The Long Ago Gilded Age

Or was it? Maybe not as long ago as you might think! But it was well over a hundred years ago, right? Yes, but . . . when you look at it in terms of how many generations there have been since The Four Hundred walked this earth (400 being the number of guests that fit comfortably in Mrs. Astor's New York ballroom, thus defining the very best members of Society), you can leap from The Gilded Age to the present day in a mere two strides.

Murder at Arleigh (coming August 26th), begins with the wedding of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt to Cathleen Neilson in 1903. In the series, Emma is a cousin several times removed from the Vanderbilts of The Breakers, but she's close to several members and Reggie is one of them. He's got a boyish, endearing quality that tugs at Emma's heartstrings, but she knows he's eventually headed for trouble. Reggie was the youngest son of Cornelius II and Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt, and their fifth child. He also happened to be his mother's favorite, could do no wrong in her eyes, and was therefore indulged and excused for his transgressions all his life. This led, of course, to Reggie being reckless, irresponsible, and self-indulgent. I'm talking fast cars, women, gambling, and excessive drinking, this last beginning when he was still a teenager.

I will also add that Reggie loved horses. He built Sandy Point Farm in Portsmouth, RI, at the

north end of Aquidneck Island, where he raised some of the finest thoroughbreds to be found anywhere. Emma visits Reggie at Sandy Point Farm in Murder at Arleigh. It's still a working stable today, although Reggie's grand house is gone and grounds are considerably smaller.

Given his preference for hard, fast living, it is any wonder his marriage to his child bride, Cathleen, was destined to be an unhappy one? They had one daughter together, but by their tenth anniversary Reggie had plunged them into debt and effectively abandoned his wife and child. They finally divorced in 1920, and only three years later Reggie married the beautiful socialite, Gloria Morgan. Not even Reggie's divorce and debauched life could dim his shining light in his mother's eyes. It's said that when she met her new daughter-in-law, she asked why Gloria wasn't wearing pearls. When Gloria said Reggie couldn't afford them, Alice asked for scissors and cut a length from the considerable rope dangling from her neck. Her son's wife would have pearls!

It's worth noting here that Gloria had a twin sister, Thelma, who moved to England and became the mistress of the Prince of Wales, i.e., Edward VIII. When Thelma sailed home to be with Gloria during her pregnancy, she asked her friend, Wallis Simpson, to keep an eye on the prince for her - and the rest is history. But I digress.

Reggie and Gloria would also have only one child during their short marriage, a daughter also named Gloria. That's right, Gloria Vanderbilt, fashion designer and the mother of Anderson Cooper. Sadly, Reggie's drinking caught up to him in 1925, when he died of a hemorrhage resulting from advanced cirrhosis of the liver. Despite his having squandered most of his inheritance, he left little Gloria enough to make her the subject of a heated family custody battle, between her mother and her aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. But be all of that as it may, we just went from the Gilded Age to the present day in two quick generational hops.