Million Dollar American Princesses

It's 1895 and the phenomenon of the "Transatlantic Marriage Trade" has reached its height. Daughters of America's new super-rich industrialists married into British royalty at a rapid pace, but these unions came at a price, financially and emotionally. While some women found true love overseas, others, like Consuelo Vanderbilt, found themselves mired in misery, loneliness and scandal. See how these families traded cash for class, how their heiresses survived, and even thrived in their new surroundings and what their legacy is in Britain today.

In the late 1800s, Wall Street gamblers and buccaneering industrialists gained vast fortunes in New York, but couldn't gain the acceptance of the social elite, the Knickerbockers. Not to be denied, ambitious mothers and their millionaire American princesses took their wit, willpower, and money to Britain, a move that would change history. Discover the story of Jennie Jerome, whose transatlantic marriage gave us England's greatest statesmen, Winston Churchill, along with the stories of other American heiresses whose stories inspired the series "Downton Abbey."

It's the early 20th century, about forty years after American heiresses first streamed overseas to trade cash for British titles, and England finds itself undergoing seismic political changes. The end of the First World War has brought amazing opportunities for women, especially the American transports. Over the next two decades, they will take high society by storm, take a seat in Parliament, and even take down a king. Experience these women's remarkable stories, which inspired "Downton Abbey," and discover how their legacy lives on today.

They were three American actresses about to take on the biggest roles of their careers, thousands of miles from Los Angeles. Join "Downton Abbey" star Elizabeth McGovern as she details how Grace Kelly, Gloria Swanson, and Rita Hayworth transformed from Hollywood royalty to part of European nobility. Unlike previous Million Dollar American Princesses, these starlets also brought unparalleled glamour and fame to the aristocracy, as well as dramatic twists and turns that would rival any one of their movies.

They had passions for paintings, music, entertaining, and obliterating the constraints of societal norms. Meet the "Queens of Culture," three modern, empowered Million Dollar American Princesses who blazed a trail through the arts world in Europe and eventually the world. "Downton Abbey" star Elizabeth McGovern shows how Winnaretta Singer, Sara Murphy, and Peggy Guggenheim inspired and supported some of the most innovative creative talents of the 20th century, from Stravinsky and Picasso to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jackson Pollock.

Host Elizabeth McGovern continues her exploration of the Million Dollar American Princesses who inspired the series "Downton Abbey" with the stories of three women who looked for love, but found disaster instead. Witness the tragic tales of Barbara Hutton, Clara Ward, and Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, women of beauty, wealth, and power, who married into European nobility but ended up shunned by society, family, and the happy endings they hoped to achieve.