Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, née Consuelo Yznaga was a Cuban-American woman who married George Montagu, Viscount Mandeville.
Background
Consuelo was born in 1853, in New York City, the second of four children of diplomat Antonio Yznaga del Valle and Ellen Maria Clement. Her father was from an old Cuban family who owned a large plantation (see Torre Iznaga) and sugar mills in the vicinity of Trinidad, Cuba. They had connections to several Spanish aristocratic families.
Ellen Maria Clement, was the daughter of Samuel Clement, a steamboat captain and Maria Augusta Little.
She grew up at Ravenswood Plantation in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, which she inherited when her parents died.
Mr. and Mistress Yznaga acquired properties in New York and in Newport, Rhode Island, while retaining the plantations in Cuba and Louisiana.
Career
And later became the Duchess of Manchester. Parents Marriage In her teenage years Consuelo became known on New York"s social scene as one of the group called the Buccaneers. Poverty was a cause that concerned her, and she was also interested in education and health.
The Duchess of Manchester was a renowned beauty.
The Duchess was a celebrated society figure, belonging to the intimate circle of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, formerly the Prince of Wales. The Manchester tiara, created for the Duchess by Cartier in 1903, is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
1853 – 1876: Consuelo Yznaga 1876 – 1890: Viscountess Mandeville 1890 – 1892: Her Grace the Duchess of Manchester 1892 – 1909: Her Grace the Dowager Duchess of Manchester.