Emma Orczy Emma Orczy Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orci (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. She is best known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who turns into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save ill-fated French royalty from "Madame Guillotine" during the French revolution, establishing the "hero with a secret identity" into popular culture. Opening in London's West End on 5 January 1905, "The Scarlet Pimpernel" became a favourite of British
Emma Orczy "Villa Bijou" at 19 Avenue de la Costa (since demolished), which is where she spent World War Two. She was not able to return to London until after the war. Montagu Barstow died in Monte Carlo in 1942. Finding herself alone there and unable to travel, she wrote her memoir, "Links in the Chain of Life" (published 1947). She held strong political views. Orczy was a firm believer in the superiority of the aristocracy, as well as being a supporter of British imperialism and militarism. During the First World War, Orczy formed the Women of England's Active Service League, an