Ava Alice Muriel Astor (July 7, 1902 – July 19, 1956) was an American heiress, socialite, and member of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany, the Astors settle ...

. She was the daughter of

John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He died in the sinki ...

and

Ava Lowle Willing Ava Lowle Willing (September 15, 1868 – June 9, 1958) was an American socialite. She was the first wife of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV and later married Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale. Early life Ava Lowle Willing was born on September ...

, and sister of

Vincent Astor William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Astor family. Early life Called Vincent, he was born in New York City on November 15, 1891. Astor was the eld ...

and half-sister of

John Jacob Astor VI John Jacob Astor VI (August 14, 1912 – June 26, 1992) was an American socialite, shipping businessman, and member of the Astor family. He was dubbed the "''Titanic'' Baby" for his affiliation with the RMS ''Titanic''; Astor was born four month ...

Early life

Ava Astor was born on July 7, 1902, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She was the only daughter of Colonel John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (1864–1912) and

(1868–1958). Her paternal grandparents were real estate businessman and race horse breeder/owner

William Backhouse Astor, Jr. William Backhouse Astor Jr. (July 12, 1829 – April 25, 1892) was an American businessman, racehorse owner/breeder, and yachtsman who was a member of the prominent Astor family. His elder brother, financier and philanthropist John Jacob Astor II ...

(1829–1892) and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn (1830–1908), while her maternal grandparents were businessman Edward Shippen Willing (1822–1906) and socialite Alice Bell Barton (1833–1903). In September 1911, Ava and her mother moved to England. They lived in her townhouse on

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was developed for fashionable re ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

, London (from October–April) and her country estate, Sutton Place in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

(from May–September), and she was educated at

Notting Hill High School Notting Hill and Ealing High School is an independent school for girls aged 4 – 18 in Ealing, London. Founded in 1873, it is one of the 26 schools that make up the Girls' Day School Trust. It has a Junior Department of 310 girls (ages 4–11) ...

Personal life

On July 24, 1924, Ava Astor married Prince Sergei Platonovich "Serge" Obolensky, son of General Platon Sergeyevich Obolensky and Maria Konstantinovna Naryshkina, at

Savoy Chapel The King's Chapel of St John the Baptist in the Precinct of the Savoy, also known as the King's Chapel of the Savoy, is a church in the City of Westminster, London. Facing it are 111 Strand, the Savoy Hotel, the Institution of Engineering and Te ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The marriage was considered the event of the season in England that year. Her brother Vincent gave her a Palladian Revival stone residence on his estate near

Rhinebeck, New York Rhinebeck is a village (New York), village in the Rhinebeck (town), New York, town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeepsie– ...

. The house was north of his own "Ferncliff Casino" ''("Astor Courts")'' and also overlooked the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. Ava named it "Marienruh" and retained it through her life. Before divorcing Serge in 1932, they had two children: *Prince

Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky Prince Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky (May 15, 1925 – January 29, 2019) was an American financial analyst and corporate officer. He was previously commissioned in the United States Navy, serving as a Flight Lieutenant, and had also been a publishe ...

(15 May 1925 – 29 January 2019) he married, Claire McGinnis on 10 October 1949 and they were divorced in 1956. He married Mary Elizabeth Morris in 1959. * Princess Sylvia Sergeyevna Obolensky (18 May 1931 – 27 June 1997), she married Jean-Louis Ganshof van der Meersch on 1 November 1950 and they were divorced on 2 August 1957. She remarried Prince Azamat Kadir Guirey ( Giray) on 11 August 1957 and they were divorced in 1963. On January 21, 1933, she married Raimund von Hofmannsthal (1906–1974), son of Gertrud Schlesinger and

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-class ...

, an Austrian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

, and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. He was said to be the father of Sylvia. The couple was married in the city court of

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.–16 October 2014) she married Roderick McEwen (son of

Sir John McEwen, 1st Baronet Sir John Helias Finnie McEwen, 1st Baronet (21 June 1894 – 19 April 1962), also known as Jock McEwen, was a British Unionist politician who served in the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament for Berwick and Haddington from ...

) on 15 April 1958. From 1936 to 1937, she had an affair with English choreographer Sir

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositi ...

(1904–1988), despite the fact that he was gay. After the affair ended, her love for him continued, though she had two subsequent marriages, both to gay Englishmen. Ava and Raimund eventually divorced in 1939, and Raimund later married Lady Elizabeth Paget. On March 27, 1940, she married Philip John Ryves Harding (1906–1972), a journalist, in

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. At the time of their wedding, Harding, a cousin of Maxwell Eley, was serving with an

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

battery in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. Before their divorce in 1945, they had one daughter: *Emily Sophia Harding (28 December 1941 – 8 September 2019) she married Michael Zimmer on 29 June 1963. She later married Eric Glanbard and Clark Murray. On May 12, 1946, she had her fourth and final marriage to David Pleydell-Bouverie (1911—1994), the grandson of

William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor PC (19 June 1841 – 3 June 1900), styled Viscount Folkestone from 1869 to 1889, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Treasurer of the Household under Lord Salisbury between 1885 and ...

, in

Reading, Vermont Reading is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 687 at the 2020 census. History On August 30, 1754, after being captured by Abenakis at Fort at Number 4, Charlestown, New Hampshire, and being force-marched to Mon ...

. Pleydell-Bouverie was an architect who studied at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

in England. The couple resided in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Glen Ellen, California Glen Ellen is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 784 at the 2010 census, down from 992 at the 2000 census. Glen Ellen is the location of Jack London State Historic Par ...

, before divorcing in 1952.

Death

Astor died of a stroke in her 219 East Sixty-first Street apartment,

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, on July 19, 1956, at age 54. She predeceased her mother by two years. She was a patron of the arts, including the ballet companies of

and

. Her will was admitted to probate on November 5, 1956, in Manhattan Surrogate Court. Her assets, totaling $5,305,000, (equivalent to approximately $ in dollars) were divided among her four children. At her mother's death in 1958, her children received an additional $2,500,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in dollars)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Astor, Ava Alice Muriel Obolensky family Ava Livingston family Schermerhorn family Hofmann von Hofmannsthal 20th-century American Episcopalians 1902 births 1956 deaths People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School