Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age. ^ "MARLBOROUGH WILL WED GLADYS DEACON Dukes Engagement to Former Friend of His Ex-Wife Announced in London.BRIDE-TO-BE WELL KNOWNHas Several Times Been Reported Engaged to Marry Members of European Nobility". Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). ^ a b c d "What happened to Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough?"."Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough: the aristocrat with attitude". ^ a b c d e f g Vickers, Hugo (7 February 2011).^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966, 1973–1995.(revised edition, entitled The Sphinx: The Life of Gladys Deacon, published by Hodder in 2020) During the course of this book her childhood as well as her affair with the Duke of Marlborough are discussed. Death at Blenheim, the eleventh book in Robin Paige's Kathryn Ardleigh Series, also includes Gladys as one of the cast of characters.Michelle Gable's 2016 novel I'll See You in Paris is based in part on the story of the Duchess.By 1962, she had become mentally ill, much like her father and paternal grandmother, and was forcibly moved to St Andrew's Hospital, where she died in 1977, aged 96. She started retreating from the world and eventually became a complete nocturnal recluse surrounded by cats. The Dowager Duchess of Marlborough moved with her dogs first to north Oxfordshire and later to the Grange Farm at Chacombe. Finally, the duke moved out of the palace, and two years later evicted her. The Duchess pursued her hobby of breeding Blenheim Spaniels, much to her husband's displeasure. As her behaviour became increasingly erratic, most noticeably following the Duke's conversion to Roman Catholicism, the couple began drifting apart. Later in their unhappy, childless marriage, she kept a revolver in her bedroom to prevent her husband's entry. Īrtistic and a keen gardener, the new Duchess of Marlborough had enlarged images of her startling blue-green eyes painted on the ceiling of the main portico of Blenheim Palace, where they remain today. Deacon and Marlborough were married in Paris later that year. However, Marlborough and Consuelo did not divorce until 1921. Deacon became the Duke's mistress soon after moving into the palace. At the age of 22, Deacon underwent a plastic surgery attempt in which she had her nose injected with paraffin wax it slipped to her chin, causing big lumps. In 1901, the Crown Prince of Prussia visited the palace and took a strong liking to her, giving her a ring that the Kaiser demanded be returned. In the late 1890s, the Duke of Marlborough invited Deacon to Blenheim Palace and she became friends with his wife Consuelo. Marcel Proust wrote of her: "I never saw a girl with such beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness and charm." Relationship with Marlborough Deacon and her sisters returned to France to live with their mother. Edward Deacon soon became mentally unstable and was hospitalised at McLean Hospital, dying there in 1901. He took them to the United States, where Deacon remained for the next three years. The couple was divorced in 1893 and the custody of the three older children, including Gladys, was given to Edward. Īfter Edward's release from prison, Florence abducted Gladys from the convent. Her father was imprisoned after shooting and killing his wife's lover in 1892 and the girl was sent to school at the Convent de l'Assomption at Auteuil. She had three sisters, and a brother who died in infancy. She was the mistress and later the second wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.īorn in Paris, Gladys Marie Deacon was the daughter of American citizens Edward Parker Deacon and his wife Florence, daughter of Admiral Charles H. Gladys Marie Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough ( née Deacon 7 February 1881 – 13 October 1977) was a French American aristocrat and socialite. Marcel Proust wrote of her, 'I never saw a girl with such beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness and charm.' Berenson considered marrying her, Rodin and Monet befriended her, Boldini painted her and Epstein sculpted her.Gladys Deacon in 1901, by Giovanni Boldini Deacon portrayed by John Singer Sargent Born in Paris to American parents in 1881, Gladys emerged from a traumatic childhood - her father having shot her mother's lover dead when Gladys was only eleven - to captivate and inspire some of the greatest literary and artistic names of the Belle Epoque. Language eng Summary One of the most beautiful and brilliant women of her time, Gladys Deacon dazzled and puzzled the glittering social circles in which she moved.
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