UGUIDE Downton ABBY
The war is over, but intrigue, crisis, romance, and change still grip the beloved estate in the thrilling new season of Downton Abbey, written and created by Julian Fellowes. Oscar®-winning guest star Shirley MacLaine joins the series’ returning all-star cast.
It’s the late 1800s. Your family is plenty rich. But you still don’t get invitations to the best parties. How do you solve this social predicament? If you’re like the character of Cora Crawley, American wife of the Earl of Grantham on the hit series Downton Abbey, you get creative and buy your way into the British aristocracy. You become what old-money New Yorkers have started calling you: a Dollar Princess.
Across the pond, the landed gentry had always depended on tenant farmers to fund their lavish estates and lives of leisure. Then England went through an agricultural depression, and cash flow for the upper classes became a serious issue. For royals with shrinking bank accounts and no backup plan, title-hungry American heiresses represented a path back to prosperity.
One particularly notable fan of the American invasion was the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, or as he was more colloquially known, Bertie. As Prince, Bertie had very few responsibilities beyond looking princely. So, until he became King Edward VII (at the age of 59), he had plenty of time for his favorite things: lavish parties, good food and drink...and female companionship. “American girls are livelier, better educated, and less hampered by
etiquette,” he once enthused. “They are not as
squeamish as their English sisters...”
Once the Prince of Wales approved of a young lady, the rest of English society could hardly stand in her way. And in 1874, that’s exactly what happened when Jennie Jerome broke the ice for the rest of the heiresses and married Lord Randolph Churchill. Parents on both sides of the Atlantic were aghast, but Bertie wholeheartedly approved. Years later he would say to Jennie’s son, future Prime Minister Winston Churchill, “you know, you wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.”
Oscar Wilde
Bertie wasn’t the only fan of beautiful, young American women seeking British nobility. Other notable supporters included Oscar Wilde, who wrote, “American women are bright, clever, and wonderfully cosmopolitan...[and they] can actually tell a story without forgetting the point — an accomplishment that is extremely rare among the women of other countries.”
All of this social activity wasn’t lost on well-heeled beauties back home in the states. Eligible bachelorettes took advantage of the growing network of American nobility with letters of introduction, which, in turn, led to invitations to all the best events — and occasionally even a soiree that His Royal Highness would be attending. The lesson learned? Impress the king and you’re in.
Fortunately for them, there was more than one way to catch an aristocrat. Ambitious ladies (and the merely curious) could check out available British gentlemen by subscribing to The Titled American. Each issue contained a list of heiresses who’d married a noble — plus the stats of titled bachelors:
Liberated and more independent-minded, American heiresses in England stood out. They said what they thought. They spent lavishly on their wardrobes, unlike the more demure and conservative Brits. And they knew how to get British tongues wagging. Some of the liveliest ladies are below — tap a picture to learn more:
Jennie Jerome
Consuelo Yznaga
Mary Leiter
Jeannie Chamberlain
Jennie’s marriage to a son of the Duke of Marlborough shocked society. An unconventional beauty, she had a snake tattoo around her wrist and was known for telling risqué stories and having numerous affairs. She campaigned in support of her husband’s political career, and later became something of a political mentor to her son, Winston Churchill. After her husband’s death, she married a man Winston’s age and quipped, “He has a future and I have a past, so we should be all right.” Years later she married for the third time — to a man even younger.
Among the most flamboyant of the Dollar Princesses, Consuelo was an uninhibited cigar-smoking beauty from Louisiana whose father hailed from a rich Cuban family. Consuelo married the future Duke of Manchester and taught the Prince of Wales to play the banjo. Her husband was declared bankrupt in 1890, so Consuelo, in need of some spending cash, reportedly accepted “gifts” in return for introductions to high society.
Mary was a charming and wealthy belle from Washington, D.C. who fell head over heels for the ambitious George Curzon, eldest son of Viscount Scarsdale. (In what was a very bold move at the time, she sent him a tie pin made with a pearl from her necklace.) When George became Viceroy of India, Mary became the second-highest-ranking woman in the British Empire after the Queen.
Labeled “the American Beauty” and “the Morning Glory” by the press, Jeannie Chamberlain of Cleveland also made quite an impression on the Prince of Wales — so much so that he allowed her to address him as “Prince Tum-tum” and “Jumbo.” (Bertie’s love of good food had wreaked havoc on his waistline.) Jeannie married a friend of the Prince’s, Captain Herbert Naylor-Leland of the Grenadier Guards.
premieres Jan. 6 on MASTERPIECE on PBS. Until then, explore all things Downton, from war to peace to everything in between, at www.pbs.org/downton.
