Comments on: An Aristocratic Ménage: Consuelo, Sunny and Gladys

By: Theresa Ojinmah

Theresa Ojinmah — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:59:59 +0000

I really enjoyed your article—I ‘ve always found Gladys Deacon a person I’d like to have met–along with Natalie Barney.

By: Evangeline Holland

Evangeline Holland — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:41:56 +0000

Hi Michelle–that’s really fascinating. I don’t have any genealogical information about Gladys’s parents, but have you visited ancestry.com? They allow a free trial for a week (I think) and you could probably find a lot of information there. Thanks for stopping by and sharing this!

By: Michelle Pearce

Michelle Pearce — Sun, 16 May 2010 09:00:43 +0000

What a fascinating account of the goings-on in the Marlborough menage! I have always understood my grandmother was a “second cousin to the wife of the Duke of Marlborough”. I have concluded that this must have been Gladys Baldwin. (It waa certainly not Consuelo.) In respectable Providence, RI no more was ever spoken about this relative: now I know why. But I have yet to trace the link between them. They must have had a great-grandmother in common, but Deacon and Baldwin are not family names. Do you have any geneological background on Gladys’ parents? It would be fascinating to find the connection.

By: Evangeline Holland

Evangeline Holland — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:47:22 +0000

Thank you. I find it interesting as well that for all the friction between Blandford and Lillian, Jennie and Randolph, and Sunny with both Consuelo and Gladys, the matches were quite brilliant. It’s pretty telling that the children of these matches (Winston, Jack, Bert, and Ivor) married staid, quiet English women of their set rather than marrying Americans.

By: Mr. Sol Biderman

Mr. Sol Biderman — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:53:26 +0000

Brilliant article. I have been fascinated by the Marlborough’s ever since I read Ralph Martin’s Jennie, the Life of Lady Randolph Churchill. The women the Marlborough’s attracted seem to be energetic, dynamic Americans–each with a strong unbreakable personality.
Congratulations on your work.
-Mr. Sol Biderman, author of Bring Me to the Banqueting House.

By: Alexander Andreas Alfonso Alberto Valtorta Méndez

Alexander Andreas Alfonso Alberto Valtorta Méndez — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:54:19 +0000

Hello Mister, I must say i´m a huge fan of you, my Grandmother, Caja Palffy (Dorothy´s daughter) has many of your books, and i´ve read them all. It is a pleasure to me, to find you here.

Regards: Alexander Valtorta

By: Evangeline

Evangeline — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:30:46 +0000

Hi Mr. Vickers, after reading the biographies written by you and Ms. Fielding, Gladys interests me more than Consuelo! Thank you so much for stopping by. Also, are you absolutely certain that Sargent sketch is of Dorothy? The JSSGallery website states that it is Gladys.

By: Hugo Vickers

Hugo Vickers — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:48:24 +0000

I liked your article. As you will be aware, I knew Gladys Marlborough in the last two years of her life, when she was in St Andrews Hospital. She was 94 when I met her, and if she was mad, then I should definitely be certified!! She once defined madness to me as an inability to balance or impress – in other words in conversation one person says something and the other person weighs it up and replies. She was a brilliant and fascinating woman, could be very funny and I am everlastingly thankful that I met her as she opened my eyes to a new world. Stories about her face tend to be exaggerated. Till the day she died she had the most beautiful blue eyes, and she knew how to use them. Alexander Mendez is right – the profile has re-emerged in later generations of the family – notably one of his cousins.

PS The black and white photo is her sister Dorothy – not Gladys.

By: Alexander Andreas Alfonso Alberto Valtorta Méndez

Alexander Andreas Alfonso Alberto Valtorta Méndez — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:04:52 +0000

hahaha funny, she was my great-great-aunt , I know she was nuts but, let me tell you something, that perfect grecian profile was not all made by the surgeon, we all have a similar profile in the family, except that we don´t have the nasal bridge so tall. By the way I loved the Article

By: Susan C Whelan

Susan C Whelan — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:12:19 +0000

What a sad story! Just discovered your blog; it’s delightful.