author
Baroness Maria Stella Petronilla Ungern-Sternberg
1773–1843
An Italian-born memoirist wrapped in one of history’s strangest identity mysteries, she wrote about a life shaped by aristocratic circles, scandal, and a lifelong fight to prove who she really was. Her story blends personal memoir with a royal claim that kept people arguing long after her death.
1 Audiobook
The Memoirs of Maria Stella (Lady Newborough)
by Baroness Maria Stella Petronilla Ungern-Sternberg
About the author
Born Maria Stella Chiappini in Modigliana, Italy, on April 16, 1773, she later became Lady Newborough through marriage and then Baroness Ungern-Sternberg. She is best known for insisting that she had been switched at birth and was in fact the legitimate daughter of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, a claim that made her a curious and controversial figure in European society.
Her life moved across Italy, Britain, and France, and her name became tied to court cases, family disputes, and the wider fascination with royal lineage. Rather than fading into rumor, she told her own version of events in The Memoirs of Maria Stella (Lady Newborough), giving readers a direct look at how she understood her identity and the struggle to have it recognized.
Today, she is remembered less as a conventional noblewoman than as the center of a lasting historical puzzle. Her memoir remains interesting not just for its claims, but for the way it captures ambition, resilience, and the very human need to know where one belongs.