Royalty
Ostracized Plain
Gladys Deacon
Because of a
Scandal—But NO W
She Is a
Marlborough
ICTO R IA , Queen of England, snubbed
the rich American girl because she
waa the daughter of a eonvlet, who
kad confessed killing a man,
"Impossible!” exclaimed the Queen.
And ao the millionairess wasn’t Invited
to the wedding of her dearest fclend to tbo
Duka pf Marlborough.
But Tima, the Jester, sometimes plnyc
Bad pranks . . , Tbo snub was a quarter
of a century ago. Victoria died. The
Duebesa ef Marlborough divorced the Duke.
Then the Ducheaa quarreled with her
frlaad, the slayer’s daughter. And I he
slayer's daughter, reoeutly. married th e
V
Duka heraalfl
English so lely gaatied—and wondered.
I t wasn't only the topsy-turvy swap In
the Duke's wlvea; the question on every
llj> to-day la ’’What will the Queen do?"
"W ill she,” aaka the gosalpa, “snub her
as her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, did?
Or will the receive the Duchess at court?”
“And wbat w ill the Duchess do?” apecu-
late others. “Rhs got part of her revenge
when she married the Duke. W ill she
wreak it to the full by snubbing, In turn,
even though the snubbed one be a Queen?”
The etory baa Its beginning thirty years
ago In the boudoir of a beautiful woman In
the fashionable Hotel Splendlde at Cannes.
France . , .
Edward Parker Deacon was a scion of
one of Boston's moat exclusive famlliuw
H it grandfather was Commodore Deaeon,
of the Palled ytataa Navy, ills father waa
Edward Deaonu, Michigan lumber king
In 1881 Deacon married a daughter of
Admiral Charles Baldwin, She was twenty,
he was thirty-two. Their friend» approved
It as a love match. They went to Paris on
their honeymoon end. fascinated with the
French capital, decided to stay there.
Aad then the serpent entered Eden,
■mile Abeiile, suave and handsome, with .1
vegetation ns a bou vlvnnt and a hoart
breaker, saw the beautiful Mrs. Deacon and
straightway desired her He was a diplo­
mat who "had a way with women," and alia
wes pe»t thirty then, the mother of four
children.
T,h’
C1,,n« »< Pannes on Febro-
•J? *■ • IW E Deacon, guided by the rlark
of the Hpleadlde, a man named Haumaun.
amaahed In the door of his wife's room on
T h e First
W ife
of the
Present
Duke of
M a rl­
borough,
Form erly
Consuelo
Vander­
bilt.
faternot'oani
fAote,
y
,e
I p
The Marlborough Coat
♦ ae a question of divorce. Deacon had the
better grounds, not she
At the same time the husband waa not
allowed to go altogether unpunished. He
ronfeeaed and was eegteneed to a year in
prison.
CL w
.
ZeteraalMMtaJ P A o te .
New Duchess of M arlborough, Form erly
Gladyn Deacon.
Deacon was
pardoned a few
months later by
President C a r ­
not.
Returning
to Boston, heart-
b ro k e n
and
health-shattered
of Arma.
he died in an
asylum.
American society exonerated
hint of any blame, but the stlgiua of the
scandal did not die with him.
Gladys was eleven when her father killed
her mother’s admirer. After the trakedy
Mrs. I lea con. brought her daughter» back
t c i 1 9 :1 , International rc a tu r t gerciee. Inc.
to America with her and took up her resi­
lience at Newport. The Four Hundred -»0-
iopted the Deacon daughters and the Dea-
can wealth regardless of the smudge on the
name. "Snug Harbor,” the villa of Admiral
Baldwin, Mrs. Deacon's father, was the
scene of many elaborate functions.
In
turn Mrs. Deacon and her daughters were
welcomed in the most exclusive homes of
America's aristocracy.
One of theee was the villa of W illiam K.
Vanderbilt and h it wife, the lovely Mrs.
Ale« Smith Vanderbilt, * Southern beauty
from Mobile, Alabama. Their daughter
was Consuelo.
d rv M B ritain B lrbts hewreed.
Consuelo V a n d e r - \
blit became the chum \
of pretty Gladys Dea-
\
con in the playtime of
\
youth at Newport. To
\
«
Consuelo, whose own
\
mother and father sep-
\
J
arated soon afterward,
the skeleton in the Dea-
con fam ily closet was a
”
matter of small mo­
ment. She snapped her
Angers at it. But in
fntematioahl FAotSk
England, w h e r e the
Vanderbilt heiress soon
The Duke o f Marlborough.
was besetged by a score
of suitors, society was not
for­
Society would have given much to knew.
giving.
