#Duchess of marlborough gladys deacon free#

For one thing, Gladys had no incentive to marry. Gladys spent the remainder of her adolescence in Europe, which allowed her to make an easier transition from girl to worldly debutante than most American girls brought over to marry a title. Gladys, Audrey and Edith trooped dutifully back to their mother, who had reverted to her maiden name of Baldwin. Though Edward received custody of his three young daughters (Dorothy remained with Florence), the divorce and subsequent custody battle had sapped him of strength and he was committed to a mental health institute in 1897. The daughter of Boston aristocrats Edward Parker Deacon and Florence Baldwin Deacon, Gladys and her three younger sisters, Audrey, Edith and Dorothy gained notoriety at a tender age when their parents became embroiled in a homicide/divorce case that nearly caused an international contretemps between France and the United States. An outlet was necessary to relieve tension, and this opened the door for the dramatic entrance of fellow American heiress Gladys Marie Deacon (pronounced Glay-dus). Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Kat and others.At the turn of the century, Sunny and Consuelo had yet to reach the pinnacle of their loathing for one another, but their marriage had grown uncomfortable enough for society to notice the mounting tension between them. Thank you to Kat Hunt for creating WikiTree profile Deacon-346 through the import of Sargeant Family Tree 2.ged on May 5, 2013. Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough (2nd ed.).

#Duchess of marlborough gladys deacon free#

This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes. Hugo Vickers, ‘Churchill, Gladys Marie Spencer-, duchess of Marlborough (1881–1977)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 27 Sept 2017.By 1962, she had become mentally ill, much like her father and paternal grandmother, and was forcibly moved to St Andrew's Hospital, where she died in 1977, aged 96. She started retreating from the world and eventually became a complete recluse. The Dowager Duchess of Marlborough moved with her dogs first to north Oxfordshire and later to the Grange Farm at Chacombe. Finally, the duke moved out of the palace, and two years later evicted her. The Duchess pursued her hobby of breeding Blenheim Spaniels, much to her husband's displeasure. Later in their unhappy, childless marriage, she kept a revolver in her bedroom to prevent her husband's entry.Īs her behaviour became increasingly erratic, most noticeably following the Duke's conversion to Roman Catholicism, the couple began drifting apart. Deacon and Marlborough were married in Paris later that year.Īrtistic and a keen gardener, the new Duchess of Marlborough had enlarged images of her startling blue-green eyes painted on the ceiling of the main portico of Blenheim Palace, where they remain today. However, Marlborough and Consuelo did not divorce until 1921. Deacon became the Duke's mistress soon after moving into the palace. At the age of 22, Deacon underwent a plastic surgery attempt in which she had her nose injected with paraffin wax it slipped, destroying her famous good looks. In 1901, the Crown Prince of Prussia visited the palace and took a strong liking to her, giving her a ring that the Kaiser demanded to be returned. In the late 1890s, the Duke of Marlborough invited Deacon to Blenheim Palace and she became friends with his wife Consuelo. Marcel Proust wrote of her: 'I never saw a girl with such beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness and charm.' Deacon and her sisters returned to France to live with their mother. Edward Deacon soon became mentally unstable and was hospitalised at McLean Hospital, dying there in 1901. He took them to the United States, where Deacon remained for the next three years.

The couple was divorced in 1893 and the custody of the three older children, including Gladys, was given to Edward. Her father was imprisoned after shooting her mother's lover to death in 1892 and the girl was sent to school at the Convent de l’Assomption at Auteuil.Īfter Edward's release from prison, Florence abducted Gladys from the convent.

She had three sisters and a brother who died in infancy. She was the mistress and later the second wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.īorn in Paris, Gladys Marie Deacon was the daughter of American citizens Edward Deacon and his wife Florence, daughter of Admiral Charles H. Gladys Marie Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (née Deacon 1881–1977), was an American socialite. Spouse(s)Ĝharles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (1921-1934 his death) Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of MarlboroughĮducationĜonvent de l’Assomption, Auteuil, France