High Style in the Gilded Age: Consuelo Vanderbilt 

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I heard Consuelo's great grandson speak at Blenheim, while publicizing his book about Consuelo's husband, the 9th Duke of Marlborough. He claims Ivor was not the Duke's son because he didn't look like his brother or his father.. He claimed that Sunny had communicated in a letter, that I believe was found in the Blenheim archives, that his youngest son, Ivor, was not his son, having been told by someone who knew. I suspect the person who told him was his second wife, Gladys, who was a friend of Consuelo's until Gladys starting flirting with the Duke. Gladys was known to be a liar and jealous of Consuelo, so I have a hard time believing it. Just because a child doesn't resemble a father or brother, doesn't mean he was fathered by another man. In the pictures I've seen of Ivor as a child, he looks like Consuelo. I can't understand why this author would slander his great grandmother, other than to sell more books. Ivor has 2 grandsons that are alive, so a DNA test should have been done to prove/disprove the theory.

I actually did a double take!

Important detail

Oh that makes a difference.....(still killed somebody).

And it's a magnificent home, even today. And open to the public.

Love visiting The Elms. I was a guide at the Preservation Society of Newport County in the early 2000’s and would walk through the house just before visitors and enjoy the beautiful fragrance of the large flower arrangements. The newly renovated gardens are beautiful as well!

Thank you for your encouraging words.

She wore a metal brace that straightened and elongated her neck

How interesting! Thanks for the comment.

You are correct...somewhat. It's NOT Oliver Hazard Perry (who died in 1819); it's Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, who married Alva Vanderbilt after she divorced Willie K. Vanderbilt.

You mean 1885?

She's already died in 1985

@@azabujuban-hito8085 you don't say.

yes they vander-built it.

@@w.urlitzer1869 And now it's gone.

I believe you mean NC.

Suenette Edwards indeed.

Yes, but only by marriage. Alva Smith's first husband was William K. Vanderbilt. His brother, Cornelius Vanderbilt II had a son Reginald Vanderbilt. Reggie & his second wife Gloria Morgan had a daughter, Gloria Vanderbilt. Gloria & her third husband Wyatt Cooper had a son, Anderson Cooper. Anderson has a son named WYATT MORGAN Cooper.

👽

Her mother.

Just for the tittle darling .... tres tres chic 👌

Her overpowering mother! But it's the Duke of Marlborough, not Marlboro like the cigarettes.

Duty and guilt. Alva faked a heart attack and Consuelo was convinced Alva would die unless she agree to marry the Duke. Alva was a horror

It was her mother's decission not her's.

It is not a pix of Consuelo in her wedding dress. Her dress had long sleeves.

Yes I noticed her neck was long.

@@Checheelingling Her neck was long, like a swan. She was very beautiful.