1908.

Harold McCormick, Vice President of International Harvester Company (IHC) and responsible for foreign business, comes to Zurich this year to establish a branch of the family business and hears about Professor Jung, who has been a senior physician at the Burghölzli Insane Asylum for three years. He and his wife Edith—two of America's richest children who had found each other happily—are in a poor mental state after losing their first two children within a few years. Edith later gives birth to three healthy children.

Edith Rockefeller was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1872, the daughter of John D. Rockefeller, founder and owner of the Standard Oil Company. She demonstrated artistic and intellectual inclinations from an early age, playing the cello, learning several languages, and passionately reading scientific books on a wide variety of topics. The intelligent yet stubborn girl evidently prepared herself early on to defy her intimidating father, who was characterized by strict morals and religious principles. However, Edith also showed signs of psychotic and neurotic disorders during her adolescence.

While she appears self-confident on the outside, she is withdrawn on the inside. After her marriage, she initially immerses herself entirely in her role as a mother, proclaiming that a woman finds her greatest glory in her role as a mother ("In the capacity of mother woman finds her greatest glory"). Later in Zurich, when she immerses herself in Jung's analytical psychology, she will say that motherhood is important, but not everything. In addition to being a mother, Edith, much to her father's dismay, spends money lavishly. Soon, she is known throughout the city as a hostess and patron of the arts.

Harold, the heir to a family business that dominated the global market with its agricultural machinery, would today be described as a sports-obsessed workaholic. He was in the office from the early hours of the morning so that he could devote the afternoons to his hobby, sports. As a tennis player, he won trophies across America; as a passionate horseman and airplane pilot—he survived two crashes—the sociable and likeable American was well-liked by everyone. Harold was a naturally extroverted type, to use a term coined by Jung. His excessive activism sometimes helped him mask his depression.

The encounter with the charismatic Carl Jung became a turning point in the lives of Edith and Harold McCormick. When Jung traveled to Massachusetts with Sigmund Freud in 1909 for a conference where he presented his latest insights into depth psychology, Edith also began to study Jung's teachings.

When Jung returned to the United States three years later with his young wife Emma, this time for a longer period, Edith was determined to meet him personally. She was immediately completely captivated by Jung. For two weeks, she visited him daily for analysis sessions. Afterward, she offered him permanent residence in New York and covered his expenses. She even took Jung to her parents' country estate and introduced him to her famous father.

Since Emma Jung apparently didn't want to stay in America, Edith, now severely plagued by depression and phobias, decided to move to Zurich with her family to be closer to Jung. This was despite the fact that the multimillion-dollar summer residence "Turicum" had just been completed at Lake Forest, one of the most magnificent summer houses in America at the time. The magnificent residence, whose name was likely primarily a reference to Jung's place of work, stood empty for the next eight years while the family lived in Zurich.

In 1913, the family of five crossed the Atlantic with a huge amount of luggage. That Edith, who was prone to phobia, wasn't deterred by the long crossing is all the more surprising, given that the Titanic had sunk the previous year on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, killing approximately 1,500 people. In Zurich, the family moved into a luxury suite at the Hotel Baur au Lac. Official registration wasn't completed until April 1914; the city's resident registration card discreetly lists their address as "Thalstrasse 1, bei Kracht."

Since its opening, illustrious guests have passed through the doors of this first-class address. The stately furnishings, the winter garden with flower-filled stained-glass windows, and the newly opened pavilion with a restaurant in the hotel park seem fitting for the wealthy guests from Chicago. The fact that the charming Austrian hotel owner Karl Kracht and later his son Hermann personally looked after their guests, with liveried waiters running ahead of her and opening the doors, must have pleased Edith McCormick, with her penchant for the extravagant. Conversely, the hotel, which suffered from the lack of tourists due to the war, must have been pleased to welcome the wealthy regular guests from Chicago. Edith resided at the "Baur au Lac" for a total of eight years, from 1913 to 1921.

Soon after the McCormicks Rockefellers arrived in Zurich, all family members were undergoing psychoanalysis with Jung. Muriel and Mathilde, then 11 and 8 years old, attended a private school, although Muriel had to spend more than a year in a sanatorium in Davos because of her lung disease. 17-year-old Harold Jr. soon returned to America. Eventually, the two daughters were sent to a private institute in Lausanne to learn French and to study music, literature, and drama.

15-year-old Mathilde will cause plenty of drama herself when she announces that she wants to marry her riding instructor, who is three times her age.

Edith soon became one of the so-called "virgins," as the female followers who surrounded Jung like an aura were mockingly called. She visited her therapist daily for a session. Jung soon diagnosed her with "latent schizophrenia."

Edith explored Jung's various artistic and humanistic techniques, such as dream analysis, active imagination, and the use of art and symbolic imagery, which he employed to explore the unconscious and promote psychological development. Jung credited the American with "a great deal of psychological knowledge." Over time, she assisted him in his therapy sessions and eventually began hosting séances for women, men, and especially young people in her luxury suite at the "Baur au Lac." By 1915, she claimed to be caring for around fifty analysands. She wrote enthusiastically to her father that her clients recounted around 12,000 dreams to her each year.

Old Rockefeller, however, is less than enthusiastic. When his daughter urgently recommends that he undergo psychoanalysis, he firmly rejects the idea. The oil king apparently has no desire to delve into the depths of his psyche.

Naturally, the wealthy Edith also supported Jung's research financially. In 1916, for example, she rented exclusive premises for the "Psychological Club" founded by Jung and his followers, first on Löwenstrasse, then on Gemeindestrasse in Hottingen. She also paid for the translation of Jung's work "The Psychology of the Unconscious," among other things.

Edith appears less and less in public in Zurich, leaving the "Baur au Lac" practically only to visit Jung's club. Nevertheless, she comes into contact with many researchers and artists, including James Joyce, whom she supports generously for a time until he rejects her invitation to be analyzed by Jung at her expense. Offended, Edith stops the payments.

Harold McCormick also seems to have settled in quickly and well in Zurich. At the Zurich branch, which has since relocated to Hohlstrasse 100, he fulfills his company obligations. But he also enjoys his free time. Harold McCormick and Jung soon become close friends, meeting for lavish lunches and dinners, taking Harold's car for drives through the countryside, and going on long hikes in the Alps.

The wealthy entrepreneur, who apparently also possesses literary skills, writes a book with proposals for peace negotiations in light of the protracted world war, which also causes great damage to his family business. Even US President Woodrow Wilson takes notice.

Harold also regularly made the long sea passage to America until May 1915, when the German Navy sank the British passenger ship "Lusitania" with almost 1,200 passengers. From this point on, Harold traveled across the ocean much less frequently. He spent more time in Chicago, and in May 1918, he settled there permanently, as his aging father urged his son to focus more on the company.

Up to this point, everything seems to be going well for the McCormick Rockefeller family. The daughters are well cared for at the boarding school in Lausanne. Their mother, Edith, busy with her clients, doesn't have to worry about the girls, even when they visit Zurich during the school holidays. They still love spending their days at Max Oser's riding stables in Aussersihl. Grooming horses, watching the trainers train, going for rides: What could be more enjoyable for young girls?

Major Max Oser's St. Jakob Riding Stables are well known in Zurich. In 1913, coincidentally the same year the McCormicks settled in Zurich, Oser purchased the "first and only" riding school on Müllerstrasse, in the immediate vicinity of the military barracks. He had previously taught many young American women and girls equestrian skills at a riding school in Lucerne. He also worked as an artist.

Business is going well for the 45-year-old cavalry officer and "university riding instructor," a title awarded to private stable owners until the 19th century. Riding was a popular pastime among the wealthy, especially women, at the time, and the McCormick daughters also enjoyed it. The two girls, who speak Zurich dialect, are well known in Müllerstrasse, and their modest demeanor makes them universally popular.

They are especially beloved by the children of the poor urban neighborhood, who enjoy spending time at the stables during school holidays and delight in the sweets that Mathilde and Muriel generously distribute. Behind closed doors, they are called "the Dollar Princesses."

