Consuelo's Wedding | The Gilded Age

[@catsindabag6885]

I'd love to see a movie or even mini series where Kathy Bates plays alva

[@tfh5575]

that would be amazing

[@historylvr8000]

Agreed!

[@candysmith8724]

She'd be perfect

[@lorriebrady8373]

cat's in da bag Yes ! She would make the perfect Alva.

[@mitzinicoleritter211]

Ooooo, yes!!!

[@designsonyouinparis]

Consuelo was the great beauty of her time- I believe she was nearly 6' tall, elegant and graceful. This was not a happy marriage but, her second husband became the love of her life and she was able to live a very happy long life.

[@esterherschkovich5002]

Pleased to hear..

[@unrulysue6927]

@Robert Gardea ... ?? Ugh.

[@manager-nim2623]

@Robert Gardea you must be what they call an incel

[@variousJnames]

marie-elena Waldrip I always considered her so plain with the same aloof expression in all her photos.

[@helenabayato4747]

Thank God.

[@emacias1980]

When my mother divorced my father they did the same thing to her. Everyone shut there doors on her and us. The women were pissed she had the balls to leave my father.

[@freedmm3122]

Peaches same thing happened to me .i arrived a no good but when I divorced him some of my family even turned on me. Even thought they knew he was abusive.

[@sandranorman5469]

When I got my divorce back in 1974, I was cut off from all my friends. They didn’t want to get involved and they couldn’t believe that my husband could do that to me. And neither did the doctors. ‘What did you say to make him mad?”

[@jamesmcinnis208]

Where doors?

[@LittleKitty22]

The women were jealous that your mother had the guts to get out of an unhappy marriage and find happiness. They would have loved to do that themselves but knew they didn't have the backbone to do so. That's why they hated your mother. I used to have a false "friend" like that. She was piss poor but married this millionaire. I however am from a family of millionaires but have been robbed of everything for refusing to join in with the evil that my so-called "parents" dished out on the defenseless. I also made it clear to that "friend" that if I would ever marry, it would be for love only and no other reason. Oh boy did she hate me for my freedom...she smeared my name, made me out to be "unstable" to discredit my character (so typical for abusive people!), she tried to kill my cat and nearly succeeded! She went absolutely berserk. I ended the "friendship" soon after.

[@aubreysong]

It took a lot of courage for woman to fill divorce back then.

[@brokenlibrary2591]

The women snubbed her because they were kowtowing to their husband's wishes. No one wants to be a long suffering wife with no voice of your own, rich or poor.

[@jennifergottliebel-azhari149]

brokenlibrary2591 I dont think that is true. They did it on their own.

[@rebeccaclark9131]

Nah they did it because of peer pressure, you talked to the wrong person and suddenly your invite to the Duchess of Devonshire's tea party was oh so mysteriously lost in the post. Remember these people had literally nothing else to do all day except care about what other people thought about them and thus they took any damage to their 'reputation' very seriously - even if their reputation was only damaged by proxy by associating with the wrong people. Seems to me this sort of thing's just a symptom of when you have a whole class of society that's completely bored out of their minds and thus have to invent problems where none exist.

[@kateli1880]

Rebecca Clark seems like any group of humans, like rich teenagers with too much money (whether theirs or their parents) to burn.

[@juansierralonche9864]

Nonsense. Women have always judged other women way more harshly than men do. Marriage for life was what women wanted for themselves, it was a centuries long standard, and it was what women expected of other married women. Unless her husband beat the hell out of her (without a "good reason") divorce wasn't seen as an option by most women. Do you have any idea how many women fought AGAINST females getting the vote, or how many women have made outcasts of single mothers or other women who had affairs???

[@sophitsa79]

My mum experienced the same thing when she got divorced (and we're nowhere near rich!). My dad spread horrible rumours about my mum. The men in the community were cruel and one man even pushed her outside the church. The women stopped talking to her and she was ostracized for years. The husbands started dying one by one, and the wives started speaking to mum at church and apologising for their treatment of her. They even invited her over. They had been restricted in a male dominated society (traditional Greek migrants in Australia). They were also bored housewives who were titillated by my dad's stories and crocodile tears, though obviously knew/came to know that they were all vindictive lies. They couldn't speak until their husbands died.

[@QUARTERMASTEREMI6]

Poor Consuelo said, "I spent the morning of my wedding day in tears and alone - no one came near me.” 😢

[@SSNESS]

MGTOW

[@RoseRedd-k4b]

Nobody to comfort you, how sad.

[@pamelamays4186]

Alva's ex-friends when they hear about the Duke: Girl, where you been?

[@louise-yo7kz]

😂

[@bettyflipkowski235]

louise s

[@shebastinson7813]

They did in the states but in England she was still snubbed

[@bsteven885]

@@shebastinson7813, NOT EVEN in the States -- she was shunned EVERYWHERE because she DARED to divorce, and not bear it like ladies were supposed to do.

[@brahmabkitty03]

I would’ve said Bish Bye

[@carollambies4281]

The other ladies should have supported her when she divorced her philanderer.

[@vickyjanway4526]

It's all about the money.

[@chykim1]

Exactly

[@notthedoctor8621]

Philandering for a man was not and often today not seen as a man's responsibility or problem. We live in a patriarchy after all

[@clod8]

These women were all about status and who is “better”, so they thought inviting public scandal made her inferior. That’s how trapped in their rich but lame lives they were. I hope they at least hooked up with the stable boy now and then...

