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The Stormy Life Of Doris Duke, The Billionaire Heiress Who Left Her Butler In Control Of Her Estate
Public DomainDoris Duke, the “Tobacco Queen” who was known as the “richest girl in the world.”
Doris Duke was thrust into the spotlight from the day she was born. As the only child of tobacco tycoon James Buchanan Duke, she was dubbed the “million dollar baby.” And when her father died in 1925, Doris did indeed become a millionaire at just 12 years old.
However, Duke had no desire to be a celebrity. She spent much of her life avoiding cameras and refusing interviews, focusing instead on her charitable foundations and hobbies like surfing, belly dancing, and art collecting. Still, the media was enchanted by Duke — especially her tumultuous love life.
Her husbands included an American politician and a Dominican playboy, not to mention a long list of alleged lovers ranging from Hawaiian surfers to military generals. But perhaps the most chaotic part of Duke’s story came after her death.
In her final years, Doris Duke changed her will to leave control of her vast estate to her alcoholic butler, Bernard Lafferty. When she died in 1993, she was a billionaire — and some people believed that Lafferty had hastened her demise.
Doris Duke, The ‘Richest Girl In The World’
On Nov. 22, 1912, James Buchanan Duke welcomed his daughter Doris into the world. As the only child of the tobacco tycoon, baby Doris was dubbed “the richest little girl in the world” in newspaper headlines.
The Duke fortune went back decades. At the end of the Civil War, James’ father had started producing tobacco products, and the business grew rapidly. James and his brother, Benjamin, took over the company in the 1880s and began using an automated machine to make cigarettes. By 1890, James had merged the business with four rival companies to create the American Tobacco Company, leaving him in control of 90 percent of the U.S. cigarette market.
Public DomainJames Buchanan Duke, the father of Doris Duke.
With his riches, James established the Duke Endowment, a $40 million trust fund for various hospitals, churches, and colleges. One of these schools was Trinity College, which renamed itself Duke University to honor James Duke’s generosity. The Duke Energy Corporation is also named for the Duke family, who established its predecessor in the early 20th century. Today, the company serves more than seven million customers.
But all the money in the world couldn’t protect the Dukes from tragedy. James died in 1925 at age 68, and he left most of his $100 million fortune to Doris Duke, who was 12 at the time. His widow, Nanaline, received a moderate trust fund.
Before he passed, James reportedly warned Doris to “trust no one.”
“My father always said no one would ever love me except for my money, and to be very careful,” Duke later said, as reported by Vanity Fair in 1994.
That conviction would shape Duke’s relationships for her entire life.
The Life Of A Reclusive Celebrity
In the midst of the Great Depression, 21-year-old Doris Duke gained access to the first $10 million her father had left her. This brought unwanted media attention. While other wealthy heiresses became socialites who hosted star-studded parties and thrived in front of the camera, Duke preferred a quieter life. She often refused interviews and photos, instead focusing on her hobbies and philanthropy.
David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke UniversityDoris Duke and James Cromwell in Hawaii shortly after their wedding.
But the media only became hungrier when Duke married 38-year-old James Cromwell at age 22. Cromwell was an aspiring politician, and on their wedding night, he reportedly asked her how much he would receive as an annual income from her trust fund.
Their marriage only disintegrated from there. When Duke became pregnant in 1940, rumors flew that the child wasn’t Cromwell’s. Their daughter was born prematurely and died that July, but even that didn’t stop the press from speculating on Duke’s supposed affairs.
She was romantically linked to Errol Flynn, General George S. Patton, and surfer Duke Kahanamoku, though these rumors remain unconfirmed. Duke’s connection to Kahanamoku stemmed from her years in Hawaii. She had an estate in Honolulu known as Shangri La, and she became one of the first white women on the islands to surf competitively.
David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke UniversityDoris Duke in Hawaii with the Kahanamoku brothers, circa 1937.
Meanwhile, Cromwell was pursuing his political career. He was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Canada in 1940, which added another challenge to his relationship with Duke. The couple divorced in 1943, and Duke remarried four years later.
Her second husband was Dominican diplomat and playboy Porfirio Rubirosa. Doris Duke was so wealthy that the U.S. government wrote their prenuptial agreement, fearing that a foreign government could gain leverage over the nation if Duke were to die before Rubirosa.
