Consuelo thought that the one from Queen Victoria should have been handed to her on a silver platter . in due course she was lectured on the various families whose pedigrees , titles and positions she would have to learn by heart . they went for a trip in the Mediterranean , the voyage across the Atlantic being made more depressing for her on account of the Duke &apos;s seasickness and consequent melancholy . they saw the usual places in Spain and then visited Monaco , where the sight of fair women and well-groomed men pleased her . her husband seemed to know many of them , but replied evasively when asked who they were . she later learnt that the women were of easy virtue , owing to which social stigma she could not even claim acquaintance with certain of their male companions who had once been her suitors . the importance of the family into which she had married was impressed on her by the Duke , who described her as a link in the chain , and she perceived that her first duty was to perpetuate the house of Marlborough . after seeing something of Italy and making an uncomfortable trip up the Nile , they stayed at the Hotel Bristol in Paris , where her husband behaved as her mother had done and chose her gowns . in London at last she was made acquainted with the Churchill clan , some of whom seemed to believe that all Americans lived on plantations with negro slaves , in daily dread of red Indians with scalping knives . she was introduced to an intimidating old lady , her husband &apos;s grandmother , the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough , who had made Lady Randolph Churchill &apos;s life so uncomfortable at Blenheim , and who now , using an ear-trumpet , embarrassed Consuelo with an order and a question : your first duty is to have a child , and it must be a son , because it would be intolerable to have that little upstart Winston become Duke . are you in the family way ? they proceeded to the family stud at Blenheim , being received by the mayor and corporation of Woodstock . having delivered his speech of welcome , the mayor said to her : your grace will no doubt be interested to know that Woodstock had a mayor and a corporation before America was discovered . meditating on this weighty pronouncement she got into the carriage , which was dragged by the townsmen to the palace amid tumultuous cheers and beneath triumphal arches . at Blenheim she discovered that she not only had to learn the pedigrees of the nobility but the social grades of the servants . one day she rang the bell and asked the butler to put a match to the fire . I will send the footman , your grace . oh , do n&apos;t bother ! I &apos;ll do it myself . the domestic hierarchy resembled a modern trade union . she dreaded the ceremonious dinners with her husband , who had a habit of filling his plate with food , pushing it away with refined gestures , doing the same to the feeding and drinking utensils , backing his chair , crossing his legs , twirling a ring on his finger , and remaining for perhaps fifteen minutes in a state of abstraction ; after which he would come to life , eat his food with much deliberation , and complain that it was cold . when inured to this process , she filled in the time by knitting . they seldom spoke . she thought him arrogant , despising everything not British , and her pride was hurt . on the other hand , that little upstart Winston was one of the few Churchills she liked . he was lively , enthusiastic and stimulating , the very opposite of his cousin the Duke , but of course he had the advantage of being half-American . she did her best to hit it off with the rest of the family , though the Dowager Duchess was heard to say : her grace does not realise the importance of her position . she had much to do at Blenheim , entertaining social and political big-wigs , visiting the poor , writing letters , supervising the running of the house . as they had never found love , she and her husband had none to lose ; but the strain of maintaining the social and physical relationship essential to her position as a breeding duchess was never eased and steadily grew . in 1900 she was temporarily released from the Duke , who went to South Africa as assistant military Secretary to Lord Roberts ; but the following year he became under-Secretary of state for the colonies , and she had to learn all about the leading colonials who were entertained at Blenheim . sometimes she received unexpected compliments . having undergone the ordeal of presentation at a drawing-room , whereat the Prince and Princess of Wales represented Queen Victoria , her mother-in-law Lady Blandford , the practical joker , said that no one would take her for an American . what would you think if I said you were not at all like an Englishwoman ? asked Consuelo . oh , that &apos;s quite different ! different to you , but not to me . occasionally she was reproved for behaviour unbecoming to a duchess . at a dinner in honour of the Prince and Princess of Wales she wore a diamond crescent instead of the usual tiara . the Prince stared at it and said : the Princess has taken the trouble to wear a tiara . why have you not done so ? she found all these functions intolerably boring , and the racing at Newmarket equally so . she had to accompany her husband to Leicestershire for the hunting , which gave her no pleasure , and she made the fatal error of letting her mind wander away from horses and hounds and foxes into the realm of good deeds . hearing , during one hunting season , that there was much unemployment and hardship at Woodstock , she sent money to provide work . the obliged recipients wrote a letter of thanks to her husband , then exclusively occupied with the solemn matter of fox-chasing . he was amazed to hear that the roads on his estate had been repaired , displeased to receive expressions of gratitude for what he had not done , and quickly informed his wife that she was not entitled to act in that manner without his approval . however he was good