The American Duchess---in Her Own Words (Kushiel's Legacy)

I found this memoir a surprisingly dark view of marriage into the British aristocracy.
Vanderbilt, as an American heiress was virtually sold by her ambitious mother to one of the oldest noble families in Britain. She became the Duchess of Marlborough, a cousin to Winston Churchill. Unimpressed by her title, she endured ten years of marriage, gave the Duke two sons and obtained a divorce, not an easy process in early twentieth century England.
While she found happiness in her second marriage to a French businessman, Jacques Balsan, she devoted her time and position to help women obtain the vote and better their lives. Finally in 1940 she was forced to flee from the invading Nazi army as France fell to Germany. This made an exciting conclusion to the otherwise repetitive account of her social actitvties.

This was a rather dull book. Consuelo does not provide any "inside" information. "The American Heiress" is a fictionalized version of this story and a more entertaining read. If you are looking for better info on the Vanderbilt family "Fortunes Children" is a very entertaining book.

This was an interesting story that could have been told in a much more interesting way. Consuelo Vanderbilt, (granddaughter of the Commodore) was raised by a strict, social-climbing mother who berated and insulted her and then married her off against her wishes to an English count. She lived a loveless life full of pomp, outdated ceremony, intricate social rules, and inexplicable tenets of behavior--but of course! limitless funds. She tells stories of meeting royalty, growing up with Winston Churchill (her cousin), living in a Downton Abbey-style estate, and finally divorcing her husband and becoming a renowned philanthropist.
All of this, however, is told in a dry and boring style that gets so repetitive I skimmed through the last half of the book. She certainly was an interesting character and led an amazing life, but the book was a snore.

I always wanted to know about Consuelo Vanderbilt's marriage to a Duke. And if she have to suffer some lack of prestige of the English aristocrats way of life, for her being a wealthy American! This book in some parts have shed a light on my curiosity!

Although ghost-written this book is a fascinating look at the turn of the (last) century practice of marrying American heiresses to impoverished English noblemen. Although not exactly a "tell-all" it is definately a "tell some."

Consoelo Vanderbilt, being the richest heiress around, made the "best" catch, the 9th Duke of Marlborough owner of Blenheim Palance, England's largest private house, built by his ancestor John Churchill, the First Duke. Unfortunately Blenheim, although a fabulous pile, did not have the thousands of acres of land needed to generate revenue to support it and the Duke was in desperate need of the railroad stock that was Consoelo's dowry.

What he was less in need of was Consoelo herself, and, as this book makes clear, had no regard, much less affection for her at all. Consoelo describes living in Blenheim and having to deal with the oddities of the British and the Duke, who would play tricks like "stealing" valuable ornaments from Blenheim so that Consoelo would have to deal with the alledgedly larcenous servants. She also describes the boredom and hassle of entertaining King Edward VII at house parties which involved numerous clothes changes and meal after elaborate meal all in the company of the insular (and sometimes insulting) British aristocrats. Thanks to the "table of precedence" she would have to sit next to the same crashing bores for every meal.

Eventually...well I won't give everything up except to say with the popularity of "Downton Abbey" I think this book should get some attention since it was written by someone who was really among the British aristocracy.

This memoir tells the tale of an American heiress, who must leave the man she loves and marry her mother’s choice of an English Duke in the late 1800s. She and others like her, brought the financial means to save many aristocratic estates in England, but struggled with the differences in societal norms between England and the U.S. While she lacked love, Consuelo did her best to use her position for good, and reports on both the internal and external society of the times, mentioning some of the famous people that she came in contact with over the years. When her marriage became intolerable, she found a way to move forward and eventually found real love with Jacques Balsan.

Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan's story is a marvelous tale of heartbreak and adventure. It's also a rare picture of a lifestyle that was as glamorous as it was unenviable.
I loved the language of this book. It's written the way upper class people talked in the early 20th Century -- that slightly formal English that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the age of sloppy grammatical constructions like "looking to" (as in "she's looking to marry") or "I was, like" (as in "I was, like, really angry") or the appalling lack of appropriate pronoun use in much modern writing ("He handed copies to her and I").
Like the lady she was, she has written a careful account of the people she knew, the places she went and the things she did, but has equally carefully omitted the highly personal details that modern autobiographies pretend to give their readers. When she expresses her dismay at being forced to marry a man she didn't love, she's quite cool about it all. That's the way ladies were back then. She had lovers (as did most of her social crowd) but she doesn't elaborate. She would have been appalled at the modern "tell all" kind of books we're used to seeing.
One of the outstanding things about this book is the view of a woman who did not put herself and her ambitions above everything else. The desire to marry a peer of the British realm seems to have been her Mother's, not hers, and the fact that she went along with it and made the best of the situation for such a long time illustrates a huge difference between the era she lived in and ours.
The book is a charming voyage into a social age -- different and yet in some ways not-so-different -- from the one we experience. It will provide the reader with an inside look into a specific social history along with glimpses of a life of riches, glamour and high adventure.

You cannot help but admire this woman. And hate her sometimes a little bit too. Consuelo Vanderbilt's memoirs - ghostwritten or not - give us an idea of how people of her station lived back in her time. It's easy reading and wonderfully interesting. It's also discreet. Which might be a bit of a shame. I'm sure she knew a lot more than she lets on. But wow, Britain's super elite sure kept busy back then.

