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From the 1870s through the end of the Edwardian Era, more than a hundred heiresses travelled from America to England in search of husbands. These “dollar princesses” were searching for the two things they hadn’t been able to claim back home—a title and superior social status. Many of the land-rich members of the English peerage were more than happy to accommodate these heiresses and their determined mothers. After all, large country estates took a great deal of money to maintain.
Most of these marriages were based on mutual benefit rather than on love or affection. However, there were couples who found love and happiness within their transatlantic marriages.
In 1909, Captain Vernon Kell, a linguist and a captain in the British army at that time, assisted in the formation of the Secret Service Bureau, which was the precursor to Britain’s Security Service or MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service or MI6. For the purposes of this story, though, I have the bureau already in existence two years prior to its inception.
Even before the start of the first World War, there were tensions between Germany and England as the two countries raced to build up their navies. There was great concern in 1909 that a large network of German spies was operating in Britain. A newspaper article really did encourage the public to ask to see a passport if a waiter claimed to be Swiss. Most of these fears proved unfounded, though. However, Kell eventually did discover a network of spies who were working for German Naval Intelligence.