The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-04-16
AMERICAN WEALTH AND ROYALTY


OF nobility or royalty Few are the
very wealthy families of America that
have not at least one representative
in the Almanach de Gotha or Burke's
Peerage Thus Anita Stewart sister
of William Rhinelander Stewart. ia
the Princess de Braganza, consort of
the late pretender to the throne OF
Portugal. The daughter Of Bessie
Rockefeller married the MARQUES
George de Cuevas; the Cuevas chill
dren, great grandchildren of the elder
Rockefeller, are Spanish grandees in
their own right.
William Waldorf Astor voluntarily
expatriated himself (although retain
ing his American property holdings)
and was transmitted by the sorcery Of
money into an English Lord He was
succeeded by the present William
Waldorf, Viscount Astor of Hever
Castle, who has four sons and one
daughter who, although born British
mobiles, are descendants Of the miser-
ly John Jacob Astor l, Mute importer.
real estate Spectator, and fur dealer.
The Astors have climbed high socially
in England; they have even entered
the fringes of the royal family, for
Rachel Spender- Clay, granddaughter
of the first Lord Astor, in 1929 mar
ried the Hon. David Bowes-Lyon,
brother of Elizabeth, the present
Queen of England
1.-THE sister of Vincent Astor be-
came the Princess Serge Obolensky.
Anna Gould married successfully
Count Boni de Castellane and the
Duke de Talleyrand. Millicent Rogers
(Standard OiD was first the Countess
Won Salm and then became the wife
of wealthy Argentinian The daugh-
ter Of Levi q. Letter, Chicago partner
OF Marshall Field I, married Lord Cur
zon, later Viceroy of India. Clara
Huntington, adopted daughter Of Col
lis 2, Huntington, railroad baron, be-
came the Princess Hatzfeldt- Widen
burg. Barbara Hutton (Woolworth),
afterdivorcing Prince Alexis Mdivani,
became the Countess Haugwitz-Re-
ventlow. Ethel Field, daughter of
Marshall Field I, became Lady Beatty,
consort of Admiral of the Fleet Earl
Beatty and mother of the present
peer.
''Vivien Gould married Lord Decies.
Gladys Vanderbilt married Count Las
zlo Szechenyi. The Szechenyi union
brought forth five children, of Van
1erbilt and noble Magyar lineage.
Consuelo Vanderbilt became the Ouch
ess OF Marlborough; although this
ln1on was dissolved, it produced two
the present Duke of MARI
borough and Lord Ivor Spencer
Churchill. Estelle Manville, daughter
If Hiram E. Manville (asbestos), mar
led Count Folke Bernadotte, nephew
II the King of Sweden; their child is
he Count of Visborg. The Honorable
Dorothy Paget, whose mother was a
laughter of William c.. Whitney
STANDARD Oil, is first cousin of
Jock" and Sonny" Whitney. Her
ather, Almeric Hugh Paget, is Lord
lueensborough
european mobiles of American line
ge probably enjoy more opulent in
ONES than their peers who lack
american forebears and dowries. 1t
5 one of the many ironies of the
1tuation that the United States
hould be pumping forth dividends
nd rents to support persons in sta
ions so alien to the American con-
ept of social status. 1t is no less
ronical that the children of these
'ans-Atlantic unions, permanently in
abroad, draw from Ameri-
an enterprises immense revenues the
ke OF which the average American
I this and succeeding generations
matter how intelligent, crafty, dis
onest, or creative-may never rea-
0nably expect to attain. Not only
pes American labor produce revenue
'r the support of the ornate estates
America, but it also supports many
9mote castles in Europe.
The Fords, the MELONS, and the
lPonts have been less conspicuous
ian these others in their marriages
though Andrew Mellon, like many
lother American magnate, married
I'd had his children by a wealthy
nglish woman. Perhaps the most
eaningful of transatlantic mar
ages, after all, have been these be-
veen wealthy British commoners and
nericans, which join the purely mon
ed classes of the two nations by
influential ties as the House of Nor
n and international trade join them
financial and economic ties. The
cCormicks, Astors, Fields, and 9TH
have contracted such unions with
1tish commoners; they are too num-
Gus to detail here,
DO these people represent the spirit
democracy in the ranks of the COM
IN man?