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Margaret Stuyvesant Murat

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American heiress, dancer and actress
Margaret, Princess Murat
Photograph from a 1928 article in the New York Times
BornMargaret Stuyvesant Rutherfurd
(1891-11-11)November 11, 1891
New York City, U.S.
DiedFebruary 10, 1976(1976-02-10) (aged 84)
Paris, France
Spouses
Ogden Livingston Mills ​ ​(m. 1911; div. 1919)​
Sir Paul Henry Dukes ​ ​(m. 1922; div. 1929)​
Prince Charles Murat ​ ​(m. 1929; div. 1939)​
Frederick Leybourne Sprague ​ ​(m. 1939; div. 1941)​
Frederick Leybourne Sprague ​ ​(m. 1941; div. 1942)​
Prince Charles Murat ​ ​(m. 1945; died 1973)​
Parent(s)Lewis Morris Rutherfurd Jr.
Anne Harriman Vanderbilt

Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherfurd Murat (November 11, 1891 – February 10, 1976) was an eccentric American heiress, dancer and sometime actress.

Early life

Margaret was born on November 11, 1891, in Manhattan. She was the second daughter of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd Jr. (1859–1901) and Anne (née Harriman) Sands Rutherfurd (1861–1940). After her father's death in 1901, her mother remarried to William Kissam Vanderbilt, the first husband of Alva Erskine Smith. From her mother's marriage to Vanderbilt, she was a stepsister of Consuelo Vanderbilt (wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough), William Kissam Vanderbilt II (husband of Virginia Fair Vanderbilt), and Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (wife of Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt).

Her paternal grandparents were astronomer Lewis Morris Rutherfurd and Margaret Chanler (née Stuyvesant) Rutherfurd, the niece and adopted daughter of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant. Her paternal uncle was Winthrop Rutherfurd. Her maternal grandparents were Oliver Harriman and Laura (née Low) Harriman.

Stage career

After her marriage to Sir Paul Henry Dukes, Lady Dukes became involved in the New Thought Movement which was based in New York. Like her older sister, she was a follower of Oom the Omnipotent.

She appeared on the New York stage professionally. She was a member of the cast of Gavrilov's ballet, Her Majesty's Escapade at the Gallo Theatre, appearing under her maiden name, Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherfurd. She also studied dancing with the members of the Diaghlieff troupe in London, Paris and Monte Carlo.

Personal life

Margaret was married six times to four different men. On September 20, 1911, she married her first husband, Ogden Livingston Mills (1884–1937) at her stepfather's Château Du Quesney in Vatteville-la-Rue, France. He was a son of financier Ogden Mills, They divorced in Paris in May 1919 and he later became a U.S. Representative from New York and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

In 1922, she married Sir Paul Henry Dukes (1889–1967), in Nyack, New York. Dukes was a British MI6 officer who had been knighted by King George V in 1920, calling Dukes the "greatest of all soldiers". Among his siblings were playwright Ashley Dukes and the physician Cuthbert Dukes. After their marriage, the Dukes lived at 180 Riverside Drive in New York before divorcing in January 1929.

In July 1929, she married Prince Charles Michel Joachim Napoléon (1892–1973) at the Church of St. Francois the Savior in Paris with Jacques Balsan (the second husband of her stepsister Consuelo) as a witness. Prince Charles, a son of Joachim, 5th Prince Murat and younger brother of Joachim, 6th Prince Murat, was a direct descendant of Joachim Murat who was crowned King of Naples by his brother-in-law Napoleon. They spent most of their marriage in Africa before they divorced in 1939 after she met her next husband painting flowers in her mother's garden.

On October 25, 1939, she married portrait painter Frederick Leybourne Sprague (1907–1993) at a private ceremony in Lynbrook on Long Island. Frederick was a son of Freeman Taylor Sprague of Manasquan, New Jersey. After the marriage, she dyed her hair pink, and lived a bohemian life in Camden, Maine. She divorced Sprague in Carson City, Nevada, in early 1941, only to turn around and marry him again, the second marriage lasting for less than a year.

