Drexel was an author who published two books, King Lehr and the Gilded Age (1935) and Turn of the World (1937). Her first novel, published after the death of her second husband, tells the story of her unhappy marriage to Henry Lehr, which was referred to as a "tragic farce" of a 28-year marriage. Time magazine described it as:
A bitter, disillusioned book, 'King Lehr' is memorable for the lurid light it throws on U. S. Society of the Gilded Age, may confidently be opened as one of the most startling and scandalously intimate records of life among the wealthy yet written by one of them.[3]
Her second book, and first as Lady Decies, Turn of the World, was also a semi-autobiographical history of American high society during the Gay Nineties up through World War I. Following the book's publication, The Pittsburgh Press wrote,
The magnificent spectacle that went on behind the scenes in pre-war days of society's Gilded Age at Saratoga, Newport, New York and Paris is detailed by an insider, Elizabeth, Lady Decies, who was Miss Elizabeth Wharton Drexel interesting, amusing and sometimes revolting, as with evident nostalgia she tells of extravagant parties and fortunes spent for clothes and jewels.[4]
Joseph Drexel Dahlgren (1890–1891), who died as an infant
John Vinton Dahlgren Jr. (1892–1964), who married Helen Broderick in 1946,[9][10] was a graduate of Harvard and Georgetown.[11]
During this marriage, she made generous donations to Roman Catholic charities and to Georgetown University, including funds for the construction of Dahlgren Chapel, which was named for her first son.[12] Georgetown University asked for her portrait, which was painted in 1899 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947).
In June 1901, Elizabeth married Henry Symes Lehr (1869–1929), aka Harry Lehr.[1][3] The marriage was never consummated.[14] According to her, on her wedding night, her husband told her that he loathed her and could not stand the thought of touching her ever, although he wanted her to understand she was to be cordial to him in public and he might in turn occasionally call her "darling". He had, he admitted, married her for her money because poverty terrified him.[15]
In 1915, the Lehrs were in Paris, and Elizabeth worked for the Red Cross. They remained in Paris after World War I, where they bought in 1923 the Hôtel de Cavoye at 52, rue des Saints-Pères in the 7th arrondissement. Harry Lehr died on January 3, 1929, of a brain malady in Baltimore.[16]
Lord Decies filed suit for divorce in 1942, which Lady Decies contested.[21]
Lord Decies died on January 31, 1944, at his Ascot home.[22]
Death
Elizabeth, Lady Decies, died at the Hotel Shelton in Manhattan on June 13, 1944. She was buried in the crypt below Dahlgren Chapel at Georgetown University, which she and her first husband had built as a memorial to their first son, Joseph Drexel Dahlgren, who died in infancy.[1]
^"Harry S. Lehr Dies. Once Social Leader. Succumbs To A Brain Malady In Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. Late Mrs. Astor's Adviser Noted For Daring And Originality Of His Parties. Married Mrs. J. V. Dahlgren, Heiress. Quickly Got Into Limelight. Furor Over "Monkey Dinner" Story. An Excellent Musician". The New York Times. January 4, 1929. Baltimore, January 3, 1929. Harry Symes Lehr, for many years prominent in society of New York, Newport, Baltimore and Paris, died today of a brain disorder at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he had been a patient for several weeks.
^"Died". Time. February 16, 1931. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2009. Lady Helen Vivien Decies, 39, daughter and heiress of the late George Jay Gould, wife of John Graham Hope de la Poer Beresford, 5th Baron Decies, Boer War veteran; of jaundice and heart attack; in London.
^"People". Time. July 27, 1942. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2007. Heavily engraved invitations sent out by Lady Decies (formerly Elizabeth Drexel of Philadelphia) sent the British Library of Information bustling about over a point of etiquette. Said the invitation: 'Lady Elizabeth Decies (the Right Honorable Elizabeth Beresford, Baroness Decies) requests the pleasure of your company,' etc. But Lady Decies, pointed out the B.L.I., is merely wife of a privy councillor of the lowest rank of the peerage (John Graham Hope de la Poer Beresford, Baron Decies). is therefore a 'Lady,' but not a 'Right Honorable.' Nor can she call herself 'Lady Elizabeth,' nor "Elizabeth, Lady,' titles proper only to the daughter of an earl or better or the widowed mother of a baron or married baronet, or the widow of a knight.
