Some of the european aristocracy often identified themselves as "blue-blooded", a claim that originated with the Spanish royal family. The ancient Spaniard ancestors were Visigoths, and the Spanish royal family, proud of having never mixed with the Moors of North Africa, considered itself to have blue blood flowing from it, and the Castilian nobility at that time claimed that its blood was the noblest and purest bloodline.
Nancy Astor
Of course, the more likely reason was that the nobles did not produce, they would never participate in hard work, so when they rolled up the cuffs, the blue veins were clearly visible on the snow-white forearms, so they considered themselves blue-blooded nobles, very different from the dark-skinned poor people.
With the outbreak of the Industrial Revolution, stubble of upstarts sprung up like mushrooms, exchanging banknotes for knighthoods, diluting the "blue blood" that the ancient nobles were proud of. And by the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when the wealth accumulated for several lifetimes had been exhausted in luxury, they had to find a new way for the continuation of the family, marry the daughters of the rich who wanted to enter the high society, let them come to England with the dowry, and dedicate light and heat to their families...
Among these wealthy heiresses are Conswello, who has been trapped in the siege of marriage for many years, and Jenny, who has helped her son Churchill become a famous courtier with her personal charm, and Mary, who gave everything for her husband and eventually died at the age of 36, but there is also a person who has to mention that she used her wisdom to knock on the closed parliamentary doors of men, becoming the first American-born woman in British history, but served as a member of the House of Commons for 26 years. Her name was Nancy Astor.
Nancy Astor was a girl named Nancy Wicher Langhorn, born in Danville, Virginia, where her father, Chiswell Dabney Langhorn, made a fortune in the railroad business and became a millionaire after the American Civil War.
Nancy has four sisters and three brothers, they have lived a rich life since childhood, with special training from tutors, from knowledge to manners, called little princesses. The sisters are very famous beauties in the local area, and there is also a large number of fans behind them, and there is no shortage of suitors at all. In 1897, at the age of 18, Nancy met Robert Gould Shaw II at a social ball, the rich second generation was very handsome and very pleasing to girls, and the young Nancy soon became uncontrollable, and she fell in love with him.
The two families were right, and soon the lovers were married. It's just a pity that Robert returned to the social circle after a few fresh days after marriage, and he still looks like a prodigal boy in the social world, he is drunk and excessive, his life is debauched, and he wanders around every day and does not have a home. The marriage lasted four years, leaving Nancy with only one son and a piece of chicken feathers. She couldn't bear the anger and divorced, but shortly after the divorce, her mother suddenly died of an acute illness, and a distressed Nancy boarded a cruise ship to England under the persuasion of her father.
Waldorf Astor
Unlike the other million-dollar ladies, Nancy came here to just distract herself, she had no intention of robbing her husband with other girls from the United States, so she was quickly welcomed by these girls, and everyone thought that Nancy was a smart and astute girl. Of course, her humor also attracted many British gentlemen to be attentive to her, but Nancy was not moved.
When crossing the Atlantic Again, Nancy meets her lifelong lover, Waldorf Aster.
On the cruise ship, two young men born on the same day of the same month of the same year met.
Nancy with her husband Waldorf Astoria
The Astor family is the fourth richest family in American history and made a fortune from the railroad trade while in the United States. But when Waldorf was ten years old, his father moved his family to England, educating his children at Eton College and Oxford University, hoping to raise him into an English aristocrat. Since they were American, why did the Astors have a viscount title? Of course, Waldorf's long-term, huge charitable contributions were awarded. In the conversation, the two found that their ideas were so close and their personalities were so compatible, they were both born in the rich family of the United States, but they also longed for the aristocratic life in Britain. When the cruise ship docked in Southampton, Waldorf proposed to Nancy.
In May 1906, Nancy and Waldorf married and moved into their wedding gift, the 375-acre Cliveden Estate on the Banks of the River Thames. At Cliveden Manor, Nancy showed her means as a socialite. She held salons at home, and celebrities in political circles at the time were proud to be invited by her. Nancy supported her husband Waldorf Astoria's participation in politics, and with the mediation of various mediators, Waldorf became a member of the Conservative Party in 1910. But when Waldorf's father William died, he inherited his father's title of viscount. As a member of the English nobility, Waldorf had to give up his seat in the House of Commons and enter the House of Lords as the second Viscount of Astor.