[@cynthiaburrus3901]

@@vickyjanway4526It wasn't really about the money for those doing the JUDGING. It was about the MORALITY of the wives who turned their heads away from Alva. It would have been hard to be faithful to Alva, which by virtually all accounts was an Uppity, judgemental shrew. But the truth is, if there was a divorce these wives knew that they would likely give their husband's lovers a RICH LIFE while the wives and children could be left penniless. It was an incredibly cruel time when men held the reins.

[@itzkirml]

Apparently Consuelo was secretly engaged to someone else, and her mother locked her in her room to stop her from eloping. Consuelo didn't want to marry the Duke, Alva threatened to have her secret fiance killed before resorting to lying about her health, saying she was about to die. It wasn't until her wedding day that Consuelo learned that Alva was lying. According to a few eyewitnesses Consuelo was sobbing into her veil. Alva sucks.

[@supermodelwannabe]

she was abusive to her daughter

[@jaynemcdaniel7891]

@@supermodelwannabe she behaved according to rules in society. She did not hurt her, she simply locked Consuelo in her room.

[@alison__16]

She wasn't the only bride who sobbed under her veil when marrying into the aristocracy/royalty. Princess Charlene springs to mind, and look what's happened to her.

[@katie195]

@@alison__16 Wallace Simpson was not the harridan people thought she was - she was trapped into that marriage

[@alison__16]

@@katie195 Wallace Simpson??

[@wholeNwon]

Consuelo wrote an insightful book titled, "The Glitter and the Gold". Interesting reading.

[@wholeNwon]

@Dela Flowers In America? Nope, money screams.

[@brendakabanda2181]

@@wholeNwon I love your comment.

[@V.E.R.O.]

Money rules! (Literally)

[@DjChampagne]

wholeNwon thanks will look for book

[@ekr66]

#wholeNon Unfortunately but absolutely true!

[@msrose4]

Her mom was the Kris Jenner of that generation 😂

[@MzBrownEyezDiior]

the accuracy!

[@PHlophe]

Kris did good by increasing her daughter's stock value . i think i would have done the same as Ava for a minute then get her to divorce and keep the title for herself + the kids

[@5DNRG]

No comparison. Laughable!🤤

[@kmanyrivers]

😅🤣😂

[@lindac6919]

Haha! Good one. I'd like to add that Kris knocks the cohones off all the Kardashian/Jenner men. I pity any boys born into that family . There is room for nothing but female ego in that family. I think Kanye and Travis Scott will also become females. I hope they do it soon, I won't live forever. Me and Betty White! She would have loved to see it. I want to see what those guys look like female, and how their tattoos come out after they change!

[@dyatlovingk]

I love the one historian's enthusiasm and how she tells the anecdotes, it really brings life to the story and it feels like she has a lot of joy for what she does.

[@DerWhimsy]

This was a diabolically wrong match, Consuelo loved someone else, her father wanted her to marry for love & in America, also the Duke was nobody's idea of a prince at the best of times & he despised the nouveau riche, detested overly educated females & was as indifferent to Conseulo's beauty as he was to her wifely affection. Lest anyone think that Consuelo's obedience to her parental authority was in vain, the Marlborough dukes have improved greatly since they have had her as an ancestor!

[@kennethspeed2019]

It was her mother that was so avid for the title. Her mother admitted that she forced Consuelo into the marriage. I suspect that she and the Duke despised each other completely.

[@leokasun7536]

Whimsey Maybury i

[@michellethewhoreatthelake936]

Is that your image? If so, really quite stunning

[@SpecialAgent-zn1vv]

"Titled Debauchés"... Ahhh, well said indeed...

[@Indiegirl007]

Was he gay? Like, what was his deal?

[@lubnarahman4608]

There's a great mini series I saw on KZbin some years back, called the Buccaneers. It's a brilliant show about a group of wealthy American heiresses looking for titled aristocrats in England, very much like the Consuela story. Would highly recommend it.

[@Midlife_Manical_Mayhem]

i enjoyed that twice!

[@seriejohnson698]

Will try to find it on the tube tonight 😊

[@Thatgirl1965]

The Buccaneers was EXCELLENT! Highly recommended made for tv movie based on a novel by Edith Wharton.

[@rinny02852]

@@seriejohnson698 great actors before yhey were famous: James Frain, Carla Gugino, Mira Sorvino.

[@kaddyd1815]

For the full story, read “Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt” by Amanda Mackenzie Stuart…..

[@centigradz2centigradz289]

Sad that other women dismissed her when she simply divorced a cheating husband who was flaunting his affairs to humiliate her.

[@njhawk89]

This sad story of Alva, her daughter Consuelo, and the impoverished Duke, is told in the book "Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt."

[@lorriebrady8373]

njhawk89. Ooh i gotta get it!

[@elizabethcarpenter4313]

A very interesting book. So good I've read it twice.

[@lovely-mk4rt]

Thank you

[@williamevans9426]

I love the so-called 'cottages' of Newport!

[@rhondabitler2461]

They are something else. Loved visiting them. I can never imagine such wealth. I don't understand the snobbery that went along with it but I could get into the luxury.

