3. One Dollar Princess Became the Second Woman in Parliament
Ever since John Jacob Astor made his fortune in fur-trapping and trading in the eighteenth century and went on to buy up much of the property in Manhattan, the Astor family has been synonymous with the most elite circles of American society. The New York 400 was a list of the most prominent socialites, kept by Caroline Astor, and was veritable who’s who of American aristocracy. Of course, they weren’t real aristocracy, because the American government cannot give titles. But who cares when you have money coming out of your ears? William Astor was born in the US, but he spent most of his life in London and was so surrounded by British aristocracy that he adopted their lifestyle.
When he married Nancy Langhorne Shaw, a girl from Virginia, she shed her country roots and adopted the title Lady Astor. She immediately was accepted into both British and New York social circles with incredibly high status. So high, in fact, that in 1919, she decided to run for the British Parliament in a bid to gain the seat that her husband had once held. When she was elected, she became the second woman elected to Parliament. Not bad, considering that she was American.