Occupying that rarified hothouse at the upper echelons of American society at a time when old money mattered, and blood lines were preeminent, the Mandeville family viewed themselves as occupying a space apart from and above what passed for society on this side of the Atlantic. Theirs was a rarified world far removed from the celestial firmament that was Philadelphia society. They could trace their ancestry to the ruling families of Europe and counted among their intimates the Empress Eugenie, Edward VII of England and Phillipe Duke of Orleans, pretender to the throne of France. An invitation to dine with the Mandevilles was as coveted among Philadelphia’s elite as an invitation to join the shooting at Sandringham or the royal box at Ascot was among Britain’s elite. The Drexels and the Wideners were fine as business partners, but certainly not the sort to have at one’s table. This is their story spanning over a century and a half from the corridors of Versailles to the sugar plantations of San Domingue, and Philadelphia drawing rooms to Newport Ballrooms, and the Courts of the Empress Eugenie and Queen Victoria-leading right up to the turbulent days before the Second World War.
Occupying that rarified hothouse at the upper echelons of American society at a time when old money mattered, and blood lines were preeminent, the Mandeville family viewed themselves as occupying a space apart from and above what passed for society on this side of the Atlantic. Theirs was a rarified world far removed from the celestial firmament that was Philadelphia society. They could trace their ancestry to the ruling families of Europe and counted among their intimates the Empress Eugenie, Edward VII of England and Phillipe Duke of Orleans, pretender to the throne of France. An invitation to dine with the Mandevilles was as coveted among Philadelphia’s elite as an invitation to join the shooting at Sandringham or the royal box at Ascot was among Britain’s elite. The Drexels and the Wideners were fine as business partners, but certainly not the sort to have at one’s table. This is their story spanning over a century and a half from the corridors of Versailles to the sugar plantations of San Domingue, and Philadelphia drawing rooms to Newport Ballrooms, and the Courts of the Empress Eugenie and Queen Victoria-leading right up to the turbulent days before the Second World War.
Fortune’s Favor-a multi-generational saga of one of America’s leading families