[@danielleporter1829]

Who remembers the show 'America's Castles" 🏰 that used to come on A&E years ago. Many of the Newport "cottages" like Marble House and The Breakers were featured on there.

[@rhondabitler2461]

@@danielleporter1829 I watched it every week.

[@mks9469]

I love hearing these little stories!! It’s so crazy how it is barely 100 years ago.

[@JaidThaMaid]

There needs to be a biopic on the Vanderbilts , specifically Alva and Consuelo … Rooney Mara would be perfect for Consuelo!

[@alison__16]

@samantha ssmith lol, no 😂😂😂

[@alison__16]

@samantha ssmith How can I, as a black woman, preferring a particular actress not to play a role, be racist? Or did you just assume my colour based on my white sounding name? The same way you assumed my disagreeing with your suggestion was based on her race?

[@ryanamari2233]

Sounds like Rose and her mother Ruth...arranged marriage to assure survival of a certain status

[@rosemarieroussel1505]

ryan tabb Q1

[@julijakeit]

how many women choose to marry someone only for their money today? maybe we should not judge so harshly societies we do not fully understand.

[@ingriddubbel8468]

Seriously, you are alluding to Titanic. What ever the betheothed's name was he wasn't a Duke.

[@unrulysue6927]

@@ingriddubbel8468, no SHE was the one with the title and he had the money.

[@notthedoctor8621]

@@julijakeit you realise it's both ways? More people get married to have the nucleus and the status rather than purely love. Why do you think so many Americans are twice divorced? In the states they push for children and marriage in their early twenties, it's puritan and ridiculous

[@donbrynelsen2157]

There is a famous cartoon by Charles Dana Gibson based on this. It depicts a young bride kneeling next to an aging nobleman before a blindfolded clergyman. The bride's hands are bound behind her by a rope held by her mother signifying she had no say in the matter, indeed I've read that Alva kept her daughter under guard to prevent her from trying to escape prior to the wedding.

[@JaidThaMaid]

Yes! I’ve seen it. Very “in your face” satire at the time it came out , I would presume.

[@Midlife_Manical_Mayhem]

@samantha ssmith what good is any of that if she was in love with someone else? even if not someone else, but not with him? would you marry someone you didn't love just because your mother wanted something out of it?

[@sweetrose813]

So glad things have changed! That wasn't fair! That lady stood for her rights, and got treated with contempt! Her husband was a cheat! Dear God how I hate the double standard where men can cheat and women are supposed to put up with it! Bravo that she would not! No matter how Society treated her she did the right thing there!

[@britusman]

Amen!!

[@lisaellis9749]

Agreed!

[@Dirtnap1986]

She did the right thing for herself, but then turned around and screwed over her daughter to get back in good Grace's with the same elite folks that shunned her!!

[@sweetrose813]

@@Dirtnap1986 no kidding!? Well then she wasn't any better than he was!

[@lindac6919]

It's not right. There are some people who are happy in a marriage like that - but both partners should agree BEFORE the wedding!

[@sokyoul]

I visited Newport and all the mansions there. Its so beautiful! And you also learn about the history of the people and their story was very interesting

[@radamik]

Just for the record Edith Wharton, who was one those elite, thought they were gaudy and appalling and wrote (or co-wrote) a book about interior design that helped set the standard for more livable, but still beautiful ways to live. A museum and a house are two different things. The media At the current time is full of stuff about today’s celebrities’ huge overdone houses, all of them to me look like nothing.

[@sokyoul]

@@radamik I dont really get your point🤔What are you trying to say? That the mansions and houses today all have bad style?

[@radamik]

Generally yes. Overstatement usually defeats its own purpose.

[@annconforti9294]

I've been to Newport, as well. It truly is a beautiful place.

[@justanotherhappyhumanist8832]

Ugh, wouldn’t it be horrible having such fake friends, in such a fake society? My mom was a social climber, and the people she was around were always like that (and she was too). I always despised it. She never really understood me. I never really understood her, either. I don’t think she liked having a daughter who cared more about ethics than social climbing. I, for my part, despised her toxic, manipulative behaviour, and that of the people she aspired to be around. Studies have repeatedly shown that wealth makes people more selfish and less empathetic.

[@Soundpj]

Yes. I agree. X

[@BackToNature123]

Which studies? It's important to question who did the study, who paid for it and what biases do they want to confirm with the study. Common sense to me is that money simply amplifies what is already there but i do a lot of personal development to catch my shadow, most people have a big chip on their shoulder about money. Yes neuroplasticity shows that our brains can be moulded but I find it hard to believe that money alone could have that impact. Social isolation from the breakdown of relationships may play a part however

[@jaynemcdaniel7891]

It’s HISTORY! We must learn from it.

[@christinecollins6648]

I have had such fake friends ( NYC- 90s), keep your status or you’re snubbed

[@golden8972]

Damn. I'm sorry!

[@selb4034]

I have a feeling Cora Crowley from Downton Abbey is based off Consuelo

[@BlueSwampyCraft]

Not on Consuelo, Cora has a happy marriage and Robert was much much pleasant than Marlborough. But she was indeed based on this prototype of “American princess”, a very rich American woman being married to a British aristocrat in a fortune-title exchange contract.

[@kaymuldoon3575]

Their story is based on a real life couple, but it wasn’t Consuelo and her husband. I can’t remember who the family was, but it was one of those arranged marriages, and after about a year into their marriage, they fell in love with each other.

