THE PRINCESS WITH THE MOST PENNIES

  

The bride, face puffy from a morning spent crying, tears streaming down her silk bodice, entered the church, hair laced with orange blossoms - Queen Victoria wore them in her hair at her wedding. Her arms were heavy with a bouquet of orchids.

Orchids, in Victorian flower language, symbolize beauty and refinement, but also self-love and uniqueness. A very telling statement for the bride. This wedding was the ultimate statement of the beauty and refinement the mother of the bride wanted to shove in the faces of the society mavens who rejected her. The bride, Consuelo Vanderbilt, would find self-love years later after escaping the Gilded Age cage of society and its restrictive roles for women via charity work and championing women's suffrage.

Daughter of queen of the social climbers Alva Vanderbilt, Consuelo Vanderbilt was named for her mother's best friend, OG Penny Princess Consuelo Yznaga. Alva spared no expense, and showed no mercy, in her desire to mold Consuelo into America's perfect society princess.  Consuelo would be Alva's great work - educating her, dressing her, preparing for her debut, and then marriage into the British aristocracy.  Alva chose Consuelo's food, clothes, reading material, and husband.  Consuelo, a kind, thoughtful girl by all accounts spoke multiple languages, studied art, literature, and European History. Alva limited Consuelo's socialization with other girls her age. Still Consuelo had a few friends and enjoyed bicycling - in public no less! Alva insisted Consuelo strap herself into an iron rod that braced her spine attached to the head and waist to ensure straight posture. Consuelo grew into a graceful soignee young woman - highly marriageable, given Commodore Vanderbilt's millions as dowry.

But no scion of a New York City captain of industry for Consuelo. Alva wanted a duke - the very top of the eligible bachelor pile. Consuelo's duke was Sunny, Duke of Marlboro - cousin to Winston Churchill. Neither Sunny or Consuelo felt a particular romantic spark towards one another, but what's zazazu compared to a tiara and a castle? Sunny seemed to accept the situation for what it was - he needed money, Consuelo's family promised a large dowry of railroad shares, they marry, have an "heir and a spare" (a term coined by Consuelo herself) - and after that well, did their marriage really matter? Their son would inherent, then his son, and on and on as it had been since time immemorial. This was just what needed to be done, what had been done, for centuries and generations.

But Consuelo was American, the great-granddaughter of a man  who came from poverty, built a trans-country transportation system from nothing and died in a state of "all the dollars are belong to him." In America anyone could shoot their shot, be their dream, get their particular s - - t done. Consuelo shot to shoot was marrying Withrop Rutherford, a 30 something lay about lawyer. Rutherford came from a somewhat diminished Old Guard family. He was licensed to practice law but didn't. Consuelo fell crashingly in love with Rutherford. They made marriage plans but Alva had the Duke on lock. And the only defiant moment of her life thus far Consuelo refused the Duke (shouldn't have made her spine so straight Alva lest she have backbone!) Alva did what any loving mother would do when her child pours her heart out and pleads her case ; Alva faked a heart attack, sent a friend to shame Consuelo, then made a miraculous recovery when Consuelo agreed to ditch Randolph Winthrop and accept Sunny. 

Alva planted news items in the press about the Duke being in America for a visit, and staying with The Vanderbilts in Newport. This was the Gilded Age version of a celebrity getting papped. Newspapers knew what would happen before even Sunny and Consuelo. Alva's baby was going to be the Gilded Age version of a star - and American Duchess - and Alva would spend the necessary pennies to put her there.  On a dreary rainy day Sunny got down to the inevitable; he proposed and Consuelo, having no other choice, said yes. Alva used her media savvy and leaked details to the press - flowers, food, even Consuelo's trousseau. If details weren't filled in by Alva the press did so themselves - conjuring up corsets, staking out stockings. But Alva didn't care. Even wrong or salacious details equaled column inches.

