After the death of her father-in-law, Helene took over the Schwegerhoff estate, but passed it on to her husband's relatives, the Counts von Bothmer to care for. On the occasion of the 105th anniversary of the poet's death, Helene became a co-founder of the International Lake Constance Club and donated the Droste Prize, which the city of Meersburg later took over. Helene saw a cousin of her deceased husband from the Hungarian branch of the family, Karl Graf von Bothmer (diplomat), former Hungarian ambassador to Switzerland. She had already met him in Berlin when he was the Hungarian Consul General in Vienna. They married in Bern and Helen lived with him there during the winter months when they were not traveling (to the USA, Hungary, Israel, among others). Later, until his death on November 28, 1971, they lived entirely in the Fürstenhäusle, which they expanded with an extension. He was also buried in the Laßberg-Droste family grave. Helene and Karl were in contact with many personalities of contemporary history, including Zita von Bourbon-Parma and her son Otto von Habsburg and with many authors such as Reinhold Schneider, Gertrud von le Fort, Werner Bergengruen, Nelly Sachs, Christine Busta and Rose Auslander , Hilde Domin, Dino Larese and her friend and later biographer Monika Taubitz.

In 1996 during her retirement in the U.S, she reviled They (Karl & Helene) had given birth to a son in secret and due to political reasons her niece, Wilda Davis, had taken him into her care. Her son, now Freiherr George von Bothmer zu Schwegerhoff, had a paternity test and testimony in court by Helene that proved this revelation to be true.