Countess Sailor Smuggler Spy: Marga d’Andurain

A tale of crime, espionage, and poisoned husbands

Born in France in May 1893, little Jeanne Amélie Marguerite Clérisse — Marga for her friends — was not a very nice girl. Rude and turbulent, with a wild streak and a penchant for breaking rules, she didn’t really fit in with her provincial, respectable Catholic family.

Or with anybody else.

Later in life, Marga claimed Mommy and Daddy were so troubled by her sinful ways they tried to have her exorcized by the local bishop. It most likely isn’t true, but Marga never let the truth get in the way of a good story. What her parents certainly did was send the girl to the convent of the Ursuline Sisters in Spain, known for its strictness, hoping the good nuns would be able to tame her.
Unsurprisingly, it did not work.

Marga excelled academically, but her behavior was… questionable, to say the least. At just 15 years old she ran away with a French officer. But she was the kind of gal who gets bored quickly, and she soon moved on.

Adventurous Cousins

What she really wanted to do was to travel. At 17 she married Pierre d’Andurain, a cousin of hers: the two met two years earlier on a beach in Biarritz. The young couple shared a…