Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, was a famous beauty from a millionaire family, one of the we althiest in the United States. She married the Duke of Marlborough. Consuelo Vanderbilt, whose story is told below, was the we althiest bride of the Victorian era. Her marriage was an international symbol of marriage, which was beneficial for both families, as there was great we alth on the one hand, and nobility on the other.
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Consuelo Vanderbilt was born in the USA, in New York. She was the only child in the family of a millionaire. It was the famous railroad tycoon William Kissam Vanderbilt. Her mother is William's first wife, an Alabama beauty, Alva Erskine Smith. She later became a suffragette, fighting for women's rights.
The girl received the exotic Spanish name Consuelo in honor of her godmother, Maria Consuelo del Valle, in whom she flowed andCuban blood. At one time, she married Viscount Mandeville, George Montagu, who was chasing a large dowry. Then this union of the Old and New Worlds caused astonishment in society. The groom's father, the Duke of Manchester, stated in public that his son had married a "Redskin".
Young years
Since childhood, Consuelo Vanderbilt has been strongly influenced by her mother. As the girl grew older, this influence did not weaken. According to Alva, her daughter should have married just as well as her namesake godmother. Meanwhile, the husband of the latter has already inherited the ducal title.
Mother prepared the girl for life in high society. Consuelo told about this period of her life in her biography that she was forced to wear a metal corset to correct her posture. From a young age, she studied languages taught by governesses and visiting teachers.
Vanderbilt Real Estate
Their houses were the largest among the estates of other rich Americans. In New York alone, they had ten mansions located on Fifth Avenue. One of them had 137 rooms. However, outside the city, this family had even more luxurious buildings. The grandest and richest was the Vanderbilt Palace, located in the state of North Carolina, at the foothills of the Appalachian Range.
It took twice as long to build than the Eiffel Tower. It took four workers, and three times more money. And this despite the fact that subsequently only two people lived in it -owner with his mother. This palace is called B altimore. To date, this is the largest private home ever built in North America.
Based on all of the above, one can understand the conditions in which the future duchess grew up.
Matrimonial Plans
Like her godmother, Consuelo enjoyed success with many titled men. They wanted to combine their noble origin with her huge fortune and enjoy the benefits of such a tandem. There are reports of at least five marriage proposals from influential people.
Of these candidates, Prince Franz Josef Battenberg was approved by the mother. However, this representative of an aristocratic family was extremely unpleasant for the girl, and she refused to marry him. But apart from the prince, none of the applicants suited Alva.
Good looking
Fortunately, those who wanted to connect their lives with a rich bride did not decrease, especially since her external data was on top. She was unusually slender, sweet, attractive. Many admired her beauty. One of her admirers was James Barry, a famous English writer. It was from under his pen that Peter Pan came out, a fabulous ageless boy. D. Barry wrote that in order to see how Consuelo gets into the carriage, he is ready to wait all night for her in the rain.
In the descriptions of the appearance of this attractive person, there are such words as: "huge dark eyes and curled eyelashes", "beautiful long neck", "spicy ovalfaces." In the Edwardian era, which dates back to the reign of Edward VII (1901-1910 plus a few years after his death), such a fashionable female image as “slim, tight look” was formed, which can be translated as “slim, tight-fitting look.” It should be noted that the appearance of Consuelo Vanderbilt fully corresponded to him, which made her even more attractive in the eyes of men.
The Duke of Marlborough
Among the acquaintances of the Vanderbilt family was a certain Lady Paget. She was a kind of marriage agent, arranging alliances between British aristocrats and we althy American heiresses. With the help of this lady, Alva managed to arrange an acquaintance of her daughter with the ninth Duke of Marlborough, whose name was Charles Spencer Churchill, nicknamed Sunny. He was the cousin of future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
However, Sunny initially failed to get the attention of Consuelo Vanderbilt. As it turned out later, by that time she was secretly engaged to Winthrop Rutherford, an American citizen. Upon learning of this, the girl's mother was very angry. She unleashed her wrath on her daughter by ordering her to marry the Duke of Marlborough. But Consuelo answered her with a sharp refusal. Then Alva put the girl under lock and key and promised to kill Winthrop if she continued to persist. But that didn't help either.