[@jonnarobinson7541]

During the real time of Downton Abbey, the earl was married to a daughter of the Rothschilds. She had loads of money. Her father never married her mother, but she was excepted into society, even while being half Jewish and illegitimate. She saved the estate.

[@kendahkem5279]

They'd all have sold their children for titles, too... Mary Elizabeth Lease was just jealous that she hadn't gotten there first.

[@PHlophe]

I'd be pressed too. everyone wants to upgrade the family bloodline. I am a dad , and of course i want my daughter to marry well , i have laid the ground work , speak 3 languages and write those too , we are half german in our household and i speak French with all my kid. High education and travel across the globe , she plays cello and is a keen song writer + she play volleyball . Everything is being taken care of so my baby can reach for the stars.

[@shadrach6299]

I love any info about the Gilded Age and their customs. The "snobs" were ridiculous but interesting. I'm so glad Alva divorced her husband but "selling off Conseula" to a poor Brit with a title to regain her social status is too much . I would have told them to cram it. Edith Wharton wrote a great book, The Age of Innocence", addressing the subject of divorce among elite Americans during this time.

[@shadrach6299]

Read The Age Of Innocence by Edith Wharton. It’s all about this culture

[@kaddyd1815]

shadrach ....also by Edith Wharton...”the House of Mirth” and “Custom of the Country” both deal with this era and its impact on women....

[@agoogleuser4443]

@@shadrach6299 I read the book recently. A bit dull but it shows how brutal these society a-holes were. The upper crust is a bunch of crumbs held together by dough, as the old saying goes.

[@radamik]

Or Edith’s short story “Roman Fever” - love it. Probably one of her last works.

[@BucyKalman]

He was not "a poor Brit" with a title. First he was a Duke, whose ancestors included a major British war hero. Second, he simply owned Blenheim Palace for example, which, until today, is one of England's largest houses. Rather than saying he was poor, I would say he was having financial troubles and needed an American heiress to save his family's estate.

[@shizumaakiyama3129]

No one ever talk about their House In NY. Hyde park. Beautiful mansion.

[@arvillarothe6029]

That was one of the brothers who was happily married, but they had no children.

[@carollambies4281]

That was the house of another Vanderbilt relation. My childhood neighborhood was built across the street in what once was their cow pasture. I would cross the street and play on this estate.

[@michaelgaynor6866]

I read a book a long time ago, about the Vanderbilt Family. One of the ladies of the Family had a string of pearls that went all the way to the floor,a lady visitor commented on them.The lady with the pearls walked over to a table,took out a pair of scissors and cut them and said,WELL here you are!

[@persebra]

the lady visitor was Gloria Vanderbilt's mother, engaged to the son. thats from the book, Little Gloria, happy at last.

[@veronicafarlette3097]

That was Anderson Cooper's grandmother Gloria, when she proved she was a virgin, she wanted to marry Reggie Vanderbilt and when she proved to her future Mother-in-law with a letter from a well known society doctor that she was "Virgo Intacta" she received a piece of her future Mother-in-Law's pearl necklace snipped off in front of her, while being told "All Vanderbilt women have pearls".

[@kristinazubic9669]

@@veronicafarlette3097 “Big Gloria” Morgan! She was interesting.

[@judiesuh6858]

@@veronicafarlette3097 Yes...it's for the teaes they shed through their marriage to Vanderbilt men

[@veronicafarlette3097]

Actually it was Gloria Vanderbilt's grandmother who did this, she stated to Gloria's mother (also called Gloria) that all Vanderbilt women had pearls, so she cut a length of her pearl necklace and gave it to Gloria Morgan, who had come to give her future mother in law a statement from a very eminent M.D. that Gloria was a virgin. And no there would have been no pearls falling to the ground as real pearl necklaces are knotted between each pearl.

[@653j521]

When having all the money in the world isn't enough. Then they all got themselves bankrupted nobility. Was that finally enough? The trouble with humans is when they start to get competitive with their neighbors there is no end to the madness.

[@pppexplorer]

Ego ruins a lot of us as human beings. When in the grip of it, it can drive people crazy.

[@shadrach6299]

K Kr My only regret in life is trying to "keep up with the Joneses". I was young and I didn't even know why I was doing it.

[@shadrach6299]

I did it out of insecurity. And you know what, I gained nothing.

[@ingriddubbel8468]

Its human nature.

[@jeanberard2078]

Good for Alva! Her Newport cottage more like a mansion is beautiful. People tour it still. I was privileged to attend a brunch there with my husband back in the late 70’s. Alva is as intelligent and deserved better. I do feel badly for her daughter but back then that’s what the elite people did. Probably still do.

[@tootsla1252]

You know the old saying: Why is divorce so expensive/painful? Because it's worth it!!!!!

[@kattbeaches6249]

So she divorced and then makes an arranged marriage for her daughter????? What would this man do to her daughter but have affairs!!

[@justanotherhappyhumanist8832]

You know you’re rich when you call your palace a cottage lol

[@ms.sonshine8878]

It was not uncommon for a penniless titled to marry a wealthy American. Other than that we were looked down on.