SPOILER: I have read elsewhere that she and Edith Wharton were good friends. On reading this book, I really don't think so! This is also the only part where I find Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan to be not so discreet.

Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan had one of the most amazing, extraordinary lives of anyone in American history. Raised into mind-boggling wealth on Fifth Avenue, Consuelo had the misfortune of having Alva as her power-mad mother. Alva, in fact, locked away her strikingly tall, dark daughter and kept her prisoner until she agreed to marry the arrogant, weak and some say violent, Duke of Marlborough. She became the mistress, in l895, of Blenheim, a palace so big that she never even knew how many rooms it had. The author describes fascinating years of having royalty as her guests, visiting Czarist Russis before the Revolution, life as a dutchess, her divorce and subsequent marriage to Jacques Balsan. Unfortunately, Consuelo glosses over the sensational headlines in the 20s, caused by her divorce from the Duke. Even for a Vanderbilt woman, born into inconceivable wealth and power, Consuelo stood out with her extraordinary personality. Of all the "Dollar Princesses", those wealthy American women who wed royalty in the late l890s and early 20th Century, Consuelo is the only one who acted like she was born into royalty. This is a knockout memoir, despite its glossing over of sensitive segments of her life. By the way, the paperback edition curiously omits the great shots of Blenheim Palace found in the original hardback. A must-read. A genuine classic.

The author of this book, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, had a lot in her wealthy, prominent stature in her New York City upbringing in post Civil War America. She came from the wealthy Vanderbilts who summered in Newport, Rhode Island and vacationed and shopped through Europe and exotic places like Asia particularly India. For all her wealth and education, she was educated by governesses and knew French and German as well as English. Consuelo had to marry not for love but more of a business arrangement. She married British royalty but she was not happy despite her new life in England as one of the revered, well-bred, upper-echelons of high society and aristocracy. Even money and society could not satisfy her longing for a happiness. Money can't buy happiness or a satisfying marriage. While she did have all the material items and connections to the royal family, it did not fill the emptiness in her life. It's kind of a sad story that somebody who didn't have to work hard, struggle financially, or ever make a living was herself a commodity to sold to the highest bidder. While she did have her choice of suitors, she did not pick very well.

This book is a tough read with lots of detailed about her life in Victorian-Edwardian times. It may be difficult for some autobiography readers to get through all the descriptions and details to get to the substance in her biography. But if you are a Victorian enthusiast or curious about life among the aristocracy, you will find this book interesting even if it gets a little tedious at times.

I had just recently had the pleasure of visiting Blenheim Palace and I remember our tour guide talking about the beautiful American Duchess Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan and how she had written a book about her life. After viewing that lovely portrait found on the front cover of her book I just had to find out more about this woman. While reading the book I found that she was a courageous and talented woman who had the rare chance of being part of the British upper class. It is an interesting life that this woman lead being forced into a marriage that she did not want to be in, having to live with a man who was worlds apart from her and having to wait so long to marry her true love.

Despite all of this she does not let this stop her from helping the poor especially women, and fighting for women's rights. She also is in France during the start of World War II and throughout her life meets some amazing people especially one person most people will know Winston Churchill. It also will give readers a peek into the late Victorian era and into the lifestyles of the wealthy.

Keeping in mind that this is an autobiography this book can be tedious at times. She mentions a slew of names that most readers will not know and she seems to keep the reader at arm's length and does not go into deep details of her personal life. I believe this is due to the time period in which she lived where people did not share great personal feelings to strangers.

I think this is not a book for all but those who have visited Blenheim or have an interest in the upper class of this time period will find the book to be interesting and will have fun researching all the famous people she mentions. I enjoyed this book and it made my visit to Blenheim wonderful.

Another reviewer said that Churchill was born at Blenheim during one of the weekend functions she was forced to host. Churchill was older than Consuelo by a few years, so this isn't true, although it is true he was born at Blenheim. That reviewer also describes her as extremely well educated, which I also take issue with. She was educated until the age of 17 by private tutors or in small group settings. More was apparently spent on her education than the average Aristocratic woman in England, but it is a stretch to call someone who had not even attained a bachelor's degree extremely well educated. I know college education was rare for women at the turn of the century, but it wasn't unheard of even before her birth.

What this book really does is give us Americans a clue about the social hierarchy in England and other European nations. I simply didn't understand how ingrained this culture was until reading this book. I think I understand it now for the first time at a gut level. For instance, she describes an embarrassing situation early in her career as Duchess where she failed to leave the table in the correct order of precedence. Then she was introduced to a book that gave her the numbered ranking of the aristocrats (including her own) so she would know what order to follow. Amazing. I had no idea one's social rank was so constantly at issue and thrown in your face. I just thought there were general levels and everyone on one level was more or less equal. Not so according to this book.

So, don't read this for juicy gossip as the other reviewer's comments are correct about that. Read it to understand how the class structure worked in Europe at this time, and you will be pleased. If you aren't interested in that, I wouldn't bother.

Oh yes, I believe she did have a ghost writer on this book. Some people have posted that she wrote it herself. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure I read somewhere that she had a ghostwriter.

Mme. Balsan certainly gave her ghost (if there was a ghost and not a secretary typist) some enthaling memiors of life as an American Heiress in the Edwardian aristocracy. Mind that she had quite a beef against her husband, most of her Churchill in lawa, and the whole marriage for money and for title that imprisoned her in her mother`s schemes. Still, fascinting to read with «The Churchills in Love and War»