Consuelo Vanderbilt
Consuelo Vanderbilt (born March 2, 1877 in New York City , † December 6, 1964 in Southampton , New York ) was a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family and by marriage to Lady Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.
Life
Consuelo was born the daughter of railroad tycoon William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849-1920) and his first wife Alva Erskine Smith (1853-1933) in New York City. She had two younger brothers, William Kissam and Harold Stirling . She got her unusual first name from her godmother, Lady María Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester (1858-1909). Her childhood revolved around perfect behavior and social representation. She was taught exclusively at home by governesses and tutors with the help of her father's library . In addition to geography , history , mathematics , art , dance and music , Consuelo also learned French , German and Italian . In her later life she struggled against this kind of upbringing and social coercion .
The banquets , dance balls , garden parties, dinners , dances and costume parties of the American money aristocracy were famous and filled the social columns of the newspapers. But everyone's dream was to participate in the social life of the British aristocracy . Together with her childhood friend Mary Victoria Head (1870-1906), later Baroness Curzon of Kedleston, Consuelo was introduced to New York society in 1894; and a few weeks later also in London society. Her parents hired Lady Mary Paget, a native of America, as a social and marriage broker for their daughter Consuelo. In a very short time she had found some potential marriage candidates, including Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough , and the German-born Prince Franz Joseph von Battenberg . Her mother Alva chose the Duke of Marlborough.
On November 6, 1895, Consuelo Vanderbilt married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (1871-1934), eldest son of George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough , and his first at Saint Thomas Church in New York City Wife Lady Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton. The young couple spent their honeymoon at their parents' summer home at Marble House in Newport , Rhode Island . The marriage, which was reportedly unhappy, had two sons:
- ⚭ 1920 Lady Alexandra Mary Cadogan (1900–1961)
- ⚭ 1972 Francis Laura Charteris (1915–1990)
- Ivor Charles Edward (1898–1956), Lord Spencer-Churchill ⚭ 1947 Lady Elizabeth Cunningham
Her husband used her dowry to renovate Blenheim Palace , the ancestral castle of the Dukes of Marlborough , and to supplement the inventory , which was partially sold in the 19th century . In addition, he had the landscape gardener Achille Duchene create the palace's famous water gardens. The dowry the bride was 20 million US dollars (about four billion today) and a package of shares in US railway company New York Central Railroad .
During their marriage, Lady Spencer-Churchill was involved in several charitable organizations; a major concern was school education and sickness. In addition to her social responsibilities, Lady Consuelo was a member of the circle of friends of the Prince of Wales and later King George V and his wife Princess Maria von Teck . She had a close relationship with her husband's cousins, Reginald Ailwyn Fellowes and the future Prime Minister Winston Churchill ; It was also she who made Reginald's marriage to the French Marguerite Séverine Philippine Decazes de Glücksbierg possible against the family. Their own marriage failed and the couple had been separated since 1906. After the long-term love affair between her husband and the American Gladys Marie Deacon , an eccentric personality , became public, she filed for divorce in 1921 ; in July 1926 the marriage was also annulled by the Roman Rota .
On July 4, 1921, Lady Consuelo married in Paris Lieutenant Colonel Louis-Jacques Balsan (1869-1956), the eldest son of a Paris industrialist. Her brother-in-law, Étienne Balsan (1880–1953), was the lover and supporter of the later most famous fashion designer Coco Chanel . Consuelo Balsan remained in contact with her ex-husband's family members, particularly Winston Churchill, despite the divorce. He was a regular visitor to their Château St. George Motel near Dreux in the 1920s and 1930s. After the death of her second husband, she returned to the United States and lived in Southampton until her death. She was buried next to her son Ivor and her husband in the Bladon Cemetery, Oxfordshire .
Titles and awards
- 1877-1895 Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt
- 1895–1921 Lady Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
- 1921 Consuelo, Duchess of Marlborough
- 1921–1964 Madame Jacques Balsan
- 1908 Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE)
literature
- Margaret Rector: Alva, That Vanderbilt-Belmont Woman , Dutch Island Press (1992) ISBN 0-934881-13-8
- Amanda Mackenzie Stuart: Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and Mother in the Gilded Age , New York: Harper Collins Publishers (2005) ISBN 0-06-621418-1
- Stuart Preston and Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan: The Glitter and the Gold , George Mann Books (1953; 1973) ISBN 0-7041-0002-9
Web links
- Vanderbilt Family (English)
- Consuelo Vanderbilt (English)
- Consuelo and Alva: An Early Story of Celebrity (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roman Rota, Southwarcensis , coram Quattrocolo, July 29, 1926, AAS 18 (1926) 501 -506 = RR Dec 18 (1926) 280-286; Peter Stockmann: About saints and marriage swindlers. Famous religious marriage cases , DPM 15/16 (2008/09) 293-333 ( 312 -318)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vanderbilt, Consuelo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lady Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American heiress and, after marriage, Lady Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 2, 1877 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 6, 1964 |
| Place of death | Southampton , New York |