Name Mary Goelet | Title Duchess of Roxburghe Parents Ogden Goelet | |
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Children George Innes-Ker, 9th Duke of Roxburghe Cousins Robert Walton Goelet, Beatrice Goelet | ||
Mary Goelet, Duchess of Roxburghe (a.k.a. May Goelet) (1878-1937) was an American heiress and later Duchess.
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Early life
Mary Goelet was born in 1878. Her father was Ogden Goelet, a prominent heir and landlord in New York City. Her mother was Mary Wilson. She was a niece of Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr. and Grace Graham Wilson.
Adult life
She married Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe in 1903. The 8th Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh settled at Floors Castle, where Mary decorated the fortress with her own collection of art including a priceless series of 17th century Gobelins Manufactory tapestries. After ten years of childlessness, Mary gave birth to a son and heir, George Innes-Ker, 9th Duke of Roxburghe, who succeeded his father in 1932.
At the time of her marriage to the Duke of Roxburghe, Mary Goelet was the wealthiest American heiress, with a dowry of twenty million dollars, exceeded only by Consuelo Vanderbilt in the wealth brought to the transatlantic marriages of the pre-1914 era.
Death
She died in 1937.