[@48mavemiss2]

Ms. Sonshine that’s what sort of happened in my dad’s family. My great grandfather twice over was a middle class dentist mixed race man from Scotland. Because he was half black they sent him to Jamaica and he was married to an even wealthy Jewish white woman because they couldn’t find a “suitable” match in Scotland. It’s crazy.

[@bonniewatts4922]

Grace Kelly had the bucks and the guy from Monaco had the titles.

[@radamik]

Not sure he needed the money - Monaco was and still is wealthy. Plus, her family money and money she earned from her career were probably not all that much. Her father was not exactly a Vanderbilt or Rockefeller.

[@EuSeiT]

The gorgeous hair, dresses, jewelry... And the furs! To die for!

[@marysinclair2468]

The animals certainly did die for them.

[@hiddenname9809]

Seriously?

[@willowbrooke1215]

I just read her auto biography she wrote in the 1950s. Kinda cool hearing her talk about events in 1880 or 1888 etc

[@donaburns7912]

In my 8th decade of life, I know that I could have married “well” but chose to enjoy my younger years. Now I am disabled and old and dependent on my kids. Sometimes I think I was shortsighted but I did have fun. I never learned to be cunning. Was that a good or bad idea?

[@kitkat7517]

No sense looking back now hon. But it would have been just as easy to fall in love with a rich man than a poor one! Too bad there aren't that many rich ones around! Hope you at least got a "good" guy which is more important than money!

[@mcmrvr8584]

at least you enjoyed your younger years ;)

[@lovely-mk4rt]

In in your seat now. As we speak 🤓

[@lf3541]

Living well is the best revenge! Sounds like you had fun. Why stop now? Keep it up!

[@LittleKitty22]

You did the right thing staying true to yourselves! I'm from a very wealthy family but got literally kicked out and robbed off everything as I refused to engage in the evil that my so-called "parents" engaged in. They lived a life of lies and pretense, and hurting others for their own enjoyment. I choose not to be part of that. I got punished by way of having had everything taken from me, including my ability to prove who I am. I got trafficked to another country and have been ever since in bitter poverty, at the bottom of society, "underclass", and getting treated by absolutely everyone as if I were dirt on their shoes. I didn't even get the chance to marry well, or to marry anyone for that matter, as nobody ever wanted me in the first place due to me having nothing and nobody. Not even poor men want a girl that has nobody because of the assumption that there "must be something wrong with me" that I don't have anyone or anything, and that I must be "stupid and lazy" because I'm poor. The number of people that have asked me why I have "lost my way", or told me to "just make up with my parents" and "stop being a bad girl" defies all belief. I've been single all my life and expect nothing else for the rest of my life. I'm in my forties now and am under no illusion that no husband is going to come along now. But would I have done anything differently? Would I now, if I could go back in time, rather join in with the evil that my so-called "parents" so enjoyed, in order to live in wealth instead of suffering starvation, homelessness, having to work to collapse, getting bullied and hounded out of every job and now expecting destitution again? No I would not! I would make exactly the same decisions! Because I stayed true to myself. If you stay true to yourself you are happy - but if you live a lie you are not, no matter how much money you have. And at least you got kids that you can depend on - that's worth a lot!

[@tammiep9628]

I’m confused, hasn’t it always been money marrying money or titles???

[@lowesonia8551]

Its Amusing to see how many people are shocked by money for status. Isn't that what we all wish for our children. Get a good education. Have a Job you love. Marry your equal .Have a decent life repeating the circle. Now education too expensive .! Have to work 2 lousy jobs to pay the bills. Live with someone you hope cares for you as you for him (rarely the case ) get pregnant loose your looks end up single Mom .Working to survive. I prefer the first scenario.

[@DjChampagne]

Tammie P Nicky Hilton married a Rothschild I agree ☝🏼 but it makes sense they run in the same circles probably have friends in common

[@njhawk89]

A wonderful slice of Gilded Age history! For all the back story of the family drama, see the book FORTUNE'S CHILDREN: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF VANDERBILT. As great a story as "Downton Abbey"!

[@bellarose8511]

THAT’S a summer “cottage”?! Those “elite” woman are not nor would ever be anyone’s friend.

[@mefford67]

Bella Rose Thank You!

[@xyzllii]

Clever woman...she sounds a fun person....in a sea of deadbeat toffs.

[@lindafurr2404]

Learn more about Alva. She was a horrible mother to Consuela from the time she was a little girl until she was “ sold” off to the duke. She didn’t speak to her mother for years.

[@alysmari3956]

When her "friends" came sniffing back after they shunned her, Alva was like "biiiiiiiiiiishh....!!!"

[@P3891]

I doubt it. She probably reveled that they wanted her back

[@katiekat4457]

He did marry her for her money. If you watch the documentary about the last Dukes they say it their too. The dukes end up with these huge castles and estates but no money because the upkeep costs so much.

[@thephilosopherofculture4559]

Note that Consuelo at 2:00 dons the "impossible hairdo" of the Gibson girl variety, the most idealized ideal of the time.

[@ivettesantana4319]

Watching this in conjunction with HBO's new series the guilded age! But I always love PBS the most.

[@historylvr8000]

"You've Got The Looks, I've Got The Brains...Let's make lots of Money!" Lol

[@SwimmerPrince]

I LOVE PSB

[@idadudenmanner]

So frickin ridiculous, "society". I don't understand the people that care about it. It's literally adults playing a high school status game! A bunch of children playing with others lives. Because think of how many people who worked under them and who's fate, and their families fate, was in these overgrown tweens' hands!