On November 6th 1895 at St Thomas Episcopal Church Consuelo and Sunny married. Alva selected eight bridesmaids to accompany Consuelo at the altar, all without Consuelo's consent. In fact Alva had Consuelo's wedding dress ordered before Sunny had even proposed. Alva did not allow Consuelo's Vanderbilt relatives to attend the wedding or send gifts. Consuelo's father was allowed to only escort her down the aisle and then immediately had to leave the church and was not allowed to participate in the post wedding breakfast. As Consuelo left Le Petite Chateau to embark on her honeymoon and life as a married woman she looked up and saw Alva crying. Was Alva crying tears of joy because she had triumphed over society by marrying her daughter to a Duke? Was she crying in relief that now she had completed the ultimate task of marrying her daughter into the aristocracy she could be step back from trying to climb the social ladder? Was she crying because she might just actually miss her child or was she crying tears of regret that she had forced Consuelo into a privileged marriage just the way Alva had been forced to marry Willie K, a man she never really loved?

The marriage between Consuelo and Sunny was never particularly loving and affectionate ; they sort of merely tolerated each other's presence. But Consuelo did her duty and produced her heir and a spare, sons John and Ivor.  Consuelo loved being a mother and doted on her children.  Estate life was difficult for Consuelo. Consuelo didn't really have any friends she could write to for help and advice. Sunny often left her alone when he would go on hunting trips and into London. Consuelo did make friends once she moved to England. She was beloved in the estate village for helping the poor, especially mothers and children.  Consuelo was also a hit at court and she and Sunny frequently dined with the King and Queen.

 

In 1900 Sunny and Cousin Winston went to South Africa to fight in the Second Boer war. Sunny was gone for six months and returned in July of 1900. Consuelo admitted to rekindling her long ago romance with Winthrop Rutherford and by the time Sunny gave his permission for her to leave him for Rutherford, Rutherford had changed his mind. Sunny began an affair with socialite Gladys Deacon. In 1906 Consuelo and Sunny separated, and divorced in 1921 but the marriage had to be officially annulled in August of 1926 as Sunny wanted to convert to Catholicism. Alva supported the divorce and testified that she forced Consuelo into the marriage, therefore the marriage never should have taken place. Alva and Consuelo took steps to heal their wounded relationship ; the two worked side by side to promote women getting the vote.

Dashing French Aviator Jacques Balsan had seen Consuelo at a party when she was 17 and never forgot her beauty. They would reunite when Jacques was in his mid-50s and Consuelo her early forties. They fell quickly in love and on July 4th 1921 they married. The marriage was a happy one ; the pair moved to France with Balsan continuing his aviator exploration and Consuelo continuing her charity work she began at Blenheim palace. Alva moved to France and Consuelo and Alva enjoyed a close relationship until Alva's death in 1933. In 1932 Consuelo built a home in Palm Beach Florida named Casa Alva to honor her mother. Consuelo died December 6th 1964, leaving behind a legacy of fighting for women's suffrage and helping poor and disenfranchised women.  The princess with the most pennies used those pennies to assist social change. She left life without a single reason to cry.

SOURCES :

Alva Vanderbilt. Wikipedia.

Consuelo Vanderbilt. Wikipedia.

Cooper, Anderson / Howe, Katherine ~ Vanderbilt : The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

BOOKS :

A Well-Behaved Woman : A Novel of the Vanderbilts ~ Therese Anne Fowler

American Duchess : A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt ~ Karen Harper

The Social Graces ~ Renee Rosen

Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt : The Story of a Daughter and a Mother In the Gilded Age ~ Amanda Mackenzie Stuart

PODCASTS :

Graham, Beckett / Vollenweider, Susan, hosts. "Gilded Age Heiresses." Episode 9, The History Chicks, 2 June 2011.

Raymond, Carl, host. "Social Climber : The Iron Will and Determined Rise of Alva Vanderbilt." The Gilded Gentleman, Episode 12, Bowery Boys Media, 14 March 2022. 

Raymond, Carl, host. "The ‘Real’ Buccaneers : Gilded Age Million Dollar Princesses." The Gilded Gentleman, Episode 57, Bowery Boys Media, 5 September 2023. 

VIDEOS : 

Forgotten Lives. Why Was She "Sold" by her Mother? - Consuelo Vanderbilt

FURTHER INTEREST ~ 

Blenheim Palace

FURTHER VIEWING ~ 

Million Dollar American Princesses