Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (2 March 1877 – 6 December 1964) was an American socialite. She was a member of the Vanderbilt family and only daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Erskine Smith. Her first marriage to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough has become a well-known example of the advantageous but loveless marriages common during the Gilded Age. The Duke obtained a large dowry through the marriage and reportedly told her – on their honeymoon — that he had married her only "because he felt obliged to save Blenheim," his ancestral home.
During the marriage, 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 (the 10th Duke) 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 at St Martin's Church, the parish church for Blenheim Palace.
Early life
Born in New York City, Consuelo was the only daughter and eldest child of William Kissam Vanderbilt, a New York railroad millionaire, and his first wife, Alva Erskine Smith, a Southern belle, budding suffragist, and daughter of Murray Forbes Smith. Consuelo's Spanish name was in honor of her godmother, Consuelo Yznaga, a half-Cuban, half-American socialite who had created a social stir in 1876 when she married the fortune-hunting George Montagu, Viscount Mandeville (later 8th Duke of Manchester), a union of Old World aristocracy and New World money.
Consuelo was largely dominated by her mother, who was determined that her daughter would make a grand match like that of her famous namesake. In her autobiography, Consuelo described how she was required to wear a steel rod, which ran down her spine and fastened around her waist and over her shoulders, to improve her posture. She was educated entirely at home by governesses and tutors, and learned foreign languages at an early age.Stuart, p. 70 Her mother whipped her with a riding crop for minor infractions,Stuart, pp. 69–70 and when, as a teenager, Consuelo objected to the clothing her mother had selected for her, Alva told her that "I do the thinking, you do as you are told".Stuart, p. 84
Like her godmother, Consuelo attracted numerous title-bearing suitors anxious to trade social position for cash. Her mother reportedly received at least five proposals for her hand. Consuelo was allowed to consider the proposal of just one of the men, Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg, but she developed an instant aversion to him.Stuart, p. 101 None of the others, however, was good enough for Alva, herself the daughter of a cotton broker.
Consuelo was considered a great beauty, with a face compelling enough to cause the playwright Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan, to write: "I would stand all day in the street to see Consuelo Marlborough get into her carriage."Stuart, p. 493 Oxford undergraduate Guy Fortescue later described how he and his friends were captivated by her "piquante oval face perched upon a long slender neck, her enormous dark eyes fringed with curling lashes, her dimples, and her tiny teeth when she smiled".Stuart, p. 209 She came to embody the "slim, tight look" that was in vogue during the Edwardian era.
First marriage
Determined to secure the highest-ranking husband possible for her only daughter, a union that would emphasize the preeminence of the Vanderbilt family, Alva engineered a meeting between Consuelo and the indebted, titled Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, chatelain of Blenheim Palace. The matchmaker was Lady Paget, the wife of Sir Arthur Paget. Born as Mary "Minnie" Stevens, Lady Paget was the daughter of Marietta Reed Stevens, the socially ambitious widow of American hotel entrepreneur Paran Stevens, who had successfully obtained admittance to the exclusive New York society of the fabled "Four Hundred". Lady Paget, always short of money, became a sort of international marital agent, introducing eligible American heiresses to British noblemen.Stuart, pp. 102–103, 116–117
Consuelo had no interest in the Duke, being secretly engaged to Winthrop Rutherfurd, an American socialite 15 years her senior.Stuart, pp. 112–115 Her mother begged, and then ultimately ordered her daughter to marry the Duke. When Consuelo – a docile teenager known only for her obedience to her fearsome mother – made plans to elope, she was locked in her room as Alva threatened to murder Rutherfurd.Stuart, p. 120 Consuelo refused until it was claimed that Alva's health was being undermined by Consuelo's stubbornness, and she appeared to be at death's door.Stuart, p. 121 Alva made an astonishing recovery from her supposed illness, and when the wedding took place, Consuelo stood at the altar reportedly weeping behind her veil.Stuart, p. 145–146 The Duke, for his part, allegedly gave up the woman he loved back in England and collected $2,500,000 ($91,600,000 in dollars) in railroad stock as a marriage settlement.Stuart, p. 135
Consuelo married the Duke at Saint Thomas Church in Manhattan, on 6 November 1895.Stuart, pp. 146–147 They had two sons, John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford (later 10th Duke of Marlborough and a godson of the future King Edward VII)MacColl, Wallace, p. 274 in 1897, and Lord Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill in 1898.Stuart, pp. 222–224
The new Duchess was adored by the poor and less fortunate tenants on her husband's estate, whom she visited and to whom she provided assistance. She later became involved with other philanthropic projects and was particularly interested in those that affected mothers and children.Stuart, p. 203 She was also a social success with the royalty and nobility of Britain.Stuart, pp. 212–213
