The subject this week - Paul Ernest Boniface de Castellane (February 14,
1867 – October 20, 1932) was first Comte then later Marquis de
Castellane on the death of his father.
Known as the prince of fashion and taste.
In 1897, handsome, blond, with eyes of lapis blue, he married Anna
Gould, daughter of American Robber Baron Jay Gould, one of the wealthiest heiresses in America. Although not poor at the
time, he was suddenly able to realize all of his dreams. He bought
castles, yachts, paintings, and became the best-dressed man in Europe. He
built the fabulous Palais Rose, in Paris, where they lived, and gave
enormous and memorable parties.
Suddenly, in 1906, the money disappeared. His wife asked for a divorce, to marry his cousin! She was given a civil divorce but to remarry in the church the Comte's divorce took six trials in the Vatican and involved no less than nine Cardinals!.
Boni was ruined overnight. Assailed by creditors and
destitute at 39, he was suddenly forced to learn how to earn money. He became a
journalist, an antiques dealer, and adapted to his new life with the
same elegance and optimism that had always been his. He wrote a
number of books, in one "The Art of Being Poor" he wrote of a visit
from Queen Marie of Rumania and that his dog, ‘Bouboule,’ upon the
Queen's visit, broke all the laws of etiquette,
leaped in her lap and ruined her bouquet. The Shah of Persia and the
Emperor of Abyssinia were also among Boni’s guests.
He died in 1932 in a tiny three room apartment with a retired valet and his wife as his nurse.
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