After her 1907 début, under the aegis of the Duchess of Connaught (Queen Victoria’s daughter-in-law), Margaretta was the catch of her era, with rumored engagements to numerous impoverished Continental princes. The family of Viscount Maidstone (as he was then) was old and poor. His uncle, Denys Finch-Hatton, achieved feme as a white hunter and also as a lover of Baroness Blixen, a/k/a. Isak Dinesen. The wedding was grand, with ten bridesmaids (including Mildred Carter and Nellie Post) and two thousand guests at the huge Drexel mansion on Grosvenor Square. The newlyweds lived with the Drexels, and Viscount wMaidstone went back to his job on the Stock Exchange; he later earned medals for active service in World War I.
