CONSUELO VANDERBILT

It is the late nineteenth century in America. Four young, beautiful American girls, rejected by society's elite, because their fathers, although wealthy, are in trade, find it difficult to meet suitable young men. An English governess of two of these girls decides that if American society rejects them as brides, she will take them to England so that they can marry 'the cream of the cream' - English noblemen. Together with her old friend the governess toasts the young women, christening them 'the buccaneers'.

This is, of course, the theme of Edith Wharton's famous and exquisitely written novel, of the same name. She based her novel on a common phenomen in the late nineteenth century - American heiresses marrying English noblemen. One of these young women was Consuelo Vanderbilt.

Beautiful and incredibly wealthy, Consuelo was the granddaughter of the famous Commodore, Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the family fortune, and the daughter of his son, William K. and Alva Smith Vanderbilt. A domineering, manipulative and avaricous woman, Alva had high hopes for her daughter, who had been called 'the most beautiful woman in the world'. One of the nouveaux-riche, rejected by the old monied families of New York society, and more particularly by Mrs. Caroline Astor, whose '400' were the chosen ones, Alva sought revenge. She knew that English aristocrats, suffering from the Agricultural Depression, were finding it difficult to run their estates, and looking across the sea, to American wealth. America, unlike England, was in an economic boom,caused by rapid industrialization. The easiest way to gain some of this money, was, of course, to marry it! After all, young English noblemen, in those days, did not want to have to earn a living!

Alva decided on a very ambitious match for her daughter, no less than the Duke of Marlborough, master of Blenheim Palace. Unfortunately Consuelo, eighteen years old, was in love with someone else, handsome and wealthy Winthrop Rutherfurd, the son of distinguished astronomer, Lewis Rutherford. He would have been an eminently suitable husband, but Alva would have none of it. When told about this by Consuelo, she had a terrible temper tantrum, and threatened to have a heart attack. She locked Consuelo, an obedient daughter, in her room, to prevent her sneaking out to meet him, and took her overseas to separate the young lovers.

In an ignominous exchange of money for title, Consuelo obeyed her mother's wishes, marrying the Duke,whom she hardly knew, in St.Thomas, New York, in an extravagant ceremony. She spent the morning crying. William also was too weak to argue with Alva - his contribution was to pay the Duke 50,000 shares of one of his railroad companies, worth $2.5m as a marriage settlement.

Go To Page: 1 2