Pauline Astor
Pauline Marian Astor (born July 7, 1880 in New York City , † May 5, 1972 at Ford Manor in Lingfield , Surrey ) was a member of the Astor family, known for their wealth .
The well-known American painter John Singer Sargent portrayed Pauline Astor at the age of 18; it is his largest and most impressive full portrait in a landscape. It was the greatest task of his life: to paint the daughter of one of the richest men in the world, thereby challenging the most famous portrait painters in art history, namely Anthonis van Dyck and Thomas Gainsborough .
Life
Pauline Astor was the daughter of William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), who later became the 1st Viscount Astor , and Mary Dahlgren Paul (1858-1894). She and her family moved from New York to England in the 1890s, where they lived in the country estates of Cliveden in Berkshire and Hever Castle in Kent .
Astor attended the French boarding school for girls Les Ruches in Fontainebleau . She spoke several languages and was interested in literature , music and painting . After the death of her sister Gwendolyn in 1902, she lived briefly in Romania with Crown Prince Ferdinand and his wife Marie .
Rumors of engagements and marriage plans were the subject of press coverage. Among the marriage candidates was the German-born Prince Adolphus von Teck , who asked for the hand of the 13-year-old Pauline in early 1894, but her father refused. On October 29, 1904, The. Hon. Pauline Astor at St Margaret's Church , Westminster, London the Scottish Peer Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay (1875–1937), the eldest son of the politician James Spender-Clay. She had a warm relationship with her sister-in-law Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor , a British Conservative Party politician . The couple lived alternately at Ford Manor in Surrey and in London. The marriage, which all reports said was a happy one, had three daughters:
- Phyllis Mary (* 1905)
- Rachel Pauline (1907-1996)
- ⚭ 1929 Sir David Bowes-Lyon (1902–1961), younger brother of the future Queen Elizabeth
- Sybil Gwendolin (* 1910)
On her frequent travels with her husband, she had many contacts with the European high and American money aristocracy . Her friends, Lady Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough , introduced her to the circle of friends around the Prince of Wales and later King George V and his wife Princess Maria von Teck . Her husband, Herbert Henry Clay donor was, since 1906 deputy of the Conservative Party for the constituency Tonbridge in Kent and since 1929 the Privy Council King George V Since 1920, Astor magistrate ( Justice of the Peace ) for the county of Surrey. In addition to her social obligations, Pauline Astor was involved in several charitable organizations.
literature
- Charles Mosley: Burke's Peerage and Baronetage , Switzerland: Burke's Peerage Genealogical Books Ltd (1999)
- Charles Mosley: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage , Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage Genealogical Books Ltd (2003)
- Richard Ormond , Elaine Kilmurray: John Singer Sargent, Portraits of the 1890s , Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2002, ISBN 0-300-09067-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Portrait of Pauline Astor ( Memento February 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), huntington.org, accessed October 2, 2012
- ↑ Ormand, Kilmurray: Sargent, 142
- ↑ Ormand, Kilmurray: Sargent, 142
- ^ NY Times, July 15, 1904, on engagement
- ^ New York Times, October 30, 1904
- ↑ Ormand, Kilmurray: Sargent, 142
Web links
- Hon. Pauline Astor on thepeerage.com , accessed September 18, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Astor, Pauline |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Donor Clay, Pauline; Astor, Pauline Marian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British member of the Astor family |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 7, 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 5th 1972 |
| Place of death | Ford Manor, Lingfield |