Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt
Gloria Laura Mercedes Morgan Vanderbilt ( born Gloria Laura Mercedes Morgan, born August 23, 1904 in Lucerne, Switzerland, † February 13, 1965 in Hollywood, California ) was an American high society lady.
Life
Gloria was the daughter of Harry Hays Morgan and his wife, Laura Delphine Kilpatrick. Her father was a diplomat in Buenos Aires and in Brussels. Her maternal grandparents were the general of the Union Army and U.S. diplomat in Chile, Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, and Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso. She was a niece of the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile and is a descendant have been out of the house of Navarre.
Along with her twin sister Thelma, she attended the prestigious Swiss boarding school Le Rosey. At the age of 17, she went to New York City and were quickly at the high-society. On May 12, 1923, the then only 19 -year-old Gloria married the heir Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt Railroad ( 1880-1925 ), eldest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II ( 1843-1899 ) and Alice Claypoole Gwynne ( 1852-1934 ) and thus grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt ( 1794-1877 ). On February 20, 1924, she gave birth to her only daughter Gloria Laura. The marriage was not happy, because her husband alcohol more and more fell, he died in 1925 from the effects of alcohol poisoning.
After the death of her husband, Gloria moved with her daughter, heiress to a four million dollar trust fund to Europe. Together with her sister Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness, mistress of the Prince of Wales and future King Edward VIII of Great Britain, they were with their numerous festivals for high society. In the early 1930s, made the family Vanderbilt, especially her sister Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney ( 1875-1942 ), worry about the bad influence the Gloria had on her daughter. They hired a private investigator to their way of life to be documented and in 1934 stood Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and her sister in the center of a much-publicized court dispute over the custody of the then 10 -year-old Gloria Laura. She lost custody of the Vanderbilt family and the annual grants from the legacy of their daughter. In the later years she lived with her sister in New York City and Los Angeles. Virtually penniless died Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt in Hollywood and was buried in the cemetery in Culver City. Only a few faithful friends, like Mary Pickford and Buddy Rogers, attended the funeral.