Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney - Marriage To John Hay Whitney

Marriage To John Hay Whitney

On March 1, 1942 Betsey married millionaire John Hay Whitney, who was formerly married to socialite Elizabeth Altemus. In 1949, Whitney formally adopted his wife's daughters Kate and Sara Wilford. The Whitneys moved to London in 1957, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Whitney Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. The Whitneys became close to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, who, in a radical departure from the usual procedure, addressed the Whitneys by their first names.

During the 1970s, Jock Whitney was listed as one of the ten wealthiest men in the world. The residences at their disposal over the years included the Greentree estate on Long Island; a plantation in Georgia; a town house and an elegant apartment in Manhattan; a large summer house on Fishers Island, near New London, Connecticut; a 12-room house in Saratoga Springs, which the Whitneys used when they attended horse races; a golfing cottage in Augusta, Ga.; and a spacious house in Surrey, England, near the Ascot racecourse. In addition, the Whitneys shared a renowned Kentucky horse farm with Whitney's sister.