Americans Who Married Royals and Aristocrats


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Oh, what a checkered past we have....
 
The Devonshires maintained their close ties to the Kennedy family even after the tragic death of Kathleen...Andrew and Deborah "Debo", the Duke and Duchess, were at JFK's funeral and they were also on the special funeral train that took RFK from New York to Washington after his funeral...they continued to correspond with Rose Kennedy almost to the end.

The Duchess of Devonshire adored JFK, as did many women apparently. :whistling:
 
re: Prince Doan Champassak of Vietnam.

what is his ancestry?

thank-you
 
EmpressRouge said:
I've read that Jackie and Lee stopped to both or one of their half-siblings because he/she/they gave candid interviews about their famous sister.
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Where? I've read that Jackie was beside her little sister at the moment of her death.
 
Jackie stopped speaking to James "Jamie" Auchincloss, her younger half-brother after he spoke to Kitty Kelley while she was writing the trashy "Jackie Oh!" book.

Jackie was very close to Janet Rutherford, her much younger half sister, who died tragically of cancer aged thirty-eight.
 
norenxaq said:
re: Prince Doan Champassak of Vietnam.

what is his ancestry?

thank-you
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Prince Pierre Raymond Doan Vinh na Champassak was his full name. All I know is that his father was Vietnamese and his mother was French. He lived and was educated in France.

Apparently he was a minor painter, and he met Barbara Hutton at an exhibition of his paintings in Tangier in 1963. At the time, he was married and working as a chemist for a French oil company in Marrakesh.

He did not come from a royal or titled family as far as I know.

Barbara Hutton bought him a Laotian title before their marriage, which is how he became a "Prince".
 
Former American actress Allison Joy Langer credited as A.J Langer she married aristocrat Charles Peregrine Courtenay,Lord Courtenay who is her to the earldom
of Devon.
 
Just a couple of additions:

Loved the list of Barbara Hutton's titled husbands! Wow, she did get around! But, perhaps the greatest noble among all of her husbands was Cary Grant, who although born poor and low-class in England, was considered among the greatest of Hollywood nobility! (I'm sure I'll get some comments on this one!)

Also, add Lady Randolph Churchill (nee Jennie Jerome) to the list. She was a wealthy heiress who married the son of the Duke of Marlborough, Lord Randolph Churchhill, and gave birth to Winston Churchill, the great British Prime Minister who was therefore half-American.

Another interesting American was Nancy Langhorne who married into the Astor family, who were in prior years American but had emigrated to England in the generation previous to Nancy's husband and were by then considered British, likely due to the boatloads of money they brought with them...

Nancy Astor had the distinction of being the first female member of the British House of Commons!

Oh, and I forgot!

There is the actress Jamie Leigh Curtis who is married to Christopher Haden-Guest, the 5th Baron Haden-Guest, so she is referred to as "Lady Haden-Guest" when in the U.K.
 
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Okay hopefully this will make sense but are there "rules" or any regulations for Americans who marry into royalty? Such as do they keep their American citizenship, become a duel citizen or???
 
They keep the citizenship because there's nothing in the constitution or any state, federal or local laws that says anything about this. I know that if an American marries a person whose not a citizen, they don't lose their citizenship.

A while back I remember reading in the paper about a move in Congress either prior to or during the war of 1812 which would have the citizenship of an American who kept or took any royal or noble title to have their citizenship revoked. This probably had a lot to do with anti-British sentiment at the time. Nothing was done with it and it was shelved so to speak. The person who wrote about this claimed that it was part of the Constitution but ignored. The fact that it didn't go through the complete Constitution Process makes this null and void IMO. Not sure if this was an amendment to the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights or something that the Congress intended to inact into federal law.

This was never acted upon, so it never was part of the Constitution or other type document. If he had, then Grace Kelly's citizenship would be stripped as she went by the title Princess Grace. I imagine she kept her American citizenship as I've never heard that she revoked it.
 
nascarlucy said:
They keep the citizenship because there's nothing in the constitution or any state, federal or local laws that says anything about this. I know that if an American marries a person whose not a citizen, they don't lose their citizenship.

A while back I remember reading in the paper about a move in Congress either prior to or during the war of 1812 which would have the citizenship of an American who kept or took any royal or noble title to have their citizenship revoked. This probably had a lot to do with anti-British sentiment at the time. Nothing was done with it and it was shelved so to speak. The person who wrote about this claimed that it was part of the Constitution but ignored. The fact that it didn't go through the complete Constitution Process makes this null and void IMO. Not sure if this was an amendment to the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights or something that the Congress intended to inact into federal law.

This was never acted upon, so it never was part of the Constitution or other type document. If he had, then Grace Kelly's citizenship would be stripped as she went by the title Princess Grace. I imagine she kept her American citizenship as I've never heard that she revoked it.
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Thanks! I knew about other foreign citizens but I wasn't sure if it was the same for noble/royal fiances.
 