However, the union was short-lived. Duke and Rubirosa divorced in 1951, and Duke swore that she would never marry again. According to her 1993 obituary in The New York Times, the heiress once told a journalist, “All that money is a problem sometimes. It happens every time. After I’ve gone out with a man a few times, he starts to tell me how much he loves me. But how can I know if he really means it? How can I ever be sure?”
Unfortunately, Duke would soon learn the hard lesson that interest in her money wasn’t limited to romantic partners.
An Adopted Daughter And An Alcoholic Butler
By the 1950s, Duke had thrown herself into her philanthropic efforts. She’d founded her first charitable organization at just 23, which funded various requests for financial assistance. In 1958, she established the Duke Gardens Foundation, opening public gardens at her estate in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
Vivian Bedoya/Wikimedia CommonsThe Indoor Display Gardens at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
Duke also helped restore historic buildings in Newport, Rhode Island. And later in life, she funded programs for child welfare and AIDS research.
Still, her later life wasn’t without controversy. In 1966, her art curator, Eduardo Tirella, decided to move to Hollywood to work as a production designer. He told Duke of his plans at her Newport estate, and staff there overheard an argument between them. Duke and Tirella then drove off together in a car, but before they even left the property, Tirella was dead.
Duke told the police that she had accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake while Tirella was opening the gate, trapping him under the car. The death was ruled accidental, but not everyone was convinced that Duke hadn’t done it on purpose. To make matters more suspicious, Duke donated a substantial amount of money to the city shortly after, sparking rumors of a police cover-up.
That wasn’t the end of Duke’s troubles. In 1988, she legally adopted a 35-year-old woman named Chandi Heffner. Duke believed that Heffner was a reincarnation of the daughter she’d lost 40 years earlier. She bought her a ranch in Hawaii and added her to her will.
Then, in 1990, Duke mysteriously fell ill. Her butler, an alcoholic Irishman named Bernard Lafferty, convinced her that Heffner was conspiring against her. Duke left Hawaii for her home in Beverly Hills, writing Heffner out of her will in the process.
Doris Duke FoundationDoris Duke at Shangri La in the early 1960s.
As reported by The New York Times in 1993, Duke wrote in her will: “I am extremely troubled by the realization that Chandi Heffner may use my 1988 adoption of her (when she was 35 years old) to attempt to benefit financially under the terms of trusts created by my father… I have come to the realization that her primary motive was financial gain.”
In California, Duke’s health continued to deteriorate. In 1992, when she was 79, Lafferty encouraged her to undergo a facelift. The following year, she had two knee replacement surgeries. Before the second operation, she changed her will once more — and she named Lafferty the executor of her billion-dollar estate.
The Final Days Of Doris Duke
Shortly after Duke was discharged from the hospital after her second knee surgery in July 1993, she suffered a stroke. At one point during her recovery, she choked on a piece of food, and Lafferty allegedly refused to call an ambulance.
She survived, but she spent the last few months of her life in and out of the hospital. She passed away on Oct. 28, 1993, a few weeks before her 81st birthday. There was no autopsy, and she was cremated within 24 hours.
Doris Duke FoundationThe Doris Duke Foundation continues to fund charitable causes that were near and dear to its founder.
In the aftermath, Bernard Lafferty was accused of manipulating a helpless elderly woman into handing over her fortune. While she stipulated that most of her money go to her charitable foundations, the former executor of Duke’s will challenged Lafferty’s appointment, claiming that he’d conspired with a doctor to overdose Duke on painkillers during her final illness.
Prosecutors found no evidence of foul play, but the court system did deem Lafferty unfit to act as executor, and he received a hefty settlement to step aside. Heffner also received a settlement after suing Duke’s estate for $65 million, despite the fact that she was written out of the will.
In 1996, the Doris Duke Foundation was established with the remainder of her fortune. The organization provides grants for things Duke was passionate about, like medical research, education, the environment, and the Muslim community in the United States (Duke was an avid collector of Islamic art). While her life was turbulent, her legacy will benefit the country for generations to come.
After reading about Doris Duke, go inside the story of Sarah Rector, who was called the richest Black girl in America. Then, learn about Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress killed by the Manson family.
The post The Stormy Life Of Doris Duke, The Billionaire Heiress Who Left Her Butler In Control Of Her Estate appeared first on All That's Interesting.
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