![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Vanderbilts, Astors, Churchills, Marlboroughs diamonds, tiaras, yachts, mansions all are documented in glorious detail and should satisfy those readers with insatiable thirst for all things peerage. Stories abound about American mamas who sacrificed their offspring to ensure entrance into the inner circles of New York society and invitations to posh summer affairs at Newport. Happy, fairy-tale endings were few and far between, as American brides often found themselves isolated in crumbling country manors as their husbands gallivanted about, sometimes racking up huge debts. The terms of the will: the late Nancy Leeward has left each of her three god-daughters a. ![]() Securing an earl or a duke as a son-in-law might include threats of bribery, disownment, or even home imprisonment. Race to the altar: Maxie, Darcy and Polly are The Husband Hunters. American debutantes, raised in unimaginable luxury to be independent in thought and action, found themselves at the mercy of mothers bent on improving family social standing (fathers were generally absent from these proceedings). De Courcy ( The Fishing Fleet: Husband Hunting on the Raj, 2014) irresistibly documents the exhaustive efforts undertaken by wealthy nineteenth-century American mothers to secure titled British husbands for their hapless daughters. ![]()
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