In 1945, she again married Prince Murat. They remained married until his death in Morocco in 1973.

She died on February 10, 1976, aged 84, in Paris, France. She was buried alongside Prince Murat in the Murat family vault in Paris.

References

  1. Aitken, William Benford (1912). Distinguished Families in America, Descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke. Knickerbocker Press. p. 48. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  2. World, Times Wide (21 April 1940). "MRS. VANDERBILT DIES IN HOSPITAL; Widow of W. K. and Daughter of Late Oliver Harriman Noted for War Work and Charities". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  3. "VANDERBILT WILL ESTABLISHES TRUST; Mrs. M.M. Sprague, Daughter, and Grandchildren Are Chief Beneficiaries". The New York Times. 4 May 1940. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  4. "Lewis Morris Rutherfurd" (PDF). New York Times. June 1, 1892. Retrieved 2014-01-09. Lewis Morris Kutherfurd died on Decoration Day at his home, Tranquillity, N.J., in the seventy-sixth year of his age.
  5. ^ "MISS RUTHERFURD WEDS OGDEN L. MILLS; Daughter of Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt, Sr., Married at Chateau Du Quesney in France. FIRST A CIVIL CEREMONY Gay Luncheon for Twelve at 17th Century Estate Follows Marriage Service by the Rev. J. B. Morgan" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 September 1911. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  6. ^ TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (11 January 1929). "LADY DUKES SEEKS DIVORCE; Daughter of Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt Files Suit in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. "MRS. B. R. HATCH WED OOM DISCIPLE; Daughter of Mrs. Win. K. Vanderbilt Married Winfield J. Nicholls, Artist, Aug. 11 | KEPT MARRIAGE SECRET | Sir Paul and Lady Dukes at Ceremony Before Peace Justice in New City -- Bride Also in Cult". The New York Times. 27 August 1924. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  8. ^ "MRS. RUTHERFURD BECOMES PRINCESS; Stepdaughter of Late W.K. Vanderbilt Weds Prince Charles Murat in Paris. MARGARET CHACE MARRIED Bride of Roland Tyler in Beverly (Mass.) Ceremony--Jane Allen Weds James William Gray". The New York Times. 9 July 1929. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Ogden Mills Dies Suddenly At 53. Former Secretary of Treasury Is Stricken by Heart Attack in His Home Here". New York Times. October 12, 1937. Retrieved 2013-12-18. Ogden L. Mills, former Secretary of the Treasury and a Republican party leader often suggested as a possible Presidential nominee, died suddenly yesterday of a heart attack in his home at 2 East 69th Street.
  10. "GODEN MILLS DIES AT HIS HOME HERE; Financier Is the Victim of Pneumonia After Three Weeks'Illness.HE WAS 72 YEARS OLD Active in Many Philanthropies and Long a Leader in SocialAffairs. A Native of California. Interested in Racing". The New York Times. 29 January 1929. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  11. "SIR PAUL DUKES, A SECRET AGENT; Briton Who Spied in Russia in World War I Dies at 78". The New York Times. 28 August 1967. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  12. "MRS. OGDEN L. MILLS WEDS SIR PAUL DUKES; Daughter of Mrs. W.K. Vanderbilt Is Secret Bride of Ex-British War Spy in Russia. COUPLE SAILED LAST FRIDAY Both Had Been Members of Omnipotent Oom's Mystic Colony in Nyack". The New York Times. 18 October 1922. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  13. "LADY DUKES WINS DIVORCE.; Desertion Charge Is Not Amplified in Paris Court's Announcement". The New York Times. January 20, 1929. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Mysterious Fifth Romance of the Pink-Haired Vanderbilt Beauty". The San Francisco Examiner. 16 November 1941. p. 89. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  15. "MRS. M.S. RUTHERFURD WED TO F.L. SPRAGUE; Prince Charles Murat's Former Wife Married on Oct. 25" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 November 1939. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  16. Randolph, Nancy (27 September 1945). "Margaret Rutherfurd Weds Prince Murat Second Time". New York Daily News. p. 214. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  17. "Deaths" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 May 1976. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
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