Million Dollar Duchesses: How America's Heiresses Seduced the Aristocracy

In 1895, a group of wealthy American heiresses sought to marry into the English aristocracy through the Transatlantic Marriage Bureau. The marriages were motivated by fame, money, power, prestige, and love, but for many, they brought loneliness, infidelity, bankruptcy, and divorce. The book reveals the stories of these heiresses and the hidden role played by Lady Minnie Paget and Consuelo Yzanga, Dowager Duchess of Manchester, two unofficial marriage brokers who taught them social tricks to land their dream husband.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 03 May 2018
Publisher: Aurum Press

On November 6, 1895, Consuelo Vanderbilt wed Charles Spencer-Churchill, the 9th Duke of Marlborough. Despite the preceding months' inclusion of spurned loves, unexpected deaths, scandal, and illicit affairs, the wedding marked the culmination for the unofficial marriage brokers, Lady Minnie Paget and Consuelo Yzanga, Dowager Duchess of Manchester, the original buccaneers who had instructed, cajoled, and manipulated wealthy young heiresses into making the perfect match.

Fame, money, power, prestige, and perhaps even love – these were some of the reasons for the marriages that took place between wealthy American heiresses and the English aristocracy in 1895. For a few, the marriages were happy, but for many others, the matches brought loneliness, infidelity, bankruptcy, and divorce.

Focusing on a single year, The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau tells the story of a group of wealthy American heiresses seeking to marry into the English aristocracy. From the beautiful and eligible debutante Consuelo Vanderbilt, in love with a dashing older man but thwarted by her controlling mother, Washington society heiress Mary Leiter, who married the pompous Lord Curzon and became the Vicereine of India, Maud Burke, vivacious San Francisco belle with a questionable background, this book uncovers their stories. Also revealed is the hidden role played by Lady Minnie Paget and Consuelo Yzanga, Dowager Duchess of Manchester, two unofficial marriage brokers who taught the heiresses how to use every social trick in the book to land their dream husband.

The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau dashes through the year to uncover the seasons, the parties, the money, the glamour, the gossip, the scandal, and the titles, always with one eye on the two women who made it all possible.

Weight: 234g
Dimension: 131 x 198 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781781317877