Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil

Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt was born at Biltmore House in 1900 and grew up between the estate, travel and schooling in Washington, D.C. After her father’s death in 1914, she and her mother remained closely associated with Biltmore and western North Carolina.

In April 1924 she married the British diplomat John Francis Amherst Cecil at Biltmore. During the Great Depression the Cecils opened parts of Biltmore House to the public, helping establish its later role as a major historic attraction. These Tangled Threads uses preparations for her wedding as the commission around which its fictional Biltmore Industries weavers confront artistic rivalry and past betrayal.