The Glitter and the Gold, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
The Glitter and the Gold, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
2 Rating(s)
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The Glitter and the Gold
The American Duchess---In Her Own Words

Author: Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan

Narrator: Coleen Marlo

Unabridged: 9 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/15/2012

Synopsis

Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home—Blenheim Palace.The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era. An unsnobbish, but often amused observer of the intricate hierarchy both upstairs and downstairs at Blenheim Palace, she is also a revealing witness to the glittering balls, huge weekend parties and major state occasions she attended or hosted. Here are her encounters with every important figure of the day—from Queen Victoria, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Tsar Nicholas, Prince Metternich and the young Winston Churchill.This intimate, richly enjoyable memoir is a wonderfully revealing portrait of a golden age.

About Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan

Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan (1877-1964) was a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. She became the Duchess of Marlborough on her marriage to the ninth Duke of Marlborough in 1895.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Pete on April 17, 2009

I think I'd enjoy a third person biography of Consuelo Vanderbilt-- I get the sense that there's a lot more to the story than she herself presents it. Fun for fans of the gilded age, but for the most part not too exciting: the frivolity of the London season is so tiring; weekend hunting parties at B......more

Goodreads review by Lois on April 29, 2019

Very readable and Consuelo is imminently likable. The idle rich, creating so much poverty and pretending their social causes make more of difference than paying a fair wage would. Sigh. We are in the height of our own gilded age. I hope we treat those benefiting financially from huge societal inequalit......more

Goodreads review by Susan on May 26, 2022

More glitter than gold, Consuelo leaves out most intimate details and instead fills her book with events and dinners with the glitterati including the Czar and Czarina of Russia, Queen Victoria, King George, and the Prince of Wales, and many others. Although these tales of dinners and balls can be i......more

Goodreads review by Gay on September 23, 2013

Interesting story written in a most uninteresting way. Consuelo Vanderbilt had an amazing life: raised with unlimited money by an evil, social-climbing mother, married off when young to the Duke of Marlborough, living a life as duchess in a Downton-Abbey-style castle, traveling the world, later (fin......more

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