Marie Sinclair, Countess of Caithness

She is particularly remembered for her interest in spiritualism and theosophy and her association with Helena Blavatsky, whose occult successor she claimed to be.

[1] She was born in London, the daughter of a Spanish nobleman, Don José de Mariategui, and his English wife, who was descended from the Earl of Northampton.

[2] She joined the New York Theosophical Society in 1876, and gave financial support to assist in the expansion of theosophy in France.

In her later years she lived on the Avenue de Wagram in Paris, laying out the rooms like those at Holyrood Palace in recognition of the connection she felt with Mary, Queen of Scots.

[2] She claimed that the queen's spirit had told her that "Men are asleep over the material triumphs they are crowning their brows with, or so buried among the burdens of life, they cannot be still and listen to the voice of Deific forces.