9. Downton Abbey Features a Dollar Princess
In the television show, Cora Crawley, wife of Lord Grantham, is a dollar princess. She hails from a multi-millionaire in Ohio, who paid a massive dowry for her to be able to marry into the British nobility. The character of Cora Crawley is based on the real Lady Almina, who lived at the house where Downton Abbey was filmed. She married the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who came from a family that was descending into penury but still wanted to live a free-wheeling, free-spending good life. The massive dowry that her father paid enabled her husband to continue traveling abroad on private yachts.
Almina was the illegitimate child of Alfred de Rothschild, of the famous family that made a fortune in banking. He indulged her every financial whim; however, because she was born out of wedlock, she wasn’t able to partake of many of the same social circles as her kin. Her father made up for this by paying for her to marry into British nobility. The plan must have worked, because today, Downton Abbey – much of which is based on her – is one of the most popular shows on both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, her dowry helped pay for the restoration of the building in which the show is filmed.