[@caligulalonghbottom2629]

cant compare it to that, this was before high school drama became a thing. society was important until around the 70s... its always been a thing.

[@dubbie17]

This is just basically what created tabloids.

[@talitam.8414]

It’s still the same to this day lol!

[@lowesonia8551]

Consuelo Duchess of Marlebourgh Held the most prestigious Place in British Society . Her life was useful. Interested in the arts every Celebrity was to attend her weekend gatherings. . Her husband as is often the case led his own life . And she shone.

[@lindac6919]

That's an interesting thing. When you marry someone who doesn't pay much attention to you, you might be more free to live the life you want to lead.

[@nigelprance2540]

Interesting to note that the squatter German Windsors would revile Lady Diana as some sort of interloper when she was of much purer British blood being a direct relative of the Duke of Marlborough and the Spencer family.

[@louiscaruso4167]

She was what mother called "new money".

[@radamik]

Hello Louis. Can’t believe it. From Studio 54 to the Vanderbilts. Always loved the 660 Fifth mansion, of all the gilded age palaces in n y I think it was the best. The Cornelius house where Bergdorf Goodman now is was too ornate for me.

[@louiscaruso4167]

@@radamik Hello yourself....Anderson Cooper...mom was GV...Anderson bought an old firehouse on 84 West 3rd Street....a few years ago for about 5 million...restored it and it is now one of his homes...Bergdorfs has the most beautiful Holiday Windows...and on my modest income, I have managed to snag a few purchases there...There is no other store like it...just like Studio 54...there will never be another club like it....be well and be safe.

[@radamik]

Interesting thing about Anderson: his father Wyatt Cooper was one of the coolest-dressed men of the 70s - of course married to Gloria V how could you not be. Discovered this in my eternal quest to show that 70s fashion and design was some of the best ever. It’s now my own pet project called “many things seventies” ( can’t call it “all” obviously). From the blouson jacket of 1973 to the $200 Charivari vest I would have bought in 1979 if I had had $200 I’ll try to include as much as possible.

[@deellaboe437]

They always thought of them as new money. The underdogs. Gloria Vanderbilt was amazing!

[@AB-hm3iq]

Are they related to anderson cooper and Winston Churchill?

[@Jay-ic5kb]

Anderson is Gloria Vanderbilts son, heir to her fortune at over 200 million, so yes, he is a descendent of the railroad tycoon and my neighbor in NYC...

[@tammyatkinson7084]

Jayne I heard Gloria Vanderbilt left nothing to her son...A.C.

[@kitkat7517]

Tammy- it later came out that she did indeed leave the majority to Anderson (around 200 million), some money and a home to one of her older sons and nothing to the other son. She was smart not to let Anderson think he was going to inherit, because in his own words, it made me have the drive to succeed. Compare him to Meghan McCain also a 200 million dollar trust fund baby and you will see the difference in temperment and entitlement.

[@janlovesmany6058]

@@Jay-ic5kb She was in their standards BROKE' on her death.

[@helaholmes2977]

Churchill was the Duke of Marlborough’s cousin and Churchill and Consuelo actually became friends and kept in contact after Consuelo annulled her marriage.

[@LisaG442]

It didn’t matter how wronged the woman was, she could’ve been an abused wife with everyone knowing it and blaming the husband. But the second she got divorced she’d be cast out from society. Tainted. Put up and shut up was a woman’s lot in life, including an arranged marriage to a man she’d hardly know. Under normal circumstances the Duke of Marlborough wouldn’t have touched Consuelo with a ten foot pole after the mother’s divorce .. taint by association! But he was buying Consuelo as he was broke. And poor Consuelo had been groomed for such a match her entire life. What a shame for a mother to use her child for a title this way, with no regard for the child’s happiness at all.

[@talitam.8414]

Someone makes a movie about that woman please!

[@21whichiswhich]

Here in the Philippines there is still NO Divorce until now it is already 21st century.

[@designsonyouinparis]

21whichiswhich in Spain, couples do not divorce very often- Legally they are married but live their lives separately due to taxes, financial and property losses- I say that is the way to go.

[@ariannapac6535]

My ex married a girl from the phillipines ..he cheats on her with many women ....so you must be right. No divorce.

[@agoogleuser4443]

Yet another reason not to get married, lol.

[@PHlophe]

@@ariannapac6535 you follow the married Pinay on FB to keep tabs on her while you eat grapes and cheese lol!

[@connietreloar2102]

Consuelo was a fascinating woman. She proved her humanity during WWI and II when she lived in France with her beloved second husband.

[@omargoodnesssake]

Mary Elizabeth Lease was correct in a way. From the late 19th century well into the early 20th century a lot of wealthy Americans married their daughters into titled British high society. Thought as Americans we wanted to get away from all that aristocracy stuff.

[@michelejensen1527]

I believe the Americans wanted to conduct business with the British. Marrying off their daughters to Nobility gave them an in.

[@thesilentdiva]

Which is odd cause they were creating their own high society caste system here

[@eringemini7091]

According to the 1915 book;" Titled Americans" 454 American Heiresses married into the European Aristocracy during the Gilded age, and Progressive era.

