The Gilded Age True Story: Why Mrs Astor's Family Is So Powerful
Warning: SPOILERS for The Gilded Age Episode 2 — «Money Isn't Everything»
Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) was formally introduced in The Gilded Age episode 2, which was a glimpse at why the queen of New York's high society is so powerful. Creator Julian Fellowes' The Gilded Age is a lush immersion into the upper crust of 1882 New York City. The Gilded Age dramatically depicts how Old New York, exemplified by women like Mrs. Astor and Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski), sought to keep New Money families like George (Morgan Spector) and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) out of the social power circles of Manhattan.
Previously spoken about with reverential awe, Mrs. Astor appears in The Gilded Age episode 2's climax when she formally opens the fundraiser for war widows and their children run by Aurora Fane (Kelli O'Hara) and Anne Morris (Katie Finneran). Aurora greets Mrs. Astor's arrival by calling her «a marvel» and a «queen among her people.» Indeed, Mrs. Astor was the most admired guest at the charity until George Russell arrived and bought out the event as a public display of revenge for how Bertha was snubbed by Mrs. Fane and Mrs. Morris. Mrs. Astor's socialite daughter Carrie (Amy Forsyth) also appears as a character in The Gilded Age. The fact that Larry Russell (Harry Richardson) moves in the same fashionable young crowd as Mrs. Astor's 21-year-old daughter excited the social-climbing Bertha, and she encouraged her Harvard graduate son to get to know Carrie, which was another assurance of the Astors' power and influence.
Related: The Gilded Age: Why Mrs. Chamberlain Is Outcast
In real life, as in the fiction of The Gilded Age, Mrs. Astor's and her family's power was derived from both her heritage as Dutch aristocracy
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