Cliveden Manor
After all these years of edification, Nancy became interested in politics, so after her husband lost her status as a parliamentarian, Nancy stepped forward and decided to run for a seat in the lower house instead of her husband. The couple used money to open the way, and with the help of their connections, Mrs. Astor Nancy finally eliminated all difficulties and dangers to take over her husband's position and was elected as a member of the house of commons in Plymouth and became a female councillor.
Konstanz Marchewicz
It is not accurate to say that she was the first female mp, and in 1918 there was a female candidate who won the general election, her name was Konstanz Marchewicz. This was the first year that women had just been allowed to run, and Constance's representative, Sinn Fein, who advocated irish independence, became the first female MP in British history, but the party's tradition was to run in the British general election but not take office, so it is more accurate to say that Nancy was the first female mp to enter the British parliament.
Women parliamentarians
Nancy once mentioned in an interview that Churchill turned a blind eye to her when she first entered Parliament. It wasn't until two years later that he said to her, "You've done a good job in the past two years!" ”
Nancy then asked him, "Why haven't you spoken to me for two years?" ”
Churchill replied, "As soon as you walk into the House of Commons, I feel like a woman has walked into my bathroom, and I only have a sponge to protect myself." ”
Nancy's poisonous tongue was no less than Churchill's, and she sneered, "You never thought that your terrible appearance could effectively protect you?" ”
Nancy at work
The two men were friends and enemies, and they often sprayed each other with venom, such as when the two had an argument, and Nancy said to Churchill, "If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee." Churchill replied, unhurriedly, "If I were your husband, I would drink it without hesitation." ”
Winston churchill
Nancy was a member of parliament for 26 years, and her parliamentary career was mixed. On the bright side, her most prominent contribution was to raise the legal age for drinking to 18 and to lower the age at which women voted to 21. She also supported the establishment of nurseries to free housewives from housework.
Couple Nancy
But the downside is even more staggering: during her tenure, Nancy made a series of anti-communist, anti-Semitic, and sympathetic remarks that made her a thousand fingers after the outbreak of World War II, with someone as "a congressman representing Berlin." As she grew older, her rhetoric became more and more strident, and even her Conservative Party felt that she was becoming more and more extreme and no longer qualified for the position. With the defeat of the 1945 Labour election, Waldorf persuaded his wife to step down at the behest of Conservative MPs. Nancy was forced to leave the stage where she had struggled all her life, but she uncontrollably spilled her anger on her husband, who had loved her for many years, and the two parted ways ever since.
After retiring from politics, Nancy and her husband Waldorf Astoria lived separately. After this, Nancy's temperament became more solitary, and racism was added to her views. Speaking in the United States, Nancy openly told the Blacks that she was the daughter of a slave owner and that they should look forward to becoming the black slaves of her childhood. She also told the Black Church in the United States that they should be thankful for slavery because it converted them to Christianity.
Nancy with her children
Nancy's eccentric personality caused nancy's husband to leave her, and her children could not stand her hysteria and intense control. Her son Bobby, born to her ex-husband, was arrested and imprisoned for homosexual acts, and after his release, he became very aggressive. Jack, the son born to Waldorf, married a Catholic, and as a pioneer of the anti-Catholicism, Nancy was estranged from her son and daughter-in-law.
The only thing she could talk to was her siblings, and when her siblings died, Nancy became even lonelier, living alone and unwilling to compromise with her children, eventually dying in 1964.
Couple Nancy
As a "successful" politician, Nancy is naturally not a "good person". She is witty and humorous, but she is also cold, paranoid, and aggressive. Her extreme political views are spurned by modern people. But as a woman, especially a second-married American woman, she actually knocked on the door of the British aristocratic parliament, which is known for being stodgy, and has a place in the patriarchal world, which deserves everyone's attention.
She is a trailblazer and a legend. You can support her to like her, you can also hate her and hate her, but you have to admit that she has lived a history, a history of women's struggles.
Elderly Nancy
"My entry into the House of Commons was not a revolution as some would have suggested. It's an evolution. My husband, it was he who propelled me down this path – from family to society. If I had helped the cause of women, he was the one to be thankful for, not me. —Nancy Astor