Forced consent to marriage
Then the persistent and inventive mother used a forbidden technique, affecting Consuelo's daughter feelings. She pretended that the girl's disobedience had put her in such a serious condition that she could die in a minute.minute. Only after such a shock did the eighteen-year-old girl tremble and agree to marry Charles.
Consuelo Vanderbilt's dowry was given an amount of 2.5 million US dollars. If we recalculate this money, taking into account today's economic realities, we get an impressive figure approaching 75 million. The funds received were used by the spouse. They gave him the opportunity to restore Blenheim Palace.
Wedding and having children
A magnificent wedding, which was attended by many guests and spectators and which received detailed coverage in the press, took place in November 1895 in New York, in the Church of St. Thomas. In this marriage, two boys were born, John and Ivor. The eldest of them became the tenth Duke of Marlborough.
The fact of their birth disqualified Winston Churchill, who, in the event of Charles's death, would have inherited the dukedom had his cousin died childless. After the wedding, Consuelo's mother-in-law announced that the first duty of Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, was the birth of a child, which must be a son. Duchess Fanny explained this thought by the fact that she could not bear to think that the title of duke could go to Winston, whom she considered an upstart. Consuelo jokingly called her sons "Heir and Spare".
Marriage life
Visiting the lands owned by her husband made a strong impression on Consuelo: the woman was struck by the poverty of their inhabitants. This promptednewly minted duchess to help disadvantaged people. Since then, she has been involved in several philanthropic projects.
As for the secular society of Great Britain, it was a resounding success there. Together with her husband in 1902 she visited Russia. She was received by Maria Feodorovna, the Empress Dowager. Apparently, it was then that the jeweler Faberge was ordered to make the so-called Marlboro egg. Now it is exhibited in St. Petersburg, in the Faberge Museum.
However, over time, the relationship between the spouses, who had never been particularly ardent, began to fade. Since 1907, they began to lead a separate life. The Duke began to communicate closely with a poor but charismatic American, Gladys Mary Deacon, who later became his wife. The name of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, began to be associated with various men. Among them are her husband's cousin, Reginald Fellows, and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich Romanov.
Divorce from Duke
Consuelo and Charles divorced after 26 years of married life, in 1921. After that, the duke decided to convert to the Catholic faith. This transition facilitated the annulment in 1926 of the wedding by the Vatican, which was carried out at the request of the duke.
Surprising as it was for many friends and relatives, Consuelo's mother supported this separation. She openly stated that the marriage was an act of coercion on her part, while it turned out to be erroneous. In an interview, Alva admitted that in the old dayshad absolute power over her daughter.
It should be noted that she herself was already divorced from her husband, which shocked American high society. After that, she remarried, marrying the son of one of the Jewish bankers. Then she became actively involved in suffragist activities. In the future, a warm, close relationship developed between the mother and her matured daughter.
New marriage
Shortly after the divorce, in July 1921, Consuelo remarried. Her second husband was Lieutenant Colonel Jean Balzan, a pioneer of French aeronautics, aviation and hydroaviation. He was the heir of a textile manufacturer. Etienne, his brother, had an intimate relationship with Coco Chanel.
Jean and Consuelo have known each other for a long time. They met back in New York when the girl was 17 years old. All this time, Balzan retained a feeling of affection for her. The second marriage of the Duchess was extremely successful.
After the divorce, Consuelo continued to communicate with the Churchill clan. She was especially friendly with Sir Winston. He was a frequent visitor to her chateau, not far from Paris. It was in this place that he painted his last paintings before the war. Balzan and Consuelo lived in their mansion in Paris.
During World War II, Jean Balzan fought in the ranks of the French Resistance. After that, the couple managed to escape through Spain and Portugal to the United States from Nazi Europe. They lived there until the very end of the war. Consuelo Vanderbilt for opening a children's hospital in Paris and forphilanthropic work was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.
In 1953, she published an autobiography describing the era and her contemporaries in it, but almost did not touch on the details of her personal life. Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, died in New York in 1964 at the age of 87. She outlived her beloved husband by eight years.
