On this day the mother of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born. Her name was Jennie Jerome, and was an American by nationality. She was born in present-day New York, in one of the wealthiest American families. Her father, Leonard Jerome, had the nickname “King of Wall Street” and earned a lot of money by trading stocks on the New York Stock Exchange. In the center of Manhattan in 1859 he built an enormous palace for himself and his family. This palace, named “Jerome Mansion” was one of the most luxurious buildings in the whole of America. It had an amazing theater hall for 600 people, and a golden-white ballroom with champagne and cologne flowing fountains.
Rich Leonard Jerome had three daughters, who were called Jennie, Clara and Leonie. The public nicknamed them as “The Good, the Witty and the Beautiful”. Churchill’s mother Jennie Jerome was the eldest of the sisters, and married at the age of 20 to a British Lord Randolph Churchill. It was a very convenient marriage, because she was immensely rich, and he descended from one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain. Namely, Lord Randolph Churchill was the son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, the owner of the famous Blenheim Palace near Oxford (Duke is the highest aristocratic title in the UK).
Jenny Jerome, after marrying, was titled as Lady Randolph Churchill, after her husband. She was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her time. She became a prominent member of Britain’s highest society. She reportedly had a series of lovers, including the King Edward VII (son of Queen Victoria). After her husband’s death she married a much younger man – a Scots Guards officer George Cornwallis-West.
After the marriage failed, she divorced, and then married for the third time – for a colonial official named Montagu Phippen Porch. This time the scandal was even greater because her new husband was even younger – he was three years Winston’s junior.
