Margaret Bedford Bancroft d'Arenberg d'Uzes

Margaret Wright Bedford, known to her friends simply as "Peggy," lived a life that could have been scripted for the society pages. Born in 1932 to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Henry Bedford, Jr., she was heir to the Standard Oil fortune through her father, who served as a director of the powerful company. Her childhood alternated between the Bedford estate in Greens Farms, Connecticut, and the family's apartment in New York's Pierre Hotel, an existence that was hardly "ordinary," though cloaked in the rituals of privilege.

She was educated first at Chapin and later at Miss Porter's School, both finishing schools renowned as pipelines for debutantes rather than scholars. Peggy was not known for her academic prowess, but her striking beauty, luminous violet eyes, and vivacious personality made her unforgettable. From a young age, she possessed a restless energy, a quality that would define the course of her adult life.

Margaret "Peggy" Bedford

In June 1950 Peggy was presented to society with a private dance at the Creek Club in Locust Valley, followed by bows at the Junior Assemblies and Junior League balls. Named one of the "debutantes of the season," she quickly became a darling of the press. Less than a year later, on April 15, 1951, she married Thomas Moore Bancroft, Jr., a handsome Princeton senior, amateur tennis champion, and grandson of Elsie Woodward, one of New York's reigning social figures. Their wedding at St. James Church, with a reception at the Colony Club, was heralded as the social event of the season, uniting two of New York's most distinguished families.

The couple soon relocated to Santa Barbara, California, where Tommy was stationed with the Navy. Their daughter, Muffie, was born shortly thereafter. While Peggy appeared to embrace domestic life, her restlessness remained. Whenever Tommy was away at sea, she returned to New York, staying at her mother's suite at the Pierre. After Tommy's service ended, they moved back east, first into the Bancroft estate at Old Westbury, before Peggy insisted on purchasing their own apartment.

Peggy Bedford Bancroft at 740 Park Ave.

Her choice was bold: a sprawling duplex at 740 Park Avenue, the most prestigious co-op in New York. At only twenty-three, Peggy joined a roster of residents that included Rockefellers and magnates of similar standing. Despite Tommy's protests that they were too young for such a grand residence, Peggy prevailed, buoyed by an inheritance of several million dollars from her grandfather and encouraged by her family friend John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who also lived in the building.

The apartment quickly became the setting for Peggy's ascent as one of New York's leading hostesses. With a flair for mixing society's blue bloods with Broadway stars, Hollywood actors, and visiting European aristocrats, her parties were legendary, extravagant, yet never stiff. Invitations to her soirées became among the most coveted in the city. Life magazine even featured her having her hair styled at home by Kenneth, the celebrity hairdresser of the day.

But the glamour strained her marriage. Peggy's penchant for travel and high society, often unaccompanied by her husband, deepened their differences. Matters were not helped when, at one of her parties, a rented elephant damaged an elevator in their building. This only reinforced Tommy's desire for a quieter life. By the late 1950s, Peggy was abroad more often than at home, frequenting Paris, Deauville, and other playgrounds of the international set.

Their marriage ended in May 1960, when Peggy quietly obtained a divorce in Alabama. By December, Tommy had remarried, and Peggy stunned the press by revealing that she, too, had married. Her escort to the wedding of Princess Astrid of Norway, Prince Charles d'Arenberg, had in fact been her husband since December 29, 1960, the two having been married in a private civil ceremony in Massachusetts, the union kept secret until publicly announced in New York in February 1961. Now styled Her Serene Highness, Princess d'Arenberg, Peggy moved immediately into an international aristocratic world, dividing her time between New York and Paris, and traveling in European royal circles, including her presence in Oslo during preparations for the royal wedding she had attended.

In 1961 she gave birth to Prince Frederick d'Arenberg, solidifying her place within the French aristocracy. Ever the social force, she introduced "the twist" to Maxim's in 1964 and modeled for charity shows alongside her close friend Princess Irene Galitzine. Yet her custody battle with Tommy over Muffie revealed the instability behind the glittering surface. Though officially awarded custody, Peggy's itinerant lifestyle meant her daughter spent much of her time with her father and grandmother in the United States.

By 1966 Peggy's marriage to Prince Charles was unraveling. Divorce proceedings promised scandal, with Charles alleging infidelity and citing multiple lovers, a very public fracture within a marriage that had begun in secrecy. The case remained unresolved when he died suddenly in June 1967 at the age of sixty-two. Peggy maintained that the two had reconciled prior to his death, and although she was required to leave the d'Arenberg residence, she retained a financial settlement and, most importantly, secured her young son's position within the family.

In 1968 Peggy began yet another chapter. She married Emmanuel de Crussol d'Uzès, heir to the oldest dukedom in France. Their marriage, performed in Morocco and attended by an international circle of aristocratic and social figures, elevated her title from princess to duchess and marked her full entry into the French nobility. By the following year she had been publicly received in that role, appearing on the cover of the French society magazine Jours de France as the Duchesse d'Uzès, a reflection of her new standing within one of France's most historic noble families.

Peggy restored the ancestral château of Uzès with her fortune, while continuing to travel between Paris, Rabat, Uzès, and New York, where she presided over her daughter Muffie's debut and marriage in the early 1970s.

Her life ended tragically in 1977. Returning from a party outside Paris, Peggy was killed instantly in a car accident at the age of forty-five. Her body was brought back to New York, where she was interred in her family mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Photos Courtesy of Neil Funkhouser

Photos Courtesy of Neil Funkhouser