Lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill, the current Duke���s
daughter, is an arbiter of English traditional style. During
a recent house party at Blenheim, I saw, again, John
Singer Sargent���s iconic painting of the young Consuelo,
her husband the Duke, and her children. Few paintings
of the period evoke the high Baroque glory of the late
Victorian Era so well. Then, as during previous viewings,
I realized how much Lady Henrietta is the likeness of
Consuelo, her great grandmother.
Vanderbilt money and style, often aesthetically not unlike
Rothschild style, resulted in dozens of great houses
located on 5th avenue in New York City, on the Hudson,
in Newport and in North Carolina. The fortune Consuelo
brought to her Saint Thomas Church, New York City 1895
marriage to the 9th Duke much embellished Blenheim
Palace. The Marlborough family seat at Woodstock in
Oxfordshire, England acquired new gardens, state rooms,
HYLAND
