THE JEROME SISTERS were the first wave of American beauties to marry into the British aristocracy, the precursors of a tide of ‘Dollar Princesses’ eager to swap cash for titles. Unlike their successors, however, the Jeromes were singularly lacking in dollars on a large scale, their father, Leonard Jerome, succeeding in making – and losing – three fortunes in his lifetime. Nor were they part of the fabled ‘Four Hundred’ old-money New Yorkers the number said to have been able to fit into Mrs Astor’s ballroom.

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