American heiress who married into the French nobility
Theodora Mary d'Albert, Duchess of Chaulnes (née Theodora Mary Shonts; March 21, 1882 – 19 October 1966) was an American heiress who married into the French nobility.
Her maternal grandparents were Mary Jane (née Lord) Drake and Gen. Francis Marion Drake, the Governor of Iowa from 1896 to 1898.[3] Her paternal grandparents were Margaret Nevin (née Marshall) Shonts and Dr. Henry Daniels Shonts,[4][5] a well known pioneer doctor who practiced in Erie, Pennsylvania before moving to Centerville, Iowa in 1861.[4]
Society life
Beginning in 1906, her family resided at 1526 New Hampshire Avenue in Washington. After her marriage, they moved to Paris and she made her first appearance at the Paris Opera House on 11 April 1908 accompanied by the Duke's sister, the Duchess d'Uzès. Theodora "was wearing her magnificent ruby ornaments presented by her father."[6]
Widowhood
Following her husband's death,[7] she spent the beginning of her widowhood at his family's estate, Château de Dampierre.[8] Upon the birth of her son, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Theodora and her father offering his congratulations.[9] In 1911, she rented a villa in Cape May, New Jersey, known as Star Villa, with her mother and sister.[10]
She often traveled back and forth from Europe and vacationed in Hot Springs, Virginia, socializing with the Duchess of Manchester, a fellow American who married into the European aristocracy.[11][12] In 1915, she played a foursome of golf there with the Duchess of Manchester, her sister Marguerite and Isabella May of Washington.[13]
Known for her fashion sense, she was "one of the first to include 'metropolitan' prints in her wardrobe. She has selected the Paris print with the Mona Lisa, the Madeleine and the Eiffel Tower. She is having it made up in her favorite color combination of black and white."[14] She was supported, financially, in her later years by her friend, "Mrs. William Boyce Thompson, wealthy mother of Mrs. Tony Drexel Biddle Jr."[15]
She never remarried, but was reportedly wooed by poet Andre de Fouquières all through the Deauville season in 1913.[24]
The Duke was interred at Château de Dampierre[25] (from which French thieves stole Rubens and a Raphael paintings in 1952).[26] She lived another fifty-eight years until her death on 19 October 1966.[27]