From 1920 onwards – Muriel, who had already reached adulthood, had already returned to America – 15-year-old Mathilde could be seen riding with her riding instructor in the Zurich area practically every day. She was tall, dark-haired, and had large black eyes: "Pleasant, if irregular, features," the New York Times described her appearance. Oser, the paper noted, looked younger than his age, was of medium build, strongly built, appeared healthy, and, with his military moustache, had a well-groomed, somewhat dandy appearance. In Zurich, people waved to the two of them during their rides; no one seemed to think anything of it.

When Mathilde reveals to her mother one day that she intends to marry her riding instructor, Max, her mother is convinced that Oser is only after her daughter's money. She does everything she can to prevent the planned engagement. She threatens Mathilde that, because of the large age difference, she risks giving birth to mentally disabled children. She implores Harold and her father to suspend all payments to Mathilde in order to convince her daughter to come to her senses and Oser to abandon his intention to marry her.

Above all, however, she leaves her Zurich nest at the "Baur au Lac" and Jung's "Psychological Club" with a heavy heart and travels to America with her recalcitrant daughter, hoping to bring her to safety from Oser. This measure proves to be just as ineffective as the lawsuit she files, insisting on Mathilde's minor status.

As if that weren't enough, Edith has also learned about her husband's affair with a Polish opera singer fifteen years her junior, which the press has been gleefully reporting on. Harold wants to marry his young lover, and Edith and Harold are getting divorced after 26 years of marriage and a bitter separation battle.

Amazingly, Harold's father had no objections to his underage daughter's marriage from the very beginning. For one thing, there was also a 26-year age difference between his parents. For another, he was presumably busy enough with his new love. He has also now enlisted the support of Grandfather Rockefeller, who had always pampered the three McCormick children. While he initially took offense at his granddaughter's love affair, this was more due to his chronic fear that everyone was after his money. Ultimately, he only stipulated that Mathilde wait until she turned 18 to marry, and that Oser apply for American citizenship.

With Rockefeller's consent, Harold McCormick announced his youngest daughter's engagement in February 1922. He and Mathilde then embarked once more in New York to deliver the good news to the groom in Zurich. Mathilde announced to journalists her intention to remain in Switzerland until the wedding, where she would continue riding, hiking, knitting, playing the piano, reading, and being close to Max Oser. Oser, for his part, insisted he was marrying Mathilde out of pure love. He himself had enough money to lead a modest life with Mathilde. It wouldn't be quite that modest; the couple would reside only in select properties from now on.

The news of one of America's richest women's intention to marry a Swiss riding instructor spread like wildfire in the American press. The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune featured the news in headlines, teasing whether a double wedding for father and daughter McCormick would soon take place.

In Switzerland, the press has been surprisingly quiet. Of the major daily newspapers, only the "Zürcher Nachrichten" and the Bern-based "Bund" have reported on the news. The Social Democratic "Grütlianer" has a laconic headline: "A young billionaire heiress marries an 'old' Swiss." The NZZ confines itself to reporting Oser's sale of the St. Jakob riding school and his move to Basel.

Mathilde and Max Oser finally married quietly in London on April 23, 1923, to escape the American journalists who were pursuing them. Mathilde had waited until her 18th birthday. After an extensive honeymoon in England, the newlyweds initially settled in various locations in Switzerland until they finally purchased a "magnificent" villa in Morges on Lake Geneva, as the New York Times reported. Two years later, Mathilde gave birth to a healthy daughter and then a son, contrary to her mother's dire predictions.

In December 1929, the family of four traveled to America for the first time to celebrate Christmas with the extended family at John D. Rockefeller's Florida estate. Their blissful family life on Lake Geneva ended in 1942. Max Oser died of heart failure at the age of 65, prompting Mathilde to move to Los Angeles with her two children and send them to study at the elite Pomona College. She died in May 1947 at the age of just 42 from the effects of an operation, outliving her husband by only five years.

Karin Huser is a freelance historian.