American dollar princess
The so-called American dollar princesses were wealthy American women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who married into titled European families, exchanging wealth for prestige.
According to a book called Titled Americans (1915), there were 454 marriages between Gilded Age and Progressive Era American women and European aristocrats.[1] The Library of Congress claimed in a reference guide that "American heiresses married more than a third of the House of Lords."[1] The Spectator claims that among the marriages were 102 "British aristocrats", including "six dukes."[2]
Women called dollar princesses[edit]
- Jennie Jerome married Lord Randolph Churchill in 1874.[3][1]
- Mary ‘Minnie’ Stevens, daughter of Paran Stevens, married General Sir Arthur Henry Fitzroy Paget in 1878.[1]
- Frances Ellen Work married James Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy in 1880.[4]
- Mary Leiter Curzon, a Marshall Field's heiress, married Lord Curzon in 1895 and became Vicereine of India, making her the highest-ranking American-born woman in the history of the British Empire.[5][1]
- Consuelo Vanderbilt married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1895.[6]
- Nancy Langhorne married Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor in 1897.[1]
- Mary ‘May’ Goelet married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe in 1903.[1]
- Margaretta Drexel, daughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel, married Guy Finch-Hatton, 14th Earl of Winchilsea in 1910.[1]
- In the early 1920s, Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark, a wealthy widow born Nonie May Stewart in Ohio, who had married the brother of the King of the Hellenes, was described as battling the American dollar princess stereotype.[7][8]
- A 1928 news report suggested that an unnamed American dollar princess might be last in the running to wed Boris III of Bulgaria.[9]
- Consuelo Yznaga became Viscountess Mandeville, and was the inspiration for Edith Wharton's The Buchaneers. She became the Duchess of Manchester when her husband succeeded to the dukedom in March 1890[1]
In fiction[edit]
The phrase seems to appear frequently as a trope of fiction, such as in Georgina Norway's Tregarthen (1896):[10]
With Coventry so expensive a man, and Algernon's debts always coming to be paid off, and the girls unmarried, I can assure you that we are awfully poor ourselves. I may tell you, in confidence, strict confidence, that I often dare not send Madame Elise's bills to the earl! But you must must try, my dear. We must look out for an American dollar princess for you. They expect a title, certainly, in general, but we must hope.
A 1920 book review described a new novel as "plot simplicity itself, being concerned essentially with the struggle of two wealthy girls, a vulgar American 'Dollar Princess' and a charming Lancashire lass, for the love of a young farmer baronet who cleaves, like his forefathers, to the old religion."[11]
The Buccaneers, a 1938 novel by Edith Wharton, is set in this milieu.[5]
A 2023 Library Journal review of a title in the "Gilded Age Heiresses" romance-novel series describes a plot scenario wherein "American 'Dollar Princess' Camille, now the Dowager Duchess of Hereford after her horrible husband's death, decides to ask Jacob Thorne, co-owner of an infamous club and the illegitimate son of an earl, for help discovering if she can find pleasure with a man."[12]
See also[edit]
- List of American heiresses
- Nouveau riche
- Regency romance – Subgenre of romance novels
- British peerage
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Saelee, Mike. "Research Guides: Dollar Princesses: Topics in Chronicling America: Introduction". guides.loc.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ Shakespeare, Nicholas (2017-06-08). "Gilded prostitution". The Spectator. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ Shields, Pamela (2009-10-15). Hertfordshire Secrets & Spies. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2872-1.
- ^ "How American 'Dollar Princesses' Invaded British High Society". HISTORY. 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
- ^ a b Henderson, Amy. ""Downton Abbey" and the Dollar Princesses". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ "ADAF — Individual Lectures: Dressed in Diamonds: American Princesses and Gilded Age Fashion Kevin L. Jones, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Museum". adafca.org. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ "New Castle Herald 20 Dec 1922, page Page 1". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ "THE AMERICAN DOLLAR PRINCESS IN GREECE". Current Opinion: 78 v. 1888.
- ^ "The Bristol Herald Courier 03 Sep 1928, page 7". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ Norway, G. (1896). Tregarthen. London: Hurst and Blackett.
- ^ "Yorkshire and Lancashire in recent fiction". The Bookman: 87 v. 1920.
- ^ Review: The Duchess Takes a Husband. By: Kobiela-Mondor, Jenny. Library Journal. Mar2023, Vol. 148 Issue 3, p132-132. 1/6p. ,
Further reading[edit]
- De Courcy, Anne (2017). The husband hunters : American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy. New York, N.Y. ISBN 978-1-250-16459-9. OCLC 1001329527.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Montgomery, Maureen E. (1989). "Gilded prostitution" : status, money, and transatlantic marriages, 1870–1914. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00626-0. OCLC 18351804.