B ut Bociety was denied the privilege. On
This Consuelo realized forcibly the surface the r if t had not disturbed the
when her engagement was an­ chumminess of Consuelo and her friend.
nounced to the Duke of Marlbor­ No sooner was she entrenched in the inner
ough. In making her plans for the circle of British society than the new
wedding, Consuelo, of course, as­ Duchess of Marlborough "took up” Mlee
signed Gladys to a prominent role. Deacon again. The Queen might oontlnue
But Vanderbilts and Marlboroughs to snub her, but under the wing of the
alike registered horror.
Duchess, Gladys was a brighter flame than*
"W hat w ill the Queen say?”
ever at the fringe of Victoria’s court.
For Victoria ruled Britain, its
I t wasn't long before Miss Gladys Dea­
high society as well as its gov- con was the “most engaged g irl" In the
f rnment—and Victoria, a u s t e r e , society columns. Titled aristocrats pur­
etraight-laced. Puritan, had to be sued her by the score. Rumor had her the
considered above all else.
The fiancee of the then Crown Prince of Ger­
Queen had been reluctant to ap­ many, next of the Marquis de Charette of
prove the Vanderbilt-Marlborough the ancient French house of that name;
(natch to begin with, because of the then to the E arl of W arw ick; to Lord
break between W illiam K. Vander­ Francis Hope, ex-husband of May Yohe,
bilt and his wife, and she had let erstwhile owner of the hoodooed "Blue Dia­
it be known frankly that the pres­ mond” ; Prince Carl of Li'thtenstein and
ence of Gladys Deacon and this ad­ Lieutenant Reginald Oliphant, of the Royal
ditional "breath of scandal would be, British Navy, were others In her train.
to say the least, entirely too much.
But to them all the American heiress,
' Society of that day—it was 1895 still beautiful, though the years were troop­
— found the tidbit a rich morsel. ing fast, turned a deaf ear.
Miss Deacon, hufflcd, looked to Con-
The reason for her refusal to marry
often puzzled the gossips.
Could it have been that, beneath her
laughing acceptance of Queen Victoria's
effront, Gladys Deacon hid a sore heart?
Could It have been that, despite her re­
instatement In Consuelo’a affections, aha
never forgave her friend for the wedding
invitation that did not arrive? Did Gladys
Deacon brood, plot, wait years fer her ra-
venge?
Certain it Is th a t something finally
Jarred the friendship of Consuelo and
Gladys. But the smart set already had
begun to mention In the same goaalp the
names of the Duke of Marlborough and
Gladys Deacon before Gladys suddenly
stopped speaking to CohRuelo, and Consuelo
suddenly atopped speaking to Gladys. The
snubs were open— and tongues wagged
faster than ever.
After the duchess secured her divorce
a year ago, society waa rocked w ith a
genuine bombshell——
Gladys Deae.«, at forty-five, became the
bride of the Duke of Marlborough, former
husband of her whilom friend, Consuelo!
And then all eyes turned toward the
Queen, the mentor of the elite. Victoria
had snubbed Gladys Deacon. W hat would
be the course of George, Her son, and
M ary.
London still is waiting
for that question to be an­
swered
when Buckingham
Palace Is opened for the W in.
ter functions.
K n o w in g
Queen M ary’s avowed moral
principles, many prediet that
she will flout the new Duch-
aaa as her royal predecessor
flouted her.
But friend" of the new
Duchess of Marlborough dw
d a re she 1* not worrying.
She knows she does not ad­
vance to battle unarmed.
One of her sisters Is the
Princes» Radslwlll, who oea
be of no small help.
She herself wearing th g
lineage of the Marl borough
whose dukedom dates bacM
/» te rw a lio a n l Pfcete.
«e the seventeenth centurw
and whose ancestry la fad
The Naw Duchess of Marlborough in H e r
older and more Imposing
W edding Gown.
than Queen Mary's or that
of Victoria, hereelf, aha. thd
•uelo to prove their friendship. Consuelo, new Duchess, Is a pewreful opponent
beret by the Marlboroughe on the one even for a Queen.
side and on the other by her mother, the
And, no matter what the outcome ef hen
present Mrs O H P Belmoht. raged
brush with royalty, Gladys Deaeon. Dtseheed
despairingly and—gave la.
of Marlborough, may hug to herealf oad
How did Gladys feel?
satisfaction—she haul her revenge.
a
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