18. At the age of 19, Julia was taken to Europe to avoid the shame of posing for as a model in a handbag advertisement
In 1839, when she was still in her teens, Julia made a decision that would change her life forever. She agreed to model for a middle-class clothes store. The teen beauty was pictured with an unidentified man modelling a new handbag. She was named as the “Rose of Long Island”. Far from being proud of Julia’s independence, her family were shocked. After all, modelling was seen as something ‘common’ girls did, not upper-class ladies. Fearful that Julia would be shunned by polite society, her family arranged for her to embark on a tour of Europe so that she could avoid any further embarrassment and be out of the spotlight for a short while.
At the age of 19, when she should have been being ‘presented’ to Virginia society, then, Julia toured Europe. The family – Julia, her parents and her sister Margaret – left in October 1840 and returned 11 months later. It was a whirlwind tour. In less than a year, the Gardiner family visited England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Ireland and Scotland. They traveled in style and, thanks to the father’s connections and reputation, were warmly welcomed by the European elite.