The Gilded Age, Alva Vanderbilt: 'Elites Selling American Children For Aristocratic Titles'

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Last edited Sun Apr 11, 2021, 05:20 PM - Edit history (1)

- Consuelo Vanderbilt's marriage to the Duke of Marlborough; 'The Gilded Age,' PBS American Experience.

Alva Vanderbilt had an ace up her sleeve – a way to not simply regain her standing, but to improve it. The scheme depended largely on her daughter, Consuelo, who had just reached marrying age. While traveling in Europe, Alva had arranged for Consuelo to meet the Duke of Marlborough, one of the most eligible bachelors among the British aristocracy.

Learn more about THE GILDED AGE, including where to watch the documentary: https://to.pbs.org/2E1N0Tf
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- Alva Vanderbilt Belmont,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alva_Belmont
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(NPR). 'Consuelo and Alva': An Early Story of Celebrity

Consuelo Vanderbilt was one of the most famous heiresses in U.S. history. For one thing, she was astonishingly beautiful. For another, she was one of the wealthiest young women in the United States. By the time she she'd made her debut in 1895, the entire country knew she possessed $20 million -- a sum equal to almost $4 billion today. But that money placed Consuelo in a sort of golden coffin. It severely restricted who might be eligible to marry her, dictated her future as an ornament for a wealthy or powerful man, and sealed her off from any kind of meaningful life.

The fabled beauty was eventually auctioned off to a cash-poor but pedigree-rich Englishman, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, in a ceremony that was surrounded with ostentation and hysteria. (Hundreds of New York's finest were called out to restrain thousands of onlookers -- mostly women -- who were frantic to glimpse the bride in her wedding finery. The newspapers of the day carried exhaustively detailed descriptions of the trousseau: her pink lace corset apparently had gold hooks, and her silk stockings were held up by diamond-encrusted garters.)...

More, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5159494