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| Lois Evans Olson Radziwill. |
Over the centuries, many American women have married into European royal and noble families. One of the most unknown is Princess Lois Radziwill. Everyone knows of Caroline Lee Bouvier, who married Prince Stanislaw Radziwill in 1959. Understandably, very few are aware of Lois, who married Stanislaw’s first cousin once removed in 1950.
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| The birth certificate of Lois Lorine Evans. |
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| Irvin and Hazel Evans with their daughter Lois, 1928. |
On 10 February 1928 at Minot, North Dakota, Lois Lorine (later changed to “Lorraine”) Evans was born as the first child of Endre Irvin Evans (1900-1966) and his wife Hazel Viola Hills (1903-1995). Lois Evans had four younger siblings: Joyce Arlene Evans (1929-1995), Irvin Howard Evans (1932-2003), Marilyn Jean Evans (1936-1991), and Yvonne Lee Evans (1944-2011). Lois Evan’s paternal grandparents were born in Norway: Edward Gilbert Evensen (1866-1938) and Inga Marie Iversdatter Sollid (1871-1949). Her maternal grandparents were Adrian Bloomer Hills (1879-1965) and Rena Susan Muir (1880-1959).
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| Lois Evans photographed in a bridal veil around the time of her marriage to sailor George Olson, 1945. Photo (c) The Bismarck Tribune. |
Lois was raised in Bismarck, ND. Her father worked as a foreman at a crematorium. Lois began her high school studies in Bismarck, but she moved west and graduated in 1945 from high school in Santa Monica, California. In 1944, her parents had relocated to California. Aged eighteen, Lois Evans married George Conrad Olson, a member of the US Navy and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Olson of Minnesota, on 1 December 1945 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The marriage was of short duration; however, it is uncertain as to when or if it was terminated legally. A girlfriend of Lois, Mrs. Beatrice Johnson Betts, who was an attendant at Lois’ wedding to George Conrad, was not certain as to the particulars surrounding the end of the Olson/Evans marriage. Reportedly, Lois moved to New York and worked as a model before going to Paris to study fashion design.
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| Princess Lois Radziwill on holiday in Rome, July 1950. |
While in France, Lois met Prince Wladislaw Jerzy Gogislaw Radziwill (1881-1963) at a dinner party in December 1949 at Cannes. The prince was the only child of Prince Karol Radziwill (1839-1907) and Princess Teresa Lubomirska (1857-1883). His great-grandparents were Prince Antoni Radziwill (1775-1833) and Princess Luise of Prussia (1770-1836).
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| Prince Wladislaw and Princess Lois Radziwill. |
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| Lois Radizill. Photo (c) Ebbs Breuer. |
The life of Princess Lois Radziwill after 1951 is a sad story. In 1952, Lois was living in Los Angeles, where several of her friends were charged with stealing jewels at a party in which Lois was also present. In 1954, Lois filed a lawsuit in a Manhattan court against industrialist Alexander Berglas for $2,000,000. The reasons for the suit were never publicly disclosed. On 18 June 1955, Lois was arrested at her 732 South Normandie Avenue apartment in Los Angeles by a vice squad, consisting of two detectives, one of whom recalled the former princess showing them a fresh needle mark on her arm and confirming that she had just given herself a “fix.” She was released on a $2,500 bond. Upon reflection, it seems as though the young woman had definitely developed a substance abuse issue. In early July, before her arraignment, she was admitted to Los Angeles General Hospital after apparently overdosing on pills. On 13 October 1955, Lois Evans Radziwill pleaded guilty to possession of heroin in a Los Angeles court. She was twenty-seven years-old. In November, Superior Judge Allen T. Lynch sentenced Lois Evans Radziwill to a one to ten year term at the California State Prison for Women at Corona.
