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Jun 2, 2011 · Call them whatever you want; Gilded Age Heiresses, Dollar Princesses, Buccaneers– they all point to the same type of woman. Spanning about a twenty year time period wealthy American ladies of marrying age headed across the pond to snag the ultimate in opulent accessories: a noble title. In this episode, the third part of our Gilded Age series, we […]
The Brief Noble Life of a Toothpaste Queen Most of the Gilded Age Heiresses who crossed the sea in search of a noble title were the daughters of self-made men. One exception was Cora Smith, who married the soap company heir Samuel J Colgate (39 years her senior) and was left at his death a very rich widow – the estate was valued at over $260 million in today’s money.
Dec 18, 2023 · Dollar princesses: the American heiresses who changed the face of British aristocracy. Discover the history of the so-called ‘dollar princesses’ – the eligible heiresses from self-made American families who married into the British aristocracy – and brought billions of pounds with them. In the late 19th century, the wealth of the ...
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- HISTORY Vault: America the Story of Us
During the Gilded Age, marrying British aristocrats was seen as a way for American heiresses to raise their social status.
When Jennie Jerome and Lord Randolph Churchill announced their engagement in 1874, his parents were horrified. The couple had only known one another for three days, and Jerome—the tattooed daughter of a philandering financier and a social climber—was an American socialite, not a British noblewoman. Appalled, the Churchills tried to block the match…until they did the math.
Jerome’s family might have humble origins, but they were outrageously wealthy. Lord Randolph’s parents were not, and Jerome’s father was willing to pay a dowry that equaled the equivalent of over $4.3 million dollars today. The marriage went forward with the grudging approval of Lord Randolph’s parents.
They could have no way of knowing that Jerome, who became Lady Randolph Churchill when she married in 1874, would be the mother of a future prime minister, Winston—or that by allowing their aristocratic son to barter his title for much-needed wealth, they had helped spark a trend.
Between the late 19th century and World War II, a flood of “dollar princesses” flocked to England looking for love. In return for a coveted title, they offered their much-needed wealth to an aristocracy desperate for cash. And along the way, they helped change British royalty forever—including the lives of the modern-day heirs to Britain’s throne.
Jerome was just one of hundreds of heiresses thought to have injected the equivalent of a billion pounds into the British economy. The exchange was worth it in their eyes; they knew that marriages to people with titles like Lord, Viscount and Duke would improve their family’s fortunes back in the United States and solidify their position on the American social circuit.
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May 15, 2011 · AMERICAN HEIRESSES. Ms. Joyce Jonas’s presentation ventured into the glitter of high society life from the late 1800s onward through the window afforded by American heiresses and their jewelry. As empires crumbled, wealthy americans were able to buy the jewels of European nobility. So began a tradition of amassing great jewelry collections ...
Jul 26, 2024 · Husband hunters: American heiresses who married Into the British aristocracy. Cover art for the book, "The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York", by Anne de Courcy. Anne de Courcy, author of the book "The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York" talks with BHT about the real-life Downton Abbey, Lady Coras, and ...
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Apr 14, 2008 · Between the years 1870 and 1914, hundreds of American heiresses flooded the shores of Britain and Continental Europe. To this day, their influence (and lineage) can be traced through many noble European households, and even some royal ones (Princess Diana was descended from New York heiress Frances Work, and the mediatized House of Croÿ is lead by the grandson of an American heiress).
