Consuelo Vanderbilt | |
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 c. 1900–05 | |
| Born | Consuelo Vanderbilt 2 March 1877 Manhattan, New York City, United States |
| Died | 6 December 1964 (aged 87) Southampton, New York, United States |
| Resting place | St Martin's Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, England |
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Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan (formerly Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; born Consuelo Vanderbilt; 2 March 1877 – 6 December 1964) was an American socialite and member of the Vanderbilt family. Her first marriage to the 9th Duke of Marlborough has become a well-known example of the advantageous, but loveless marriages common during the Gilded Age.[1] The Duke obtained a large dowry through the marriage and reportedly told her just after the wedding that he married her in order to "save Blenheim Palace", his ancestral home.[2]
Although Consuelo was opposed to the marriage arranged by her mother, she became a popular and influential duchess. For much of their 25-year marriage, the Marlboroughs lived separately; after an official separation in 1906, the couple was divorced in 1921, followed by an annulment in 1926. Her first marriage produced two sons, John and Ivor. She went on to marry the wealthy French aviator Jacques Balsan and continued her charitable endeavours. Consuelo and Balsan lived in France prior to World War II, then moved to the United States. As stipulated in her will, she was buried near her younger son, Lord Ivor, at St Martin's Church, not far from Blenheim Palace.[3]
- ^ "How American Dollar Princesses Changed British Nobility". Ancestry. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- ^ Vanderbilt, Amanda Mackenzie (2005). Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt. Harper Collins. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-06-621418-4.
- ^ MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol (1989). To Marry an English Lord. Workman Publishing Company. p. 308. ISBN 9780894809392.