[@l.robinson5833]

A Gilded Age television series would be great to watch.

[@PHlophe]

Voeu exaucé, je présume !

[@slouberiee]

I would recommend reading the book Age of Innocence.

[@junesilvermanb2979]

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine Pictorial Review. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Appleton & Company. It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. Though the committee had initially agreed to give the award to Sinclair Lewis for Main Street, the judges, in rejecting his book on political grounds, "established Wharton as the American 'First Lady of Letters'". The story is set in the 1870s, in upper-class, "Gilded Age" New York City. Wharton wrote the book in her 50s, after she had established herself as a strong author, with publishers clamoring for her work.

[@kataisa3]

Edith Wharton’s books offer a great insight into the suffocating elitism of the higher classes.

[@pamelahicks517]

True, they were called the dollar princesses. Consuelo finally divorcee him and married for love. Good for her!!! The rich in America wanted a title and the almost broke titled men in England desperately needed rich wives. The nouveau riche sold their daughters for titles. Fortunately the trend eventually ended.

[@PHlophe]

i think that is the reason why americans are salty because Meghan got the money and she got the unburdened Prince , all for love. and they are both pretty. Everyone thinks, now how can i a poorer girl who made her own money get herself the cutest prince.

[@jaynemcdaniel7891]

And the Million Dollar Princesses!

[@cunderw12]

I want to see a Vanderbilt movie; or better yet a series with multiple seasons. I need, and want to learn more about this time.

[@lindac6919]

That last quote was a doozy. "Once we made the boast that this country was not founded on any class distinction." Oh no, never founded on class. Just founded on the original founding corporations, land grants, charters, inherited wealth, and social climbing. How noble she is.

[@diankreczmer6595]

Love the Gibson girl hairdo. Oooo La la !

[@coolcutsgal2]

Not uncommon during the late 1800's of European countries. Americans were selling themselves out for titles. Perfect recent example of this history is the Dowton Abbey pbs series.

[@P3891]

Except Downton is fictional this is about a real person.

[@barbaraiverson2035]

Which was the basis for the marriage of Cora and Robert in "Downton Abbey".

[@michaelgardner-vn6kn]

Consuelo Vanderbikt Balsan wrote her autobiography The Glitter and the Gold, in 1953

[@lynn.d1015]

Those wives should have found boyfriends for themselves

[@agoogleuser4443]

Agreed. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. The royals certainly took sleeping around to an art form, why not the women in America?

[@lynn.d1015]

A Google User ❤️

[@tommoncrieff1154]

They did. The deal with dynastic or arranged marriages was fidelity until you had at least an heir and a spare and then you had affairs. For wealthy wives they were always with married men, that was the limitation. Their homes were designed to allow for wide swapping, that's what people did at country house weekends. It was incredibly discreet and by and large is not recorded because their children did not know.

[@shellieeyre8758]

Marlborough is pronounced Marlbruh, not Marlburrow.

[@chykim1]

Congratulations

[@dailylifewithhimanshi3411]

History and Sociology the evolution of people as societies and how we come to be what is today is the most interesting thing.. Anyone else feel the same?

[@audreykennedy8891]

Poor Consuelo. Being forced to marry.

[@danyaradimacher6581]

Consuelo married the 9th Duke of Marlborough, sadly it wasnt a very happy marriage

[@NaYawkr]

Alva sold Conswelo to the penniless English duke who told her on her wedding day that he never loved her, he married the money, and Alva bought a title for her daughter. Alva next married August Belmont of Belmont racetrack fame, a man who loved horses so much that the entire ground floor of his mansion was a stable so well kept that it was said you could never smell a horse when in that house. Alva probably had a resemblance to a horse, would be my guess.

[@jandrews6254]

NaYawkr well then, since she married a horse’s arse, all good!

[@Lizzie-ve7kt]

When I went on a tour of Marble House in Newport they had the awful homemade brace Alva forced Consuelo to wear all throughout her childhood so that she’d develop perfect stick straight posture, it was legit a rod going straight up and down her back like some sort of nightmarish version of a scoliosis brace (which is even worse because Consuelo had no spinal or physical posture issues, it was just for aesthetics that she had to do that)

[@jerrysstories711]

3:18 She didn't sell her daughter to a debauchee. She paid a debauchee to take her daughter.

[@chowchow5835]

the music is nice

[@kobrakitsch877]

This interesting story of a real life wedding between an impoverished British aristocrat and a very wealthy American heiress feels and sounds a lot like the origin story of DOWNTON ABBEY.

[@kristinazubic9669]

Cora Levinson Crawley was based on the real “dollar duchesses” of the time. Everyone thought that when Sir Julian talked about writing a gilded age story he meant he would write how Robert met Cora. (The one he did write is good so far though!)

[@nioviiosif5134]

Am I the only one who randomly got this suggested by youtube only bc I watch the Gilded Age from Julian Fellowes. I love that series btw it is simply incredafabulous...but then again every tv show julian makes is great..downton abbey was a hit and still is..especially considering he's making a 2nd movie rn.

[@BucyKalman]

@@nioviiosif5134 I suspect the Russels in Julian's The Gilded Age are loosely based on the Vanderbilts, so I wouldn't be surprised if Gladys ended up being the show's version of Consuelo.

[@rhonahall3824]

Snobbery at its best.

