Consuelo thought that the one from Queen Victoria should have been handed to her on a silver platter .sx In due course she was lectured on the various families whose pedigrees , titles and positions she would have to learn by heart .sx They went for a trip in the Mediterranean , the voyage across the Atlantic being made more depressing for her on account of the Duke's seasickness and consequent melancholy .sx They saw the usual places in Spain and then visited Monaco , where the sight of fair women and well-groomed men pleased her .sx Her husband seemed to know many of them , but replied evasively when asked who they were .sx 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 .sx 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 .sx 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 .sx 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 .sx She was introduced to an intimidating old lady , her husband's grandmother , the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough , who had made Lady Randolph Churchill's life so uncomfortable at Blenheim , and who now , using an ear-trumpet , embarrassed Consuelo with an order and a question :sx '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 .sx Are you in the family way ?sx ' They proceeded to the family stud at Blenheim , being received by the mayor and corporation of Woodstock .sx Having delivered his speech of welcome , the mayor said to her :sx 'Your Grace will no doubt be interested to know that Woodstock had a mayor and a corporation before America was discovered .sx ' 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 .sx At Blenheim she discovered that she not only had to learn the pedigrees of the nobility but the social grades of the servants .sx One day she rang the bell and asked the butler to put a match to the fire .sx 'I will send the footman , your Grace .sx ' 'Oh , don't bother !sx I'll do it myself .sx ' The domestic hierarchy resembled a modern trade union .sx 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 .sx When inured to this process , she filled in the time by knitting .sx They seldom spoke .sx She thought him arrogant , despising everything not British , and her pride was hurt .sx On the other hand , 'that little upstart Winston' was one of the few Churchills she liked .sx 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 .sx She did her best to hit it off with the rest of the family , though the Dowager Duchess was heard to say :sx 'Her Grace does not realise the importance of her position .sx ' She had much to do at Blenheim , entertaining social and political big-wigs , visiting the poor , writing letters , supervising the running of the house .sx 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 .sx 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 .sx Sometimes she received unexpected compliments .sx 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 .sx 'What would you think if I said you were not at all like an Englishwoman ?sx ' asked Consuelo .sx 'Oh , that's quite different !sx ' 'Different to you , but not to me .sx ' Occasionally she was reproved for behaviour unbecoming to a duchess .sx At a dinner in honour of the Prince and Princess of Wales she wore a diamond crescent instead of the usual tiara .sx The Prince stared at it and said :sx 'The Princess has taken the trouble to wear a tiara .sx Why have you not done so ?sx ' She found all these functions intolerably boring , and the racing at Newmarket equally so .sx 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 .sx Hearing , during one hunting season , that there was much unemployment and hardship at Woodstock , she sent money to provide work .sx The obliged recipients wrote a letter of thanks to her husband , then exclusively occupied with the solemn matter of fox-chasing .sx 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 .sx However he was good enough to approve the births of her two sons .sx She was unconscious for a week after the birth of her first , but recovered quickly on regaining consciousness .sx Following the arrival of the second , she reflected that she had done her duty to the dukedom and could now please herself .sx But life'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' .sx 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' .sx 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 .sx 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 .sx How , she asked , could Consuelo show so little respect to the memory of a great Queen as to exhibit white gloves ?sx As the shocked lady was an incorrigible gossip , Consuelo'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 .sx When Alexandra was anointed by the old Archbishop of Canterbury they held the canopy over her .sx The oil was placed on her forehead by his shaky hand and a little trickled down her nose .sx She did not move a muscle but her eyes expressed anguish .sx 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 .sx In those days divorce was difficult and still scandalous , and since neither of them wished to marry again a legal separation met the case .sx 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 .sx She went to live at Sunderland House , built for her as a present from her father , and here she gave musical parties .sx She also became absorbed in social work , starting a home for women whose husbands were in prison and a recreation centre for working girls .sx 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 .sx Treasurer , from Baker Street to Regent's Park .sx Her mother , who had become Mrs Oliver Belmont since her divorce , led the women's suffrage movement in the United States , and when the 1914 war broke out Consuelo worked for the American Women's War Relief Fund , collecting a lot of money by writing and lecturing .sx To enable women to be represented by their own sex on municipal councils , she founded a Women's Municipal Party , and when a vacancy occurred on the London County Council she sat for North Southwark .sx At the election of 1919 she stood as a Progressive for that borough and topped the poll .sx When the 1914-18 war came to an end the moral standards were loosened and she obtained a divorce from the Duke .sx In July '21 she married Jacques Balsan at the Chapel Royal , Savoy , where divorced persons were treated with indulgence .sx He had been an airman in the war , and a balloonist before that , several times staying at Blenheim .sx His nature appealed wholly to hers , and they were very happy together .sx 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 .sx Since Jacques Balsan was a Roman Catholic and she wished to appease his family , she granted the Duke's request .sx Her only way of doing so was to swear that she had been married to him against her will .sx 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 .sx I therefore did not beg , but ordered her to marry the Duke' .sx The annulment being granted , Consuelo married Jacques in a Catholic church , and was affectionately received by his family at Cha@5teauroux .sx 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 .sx Three years later her son succeeded his father as tenth Duke of Marlborough .sx Consuelo and Jacques built a house on the Riviera and took a cha@5teau at St Georges-Motel , where her philanthropic work continued .sx Like so many others , they had to bolt when the Germans entered France in 1940 .sx With difficulty they escaped to Spain , and thence to Portugal , where they got a plane across the Atlantic .sx And so her story ends .sx 5 .sx Wives of a Viceroy .sx Mary Leiter and Lord Curzon .sx Grace Duggan and Lord Curzon .sx 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 .sx Like Marlborough , Curzon married for money , but the union , unlike Marlborough's , became a marriage of hearts .sx 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 .sx