The "Old Money" Daughters Who Were Sold Into Marriages To Save Their Father's Fortune

She cried all morning. Her mother stationed a footman outside the door and waited. Between 1870 and 1914, over 500 American heiresses were married off to broke European aristocrats in transactions negotiated by lawyers like commodity deals. Their dowries totaled over four billion dollars in today's money. Almost none of them were asked. This is the story of the daughters they sold. From Consuelo Vanderbilt — locked in her room the morning of her wedding, veil chosen to hide her swollen eyes — to Anna Gould, who spent eleven years building her case and then emptied the palace while her husband was at work. These women paid the price of their mothers' ambitions and their fathers' fortunes. The title was real. So were the handcuffs. *The help of AI was used in producing this video. #documentary #gildedage