Given the ill-fitting match between the Duke and Duchess, it was only a matter of time before their marriage was in name only. A few years into their marriage, Consuelo reconnected with Winthrop Rutherfurd and went on to spend two weeks in Paris with him. Soon after, she confessed to her husband that she loved Rutherfurd and wished to elope with him (the Duke's second wife, Gladys, later implied that Consuelo's second son was Rutherfurd's). In 1900, with the Duke's reluctant permission, she went to London to discuss the elopement with Rutherfurd, only for him to refuse her. In despair, the Duke set off for South Africa, where his cousin, Winston Churchill, was serving in the Second Boer War. He was away for six months, returning in July 1900. Upon his return, Consuelo confessed to having started an affair with his cousin, Reginald Fellowes.Reginald Fellowes is possibly Hon. Reginald Ailwyn Fellowes (1884–1953), second son of Lady Rosamond Spencer-Churchill and the 2nd Baron de Ramsey, who later married the heiress Marguerite Séverine Philippine Decazes de Glücksberg.Stuart, p. 359 She may also have had an affair with the artist Paul César Helleu, who portrayed her several times in his sketches and pastel artwork. The artist's daughter believed that Helleu and Consuelo probably had an affair between 1900 and 1901, which continued after his return to Paris, where she visited him and sat for him again.Stuart, p. 234 By this time the Duke and Duchess had completely stopped being intimate, and soon the Duke fell for Gladys Deacon, an eccentric American of little money but, like Consuelo, dazzling to look at and of considerable intellect.Stuart, pp. 252–254 After Consuelo's affair and planned elopement with the married Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (later 7th Marquess of Londonderry),Stuart, pp. 268–269 the Marlboroughs separated in 1906 and divorced in 1921. The marriage was annulled, at the Duke's request and with Consuelo's assent, on 19 August 1926.Stuart, pp. 288
Although largely embarked upon as a way to facilitate the Anglican Duke's desire to convert to Roman Catholicism, the annulment, to the surprise of many, was also fully supported by Consuelo's mother, who testified that the Vanderbilt-Marlborough marriage had been an act of unmistakable coercion. Alva told an investigator: "I forced my daughter to marry the Duke. I have always had absolute power over my daughter." In later years, Consuelo and her mother enjoyed a closer, easier relationship.
Marriage settlement and personal fortune Consuelo Vanderbilt is one of the wealthiest and best-known "dollar princesses" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the financial settlement at the center of her union with the 9th Duke of Marlborough continues to attract commentary and reference more than a century after the wedding took place.
During the period between her marriage to the Duke in 1895 and their divorce in 1921, Consuelo, her first husband and their two sons benefitted from circa $20,000,000 in gifts and inheritances from William K. Vanderbilt, including: The original 1895 marriage settlement: A $2,500,000 trust with a guaranteed minimum annual income of $100,000 for the Duke A $100,000 annual allowance for Consuelo during her father's lifetime, subject to a covenant that this amount would be guaranteed from a $2,500,000 payment from his estate after his death Approximately $2,500,000 spent from 1900 to 1904 on the land purchase, construction and furnishing of Sunderland House, a palatial London townhouse for the couple To Consuelo, a life interest in a $5,000,000 trust fund established in 1912, payable to her children after her death To Consuelo, an additional $450,000 trust fund established in 1917 From William K. Vanderbilt's estate following his death in 1920: To Consuelo, a 33.33% share of a $5,000,000 trust fund that her grandfather, William H. Vanderbilt, had established in his will for her father's benefit To Consuelo's sons, Lord Blandford and Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill, $1,000,000 each and a joint $900,000 trust fund
The Duke's trust The Duke received 50,000 shares of Beech Creek Railroad stock, valued at $2,500,000, which was to be placed in trust, with a guaranteed income of at least 4% ($100,000 or £20,000) per year to be paid to the Duke for his lifetime, and then to Consuelo if she survived him. Following the deaths of both Consuelo and the Duke, the income from the trust would be paid to the next Duke of Marlborough, provided that he was a descendant of the couple. In the event of Consuelo and the Duke not being survived by a son or male-line descendant, the trust would vest in their other descendants, which the Duke had the power to appoint by deed or will.
A 1944 court ruling in the Chancery Division of the English High Court of Justice held that death duties on this trust had become payable by Consuelo's son, the 10th Duke of Marlborough, upon the death of the 9th Duke in 1934, despite the fact that the income was still being paid to Consuelo for the remainder of her lifetime. The duties, with interest added for the period between the 9th Duke's death and 12 April 1946 were paid in 1946, and amounted to approximately £175,000.
Consuelo's trust Part of the marriage settlement took the form of a covenant made by William K. Vanderbilt to pay Consuelo $100,000 annually for their joint lifetimes; this provided for the payment of $2,500,000 within a year of his death to Consuelo's trustees, with the income to be derived by her for the remainder of her lifetime. If she predeceased the 9th Duke, the income was to be paid to him for his life, and following both of their deaths, the trust would vest in the couple's children, unless Consuelo made an alternative appointment in her will.
Following William K. Vanderbilt's death in 1920, the $2,500,000 was treated as a debt against his estate that was duly transferred to Consuelo's trustees.