There was no fairy tale ending for the lovely Gladys Deacon

The story of how Hugo Vickers eventually tracked down the former Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough is almost as fascinating as how Gladys nailed her duke. Both were obsessions that began young, that of the 16-year-old Vickers when he read of ‘The love of Proust, the belle amie of Anatole France’, and was so taken that he wrote his first biography of her 40 years ago, and that of Gladys when at 14 she wrote (of the Duke) ‘O dear if only I was a little older I might “catch” him yet’.’

Gladys (born in 1881) was a star from the word go, extremely intelligent — her tutor called her a ‘brain genius’ — and avid to learn. At a time when ‘accomplishments’ such as sketching, singing and needlework were considered all the armoury a rich, well-born young woman needed, she emerged with seven languages, a wide general knowledge and a lifelong love of art, literature and poetry, as well as the exceptional beauty that would eventually become her downfall.

Over her hung an aura of scandal at one remove: when Gladys was 11 her father had shot her mother’s lover dead as he cowered behind the sofa. At the least, this meant a life jolted out of the norm. With her mother, she travelled round Europe, as she did so making a conquest of the noted art historian and expert Bernard Berenson as well as many others smitten by her charm and beauty. ‘Radiant’ was an adjective constantly applied to her.

She finally met the Marlboroughs at the turn of the century, fascinating them both. When she ‘did’ the London season of 1902, she was largely escorted by Consuelo, the Duchess, and when the Crown Prince of Germany fell in love with her, her name became known to everyone.