THE BILLIONAIRE ANCESTORS

A CENTURY ago they were the wealthiest family in the u.S., if not the world, and the Astor name still holds immense sway in east coast America.

At the height of their influence, they were one of the five great American dynasties with the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Carnegies and Mellons.

Their wealth descended from fur trader John Jacob Astor, America’s first millionaire, and his property-investing sons and grandsons, who owned much of Manhattan. one Astor, John Jacob IV who went down with the Titanic, and his cousin Waldorf Astor, bequeathed new York the double- barrelled Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

until recently, America’s most recognised member of the clan was Brooke Astor, encouraged by her dying husband into ‘having fun after I’m dead by giving away money’. It was a vocation she took up with alacrity. By the time of her death in 2007, the ‘ first lady of new York’ had lavished more than £100 million on good causes.

These days, there are few Astors left in the States. Most live in Britain, where their social and political influence are more subtle.

They established themselves here in the 1890s when William Waldorf sailed for Britain. He bought Cliveden, Hever Castle in Kent and the observer newspaper.

His generosity to libraries and art galleries brought him a viscountcy from george V in 1917. nancy (right), glamorous wife of his eldest son, William the 2nd Viscount, was Britain’s first woman MP. His second son, John, became the 1st Baron Astor of Hever.