Madame Catherine Lynne Kensington

Catherine Lynne Kensington

## Family Background and Beginnings

Madame Catherine Lynne Isabella Kensington comes from a long line of successful, wealthy, and prominent Southern businessmen and socialites. Her family, the Kensingtons, arrived on a small ship that landed in the colony of Virginia in the year 1710. Her ancestor, Thomas Blaine John Kensington, and his wife Marceline arrived with their 10 children with barely any money to survive. When they arrived to the New World, Thomas Blaine purchased over 1,000 acres of land in Virginia and began to rent it out to people. By 1744, the Kensingtons were known all over the American Colonies as wealthy landowners from humble beginnings. And another 20 years later in 1764, the Kensingtons were millionaires. They had estates with hundreds of acres in Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, as well as in North and South Carolina. In 1839, a Kensington ancestor named Charles Richard Davidson Kensington was approached by a young man with a vision for the future. The young man wanted Charles to fund his vision to built textile and cotton mills in

Virginia and so Charles did so with advice from his wife. It turned out to be a massive opportunity and by 1850, more than 10 huge mills were built up and down the Virginian coastline, making the Kensingtons' fortune three times as big as it was. By 1885, however, the mills were in decline and many were shut down. Despite this unfortunate happening, the Kensingtons were still nationally famous and wealthy; with more than $812 million. The Kensingtons had so much wealth and power, they influenced many politicians into doing things for them; as did many other wealthy people did. By Madame Catherine's birth in 1891, the Kensingtons had around $872 million, more than $20 billion in 2016 money.

## Catherine's Early Life

Madame Catherine Lynne Isabella Kensington was born on February 12, 1887 in the Kensington House located in Richmond, Virginia, her family's primary residence. Her father was Maximilian Peter Kensington the Second, named after his father who died in 1903 from natural causes. Her mother was the beautiful Natalie Catherine Kensington who was 23 when she gave birth to Catherine, and her husband Maximilian being 28. When Catherine was born in 1887, she was sent to an elite boarding school in Avignon, France for the world's wealthy elite and left the school at 14 in 1901 by her mother's personal request to have her back home. She married the love of her life, James King in 1904 at 17 in her

family's estate, Kensington House in Richmond. Instead of following normal marriage tradition to changing her last name, Madame Catherine just had her full name be Catherine Lynne Isabella King-Kensington. She gave birth to her daughter, Emily Angeline Kensington in 1905 and a boy named Charles "Charlie" Edward Kensington in 1906.

## Parents' Death in 1912

In November of 1911, Catherine's parents, Maximilian Peter Kensington and Natalie Catherine Kensington left Virginia to renew their wedding vows and have some time to their selves in London. Maximilian and Natalie were set to return 10 April 1912 aboard the luxurious ship liner, the Titanic. The Titanic struck an iceberg on April 12th, 1912, and many people died; including Catherine's parents. When news reached Madame Catherine a few days later in Virginia, she was devastated and heartbroken; but was comforted greatly by her husband. Luckily, the bodies of her parents were discovered and shipped privately back to Virginia where they were buried in the wealthy family's private family cemetery, named the Kensington Cemetery in 1753.

## Events After 1912

Madame Catherine, upon the deaths of her parents, inherited the family's 6 mansions and 4 estates as well as more than 390 acres of land in Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. At barely 25 years old, she inherited more than $870 million dollars (20 billion+ in 2016) and everyone's eyes were on her to see how she would react after the tragedy. Catherine moved out of Kensington House because of the memories and heartbreak and instead moved into Rose Manor with her husband and family, the family's second mansion residence on the outskirts of Washington D.C, built in 1845. She moved into Rose Manor and continued to live there with her husband and two children.

## Political Influence and Socialite Behavior

After she moved into Rose Manor in Washington D.C in 1912, she began to grow out of her shy shell and threw hundreds of dinner parties, balls, and masquerade balls, almost twice every week. Everyone in Virginia knew her name and she was even more famous in Washington D.C. She regularly dined with the presidents of the United States, congressmen, senators, and even the vice-presidents. She was good friends with many of them and their families and when they left office, associated herself with the next president and administration. She was invited to White House balls and had tea every weekend with the most powerful and wealthy people in the country; if not the world. Using her wealth and influence, she helped get William Rolando elected president in 1921 and from then on they became very good friends. She sometimes would give him some 'suggestions' for certain things in exchange for a lot of money and did the same with some congressmen and senators.

## Luxurious Lifestyle

In 1919, Madame Catherine Lynne King-Kensington bought a 20-roomed mansion on the French-owned tropical island of Saint-Barthélemy near the capital Gustavia. She also purchased a small manor house in Paris and another in London where she regularly vacations. She began to travel more and more out of the United States starting in 1927 and whenever she wasn't in Virginia, would either be in Russia, Scotland, France, Italy, or Spain. Many times she would leave behind even her own husband and travel for her own pleasure without warning.

She smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day without a care in the world despite the warnings from her doctors. Despite that, Madame Catherine was in perfect health and continued to exercise her wealth and power in order to get anything she wanted. In 1932, she bribed a powerful French prime minister into giving her more than 200 acres of land outside of Paris, tax-free.