The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess - In Her Own Words

Summary (from the publisher): Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful, and heir to a vast fortune. She was also in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to marry an English Duke. She sailed to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home—Blenheim Palace. She was the real American heiress who lived long before Downton Abbey’s Lady Grantham arrived.

Mme. Balsan is an unsnobbish and amused observer of the intricate hierarchy both upstairs and downstairs and a revealing witness to the glittering balls, huge weekend parties, and major state occasions she attended or hosted chronicling her encounters with every important figure of the day—from Queen Victoria, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Tsar Nicholas and the young Winston Churchill.

 

Review: This is Consuelo Vanderbilt's memoir, the tale of her life in her own words. Born in 1877, Consuelo was the great-granddaughter of Commodore Vanderbilt, the founding father of the wealth that made the family famous. Consuelo grew up in great luxury but with a rigid and authoritarian mother who achieved her crowning ambition for her daughter by marrying her off (against Consuelo's will) to the Duke of Marlborough. As Consuelo relates, the marriage was not a success from the beginning and ultimately the marriage was annulled. Consuelo accomplished significant social work through her connections and wealth and enjoyed a happy and loving second marriage as well as the company of family and friends, many of whom are famous and easily recognizable names.

 

Although I was disappointed that Consuelo is relatively close-lipped about her first marriage, this is hardly surprising given that this is the father of her two sons, who she loved dearly. She is not nearly so circumspect about discussing the harsh childhood she endured under her mother's iron rule - in some cases literally. Consuelo was made to wear a "steel rod" strapped to her spine while she completed her school lessons to improve her posture (11). Consuelo asserts that her mother had a "violent temper that, like a tempest, at times engulfed us all" (5).

 

Much of Consuelo's account of her life reads like a who's who of British society. She regularly socialized with royalty including the Prince of Wales, was presented to Queen Victoria, visited Tsar Nicholas, and was good friends with Winston Churchill. Indeed, the Prince of Wales was godfather to her oldest son, Blandford and for the coronation of King Edward VII, Consuelo was one of the four duchesses selected by Queen Alexandra to be her canopy bearers. It is evident from Consuelo's descriptions that she found the social obligations, particularly the endless wardrobe changes and household management entailed with entertaining royal guests exhausting and all consuming. She sounds much more passionate about the extensive time she devoted to social work, as she spent years championing the cause of women and children. She opened homes for wives of the incarcerated, helped establish hospitals for mothers to improve pre and post-natal care, and appealed for the rights of workers of sweatshops.

 

However, despite the value of reading of Consuelo's life in her own words, this reads much as it is: the musings of an elderly woman with relatively little background information or context provided. I found Amanda Stuart's biography of Consuelo and her mother immensely more informative than this memoir. Consuelo provides little to no history of her family and skirts around issues she would rather not discuss at length (most notably her relationship with her first husband). She also fails to discuss key figures throughout the narrative. For instance, she mentions her brothers in the opening chapters and only again refers to them to summarize their lives in the final chapters. Additionally, the memoir concludes quite abruptly, with her escape from Europe in 1940, with no mention of her life after that time. In sum, this read was interesting for those who may already have some knowledge of Consuelo Vanderbilt but would serve as a poor introduction to her.

 

Stars: 3

 

Related Title:

• Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart