Consuelo Vanderbilt was born into American royalty before being sent away to England at nineteen to marry a British duke against her wishes. The Glitter and the Gold is her story written in her own words as an elderly woman in the 1950s but at times the language feels very modern. She references how easy today’s (1952) children have it and that she is from one of the last generations to be raised with such strictness. Her mother used to discipline her with a switch and she had to wear a painful metal contraption to practice perfect posture.
Vanderbilt- Balsan was actually the inspiration for Lady Grantham on Downton Abbey, another American heiress although their marriage was a bit happier.
The book is most interesting when discussing Vanderbilt’s first marriage; while it was an arranged marriage and Consuelo had her heart set on someone else the marriage was a successful one by Victorian standards. Consuelo produced an heir and a spare for the Duke of Marlborough and successfully entertained every important European figure imaginable including Winston Churchill, Edward VII, Queen Alexandria & Tsar Nicholas and Queen Victoria herself. Conseulo and the Duke separated in 1906 before getting a scandalous divorce in 1921 so they could both marry new spouses.
Consuelo married for love the second time around, marrying a French millionaire named Jaques Balsan. A lifelong advocate for the poor, Conseulo ran a sanitarium in France with her husband until the onset of WWII when they evacuated Europe. Unfortunately the book abruptly ends with her boarding a plane in Spain bound for Florida and I feel like there was a lot left unsaid about an interesting woman from an under discussed time period.
Consuelo’s memoir barely skims the surface of what was most likely a fascinating life; this is most likely the result of her upbringing and the time period. I am left wondering if she would have spilled more dirt in the modern world but alas the former Duchess of Marlborough passed away in 1964.