| “ | Monsieur Poirot, she was five years old! | „ |
| ~ Fraulein Schmidt to Poirot about Daisy Armstrong |
| “ | ... which is made with parsley and no more cooked for thirty seconds. | „ |
| ~ Schmidt making specific requirement of her order to the waiter on train, a hint to her previous occupation |
Hildegarde Schmidt is a major protagonist in Agatha Christie's 1934 Hercule Poirot novel, Murder on the Orient Express. She is the German personal maid of Princess Dragomiroff and a former cook to Colonel Armstrong's family.
She was portrayed by the late Rachel Roberts in 1974, by the late Susanne Lothar in 2010, and by Olivia Colman in 2017.
Biography[]
At the time of the events in the book, Hildegarde Schmidt was lady's maid to Princess Dragomiroff; her family had come from an estate of the Princess' late husband in Germany, and she had been with the Princess for fifteen years, meaning 1920.
Schmidt was employed as a cook in the Armstrong household at the time of the kidnapping of Daisy Armstrong. She did not reveal this to Poirot at first, but Poirot deduced it from a comment that she had made about her ladies saying that she was a good cook.
After the kidnap and murder of Daisy Armstrong, as well as the release of the prepetrator Cassetti, Linda Arden gathered a group of interested parties for the purpose of avenging the victims and bringing the criminal to justice.
Schmidt was part of this group, and boarded the Orient Express with the rest of the group, serving as the maid of the Princess. During the journey, she took care of Princess Dragomiroff and read Gothel's poem to her.
After her relations to the Armstrong Family and the murder of Cassetti were discovered, Schimidt was spared by Poirot, alongside her accomplices.
Trivia[]
- She was omitted from the 2001 film adaptation.
