Axel Munthe - Marriages

Marriages

Axel Munthe married his first wife, Ultima Hornberg, on 24 November 1880. Hornberg was a Swedish woman he met while she was studying art in Paris. They divorced in the late 1880s, and in 1892 she remarried, to a Swedish manufacturer named Gustaf Richter. She had a boy by Richter in 1893, and died in 1895.

In 1907, Munthe married an English woman, Hilda Pennington-Mellor. They had two sons, Peter and Malcolm. Hilda Munthe came from an aristocratic background. Her family owned two notable properties in England: Hellens in Herefordshire, one of the oldest dwellings in the country, and Southside House, a 17th century mansion on Wimbledon Common in London. An anecdote relates that Munthe was discussing publication of The Story of San Michele with his publisher, John Murray, in the garden at Southside, and Murray related that his ancestor of the same name had sat in the same garden with Lord Byron, discussing publication of Byron's works.

In 1910-1911, Munthe had a 14-room summer home built in Sweden as a present for his wife. The residence, initially called Stengården (The Stone Court), has been known as Hildasholm since her death in 1967. It was built amidst the trees on the edge of Lake Siljan in Dalarna. It was designed by architect Torben Grut, who would in 1912 complete the Stockholm stadium used in that year's Olympics. Hilda landscaped the home with an English garden that combines with the rocky and dramatic native landscape. It was furnished with 17th, 18th, and 19th century art and furniture from Italy, England, and France.

Mrs. Munthe and the boys usually stayed in this house during the summer, but Dr. Munthe was not there very often, spending as much time as possible at San Michele.