And I guess you could argue in some cases that women took a style and not a title in their own right? Does anyone know if Sarah Ferguson gave up her American citizenship when she married Prince Andrew?
 
nascarlucy said:
They keep the citizenship because there's nothing in the constitution or any state, federal or local laws that says anything about this. I know that if an American marries a person whose not a citizen, they don't lose their citizenship.
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However, you do lose your citizenship if you swear allegiance to another country or serve in its military.

The granddaughter of US President Ulysses Grant, whose name was Julia Dent Grant, was married to Russian nobility, Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène. Her story is a fascinating one. Her father's life was saved because of her birth; he was with Custer but received leave to back to Washington upon Julia's birth, which saved him from the Battle of Little Big Horn. Her mother's sister was Bertha Palmer, who was instrumental in the creation of the Chicago's World Fair, and whose husband owned the still-famous luxury hotel The Palmer House.

The couple escaped the Bolsheviks, and moved to Florida where PRince Cantacuzène became part of the Palmer Bank, founded by his wife's family. They divorced in the 1930's. Julia moved back to Washington DC, where she had been born; she lived into her 90's.
 
Esmerelda said:
And I guess you could argue in some cases that women took a style and not a title in their own right? Does anyone know if Sarah Ferguson gave up her American citizenship when she married Prince Andrew?
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This is the first that I heard that Sarah Ferguson had American citizenship. Why would she? Her parents were British and she was born in Britain was she not?
 
She never hads American citizenship. That is just nonsense.
 
Also Julia Dent Grant was Ulysses S. Grant's daughter not his grandaughter. She was later divorced from her titled husband
 
I'm sorry I always thought Sarah was American.
 
wanderingnana said:
Also Julia Dent Grant was Ulysses S. Grant's daughter not his grandaughter. She was later divorced from her titled husband
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No, NotAPretender is right; Julia Dent Grant was President's granddaugter, daughter of his firstborn son Frederick Dent Grant & his wife Ida Marie Honore

Here is her biography: Julia Dent Cantacuzène Spiransky-Grant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

She had only one paternal aunt, whose name was Ellen. (called Nellie by her family)
 
Exactly. It is her maternal aunt, the sister of her mother, who was Bertha Honore Palmer ( which I think I mentioned in my first post.) Now she was an incredible woman in her own right!
 
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You are both right. I do apologize. I was thinking of Nellie Grant who was Grant's daughter
 
Not a real person but a fictional character: Cora Levinson of Cincinnati, Countess of Grantham.
Masterpiece | Downton Abbey | PBS
They are currently airing "Downton Abbey" in the US. Cora's fortune helped save Downton Abbey in the late 1880s but now [in the 1910s] the fortune and home will go to a distant cousin because the Earl and Countess have no sons.
 
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I'm totally addicted to this show. The fictional Cora is exactly how I would have seen any of the Dollar Princesses in later life. There is a great book (great fun, too!) called "How to Marry a British Lord" which amply covers the period of the Buccaneers.
 
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Actually, I think Cora is a lot happier in her marriage than a lot of those Dollar Princesses, especially (now that you mention it) considering the fates of the Buccaneers, another group of fictional Dollar Princesses.

The Buccaneers was a novel by Edith Wharton, published posthumously, about nouveau-riche American heiresses marrying into the British Aristocracy. The novel focused on five female American protagonist, but I've only watched the 1995 TV mini-series, which reduced the main characters down to four. Many were based on real life heiresses:
Conchita Closson, Lady Richard Marabel - first of the girls to marry, to Lord Richard , younger son of the Marquess of Brightlingsea. Based on Consuelo Yznaga del Valle, Duchess of Manchester (godmother to Consuelo Vanderbilt).
Virginia St. George, Lady Seadown, later Marchioness of Brightlingsea - marries Lord Seadown, elder son of and later Marquess of Brightlingsea, elder brother of Lord Richard.
Nan St. George, Duchess of Trevenick - sister of Virginia. Based on Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough (namesake of the Duchess of Manchester).
Lizzy Elmsworth, Mrs. Hector Robinson - her "stock" (family fortunes) were down so netted the lowest prize, but only character with a happy marriage. Based on Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill (mother of Winston Churchill).
 
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Well Wallis W. Simpson an American divorcee married Edward VIII and was the reason behind his abdication.
 
And to correct Princess Garce of Monaco married high nobility as Monaco's reigning family are princes not kings.
 
Next Star said:
And to correct Princess Garce of Monaco married high nobility as Monaco's reigning family are princes not kings.
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But prince/ss none the less. Are you higher nobility than Monaco's royal family? HSH Princess Caroline of Monaco, upon her marriage to HRH Prince Ern(e)st August(us) of Hanover in 1999, became HRH Princess Caroline of Hanover, Princess of Monaco.
Your post simply seems derogatory toward the MRF. Or am I 'reading' your post wrong? What other point, except for obvious, are you really implying?
 
I don't think Next Star was being derogatory in the comment at all, just stating a fact. It's Prince Ernst August of Hanover who Caroline married.
 
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