Mary Elsie Moore

Mary Elsie Moore, Princess Civitella-Cesi (October 22, 1889 – December 21, 1941), was an American heiress who married and divorced Italian Prince Don Marino Torlonia, 4th Prince of Civitella-Cesi.

Mary Elsie Moore was born October 22, 1889 in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest child of Charles Arthur Moore (1846–1914) andMary (née Campbell) Moore (1854–1928).Her siblings were Charles Arthur Moore Jr., who married Elizabeth Hyde (actress Glenn Close's maternal grandfather), Eugene Maxwell Moore (who married Titanic survivor Margaret Graham) and Jessie Ann Moore, who married the son of U.S Navy Admiral Colby Mitchell Chester.Her father was a shipping broker and hardware manufacturer from Connecticut, who went on to become the president of Manning, Maxwell and Moore, a large industrial concern.

Moore was educated at Mrs. Dow's School in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

On August 15, 1907, Moore married the then Duke of Poli and Guadagnolo Don Marino Torlonia (1861–1933) at Old Orchard, her parents' estate in Belle Haven, Greenwich, Connecticut.Upon his brother Augusto Torlonia's death, he became the 4th Prince of Civitella-Cesi.Together, the Prince and Princess of Civitella-Cesi had four children:

• Princess Donna Olimpia Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi
• Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi (1911–1986), who married Infanta Beatriz of Spain (1909–2002), the daughter of King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
• Princess Donna Cristina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi
• Princess Donna Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi (1916–1960), who married two Americans: Francis Xavier Shields (by whom she had several children, including a son who became the father of the actress Brooke Shields) and Edward Slater.

In 1922, the Duke of Torlonia fought a duel with Count Filippo Lovatelli, the famous Italian sculptor, over a statue of the Duchess, causing an international sensation.

In 1925, the couple separated and in 1926, the Duchess filed for divorce in the United States. Her American citizenship was brought into question, but the Connecticut courts decided that her residence in the state was legal and granted her divorce in February 1928.

Moore died at her home, 375 Park Avenue in New York, on December 21, 1941.