[@hotoneinspai]

I think in the opening comments on Mrs. Vanderbilt's divorce...that "She didn't get to keep her social standing" you fail to mention the Vanderbilts were never "old money" In fact, they didn't break into the upper echelons of high Society for many years, and it was normal for both Windows and Diovorcee's to both get dropped off the Lists of Society..." Banished " isn't the right word it's too strong! " Dropped " is kinder... & It wasn't just Mrs. Vanderbilt who went through this. though as your interviewer pointed out...She did have a huge ego and maybe thought she could pull it off... & She did that and some, a little while later.

[@alessiman]

Someone should do a mini series on the Gilded Age. Much like how they did Downton Abbey. Reckon it would be a huge hit!

[@JoyFay]

HBO

[@globalfamily8172]

Actually quite a few of my ancestors got divorced in the 19th century. It's not common, but not weird.

[@kaymuldoon3575]

My great grandparents got divorced in the 1890s I believe. They didn’t have money, either. Lived in a small town in midwestern America.

[@takktakterakk]

does anyone know where I can wath this outside the U.S.?

[@51Saffron]

A marriage not wanted by Consuelo, and a very unhappy one. Luckily, she did marry the love of her life.

[@jab6872]

... and then he went on to marry Gladys Deacon and that's a whole new story of interest!

[@Alina-rd8ub]

The Kardashians of the Gilded Age lol

[@Bondisaurus]

I was just thinking the same thing. Lol

[@ablargh]

lol not even close

[@treasuremcclain9584]

Except for they invented the entire railway system, but ok...

[@lindawatkin9667]

True

[@suzi7715]

EXACTLY!!!!

[@chrisw1090]

Such a pity that PBS can't take the trouble to find the correct pronunciation of Malborough

[@joygernautm6641]

This reminds me of Downton Abbey.

[@KINGCABA-if4nk]

How do you watch this outside the USA viewers.

[@Dstew57A]

Yup... and look where it’s all got us

[@bjradrian3983]

You go Alva Vanderbilt, show 'em what for.

[@jonnarobinson7541]

Alva did not too too badly for herself. She had a second marriage to a very wealthy man.

[@kelebeck5905]

This could be the mother and wife in Downton Abbey’s storyline

[@kaymuldoon3575]

Actually the Downton Abbey characters were based off of Lady Alvina and her husband Lord Carnarvon. They were/are the family that owns Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey was filmed.

[@annehersey9895]

Winston Churchill’s mother, Jenny Jerome, was one of these girls who became what were called Dollar Princesses. Many rich American mothers bought their daughters titles. These men were going broke maintaining these massive elaborate country estates and a huge house in London for the season. These rish girls enabled their husbands to keep their properties. Some of these men were gay so it solved 2 problems. On Downton Abbey, the mother Cora, was one of these dollar Princesses.

[@giaatta9303]

I feel so sorry for Consuelo.

[@Luboman411]

I just finished watching the first season of HBO's "The Gilded Age" and I am an avid fan of "Downton Abbey." I gotta say, the social climbing on this side of the Atlantic was AWFUL, especially among this New York society lot. The snobbery was ten times worse than in aristocratic Britain. It had mostly to do with this very phenomenon--it was so easy for even an Alva Vanderbilt to lose social standing so damn quickly. Easy come, easy go is the American way. And it makes anxious messes of people, even the wealthy, powerful and high born in Gilded Age society. Contrast that to Britain, where people were just more serene because they knew where they stood in the pecking order and it would take an act of God to get one to climb up or climb down from their respective places. Made for people not so full of anxiety or nasty backbiting and backstabbing because they were more content with their lot.

[@maxinejacobson4006]

Consuelo didn’t love the “Dyook, even juke” not the dook, of Marlborough, but he was in love with someone else also. These marriages of convenience were of the time, and can’t be equated to modern day living.

[@ratso4443]

Alva said, “Check mate!”

[@azabujuban-hito8085]

Her daughter has a freakishly long neck !

[@fool4singing]

Probably from wearing that horrible steel posture brace that her mother forced her to wear...

[@kennethspeed2019]

Consuelo Vanderbilt was 6'0" tall, willowy and beautiful. At first the English commoners thought she was a freak but they came to recognize her beauty quickly. John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Baldoni accentuated her long neck in their portraits of her.

[@elizabethhopkins7582]

Sumida Ryogoku Yes she had an elegant swan neck which was perfect for the fashions of her day.

[@azabujuban-hito8085]

Elizabeth Hopkins more freaky than elegant.

[@kennethspeed2019]

And yet she was considered a great beauty of the era. John Singer Sargent, Giovanni Boldini, and Paul Cesar Helleu all painted her portrait and accentuated her long neck. She had, I think, three husbands and three lovers, one was Paul Cesar Helleu. Are we supposed to believe them or be hobbled by your ignorance?

[@sarahjuarez1433]

It's crazy how they treated her. Oh how dare you leave your no good cheating asshole husband. They acted like she had the affair. I'm sure if she did or was found out. Her husband would definitely had left her. Glad she left the jerk... and besides I'm sure she didn't wanna catch an s.t.d.

[@junesilvermanb2979]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexually_transmitted_infection

[@sarahjuarez1433]

@@junesilvermanb2979 really no point to send me that. I know what a s.t.d is. Thank you but no thanks.