enough to approve the births of her two sons . she was unconscious for a week after the birth of her first , but recovered quickly on regaining consciousness . following the arrival of the second , she reflected that she had done her duty to the dukedom and could now please herself . but life &apos;s realities were kept at bay in the splendour of Blenheim , and she became more and more bored by the necessity of walking on an endlessly spread red carpet . moreover the conversation of the nobility made little appeal to her , and when she met a number of Austrian aristocrats in Vienna she thought it a pity that they could express their thoughts in so many different languages when they had so few thoughts to express . Queen Victoria died in January 1901 , and when Consuelo spent some weeks in Paris that spring in the agreeable company of her father she was depressed by having to wear black clothes . all she dared do was to wear white gloves , thereby earning a lecture at Longchamps from the Duchess of Devonshire , who had been a leader of the fast set a generation before but was now a raddled old woman in a brown wig , her wrinkles filled with paint , her mouth a red slash . how , she asked , could Consuelo show so little respect to the memory of a great Queen as to exhibit white gloves ? as the shocked lady was an incorrigible gossip , Consuelo &apos;s impropriety no doubt received much publicity ; in spite of which she was chosen to act as canopy-bearer to the new Queen at the coronation of Edward 7 , her fellow-bearers being the Duchesses of Portland , Montrose and Sutherland . when Alexandra was anointed by the old Archbishop of Canterbury they held the canopy over her . the oil was placed on her forehead by his shaky hand and a little trickled down her nose . she did not move a muscle but her eyes expressed anguish . after eleven years of nervous stress , either waiting for the Duke , who was invariably late for lunch , or being with him , which was worse , Consuelo pined for relaxation , and they agreed to separate , the arrangement giving them equal custody of the children . in those days divorce was difficult and still scandalous , and since neither of them wished to marry again a legal separation met the case . it was estimated that about ten million of the Vanderbilt dollars had been spent on Blenheim and their London house , and as she had produced his heirs the Duke had no cause to complain . she went to live at Sunderland House , built for her as a present from her father , and here she gave musical parties . she also became absorbed in social work , starting a home for women whose husbands were in prison and a recreation centre for working girls . she sat on a national committee which enquired into the decline of the birth-rate , and obtained a donation of a hundred thousand guineas for the removal of Bedford College , of which she was Hon Treasurer , from Baker Street to Regent &apos;s Park . her mother , who had become Mrs Oliver Belmont since her divorce , led the women &apos;s suffrage movement in the United States , and when the 1914 war broke out Consuelo worked for the American women &apos;s war relief fund , collecting a lot of money by writing and lecturing . to enable women to be represented by their own sex on municipal councils , she founded a women &apos;s municipal party , and when a vacancy occurred on the London county council she sat for North Southwark . at the election of 1919 she stood as a progressive for that borough and topped the poll . when the 1914-18 war came to an end the moral standards were loosened and she obtained a divorce from the Duke . in July &apos;21 she married Jacques Balsan at the Chapel Royal , Savoy , where divorced persons were treated with indulgence . he had been an airman in the war , and a balloonist before that , several times staying at Blenheim . his nature appealed wholly to hers , and they were very happy together . the Duke had now become a Roman catholic , and as he wished to marry another American , Gladys Deacon , he asked Consuelo to get their own marriage annulled . since Jacques Balsan was a Roman catholic and she wished to appease his family , she granted the Duke &apos;s request . her only way of doing so was to swear that she had been married to him against her will . she was now on friendly terms with her mother , who consented to make the declaration , testifying before an English tribunal of catholic priests , that when I issued an order nobody discussed it . I therefore did not beg , but ordered her to marry the Duke . the annulment being granted , Consuelo married Jacques in a catholic church , and was affectionately received by his family at Ch&amp;acirc;teauroux . they then settled down in Paris , and soon she was busy helping to raise money for the construction of a hospital for the middle classes , receiving the legion of honour in 1931 . three years later her son succeeded his father as tenth Duke of Marlborough . Consuelo and Jacques built a house on the Riviera and took a ch&amp;acirc;teau at St Georges-Motel , where her philanthropic work continued . like so many others , they had to bolt when the Germans entered France in 1940 . with difficulty they escaped to Spain , and thence to Portugal , where they got a plane across the Atlantic . and so her story ends . 5 . wives of a Viceroy . Mary Leiter and Lord Curzon . Grace Duggan and Lord Curzon . other things being equal , which they never are , it is curious to reflect that if Mrs Vanderbilt had aimed a little lower and married Consuelo to a lesser title but more imposing figure , the story of an eminent English statesman , George Nathaniel Curzon , would have been vastly different . like Marlborough , Curzon married for money , but the union , unlike Marlborough &apos;s , became a marriage of hearts . being an intelligent man , Curzon would have been influenced by Consuelo , who might have fallen in love with him but would never have allowed her critical sense to remain dormant on that account . 