1897

THE first Girl in Pearls. Mary Theresa Olivia Cornwallis-West (known as Daisy) appeared, aged 23, the year Country Life began. She counted King Edward VII among her friends and dazzled Edwardian society. After marrying Hans Heinrich XV, Prince of Pless, when she was just 18, she lived a life of luxury — the family was one of the richest in Europe. When her brother married Winston Churchill’s mother, she became related to the future prime minister, too.