Angier Biddle Duke

Angier Biddle Duke (November 30, 1915 – April 29, 1995) was an American diplomat who served as Chief of Protocol of the United States in the 1960s. Before that, at the age of 36, he became the youngest American ambassador in history when he was appointed to be the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador.

Early life Duke was born in New York City. His father was Angier Buchanan Duke (1884–1923) and his mother was Cordelia Drexel Biddle, later Cordelia Biddle Robertson. Angier Buchanan Duke was an heir to the American Tobacco Company fortune while Cordelia Drexel Biddle was a member of the Biddle family who were prominent in business, political and cultural affairs in Philadelphia. Angier Biddle Duke's only sibling was Anthony Drexel Duke (1918–2014). After separating in 1918, Duke's parents divorced in 1921.

His paternal grandfather was Benjamin Newton Duke (1855–1929), a major benefactor of Duke University and brother of James Buchanan Duke, himself the father of Doris Duke, Angier's cousin. His maternal grandfather was Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Sr. Through his mother, he was a great-great-grandson of banker Anthony Joseph Drexel.

Duke attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He dropped out of Yale University in 1936.

Diplomatic career Meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan, Hayato Ikeda. (L-R) Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Zentaro Kosaka, Prime Minister Ikeda, Counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Interpreter) Toshiro Shimanouchi, President John F. Kennedy, State Department Chief of Protocol Angier Biddle Duke (standing), and interpreter James J. Wickel. Oval Office, White House, Washington, D.C. In 1949, Duke joined the United States Foreign Service as an assistant in Buenos Aires and subsequently Madrid. From 1952 to 1953, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador during the Truman administration and was, aged 36, the youngest ever U.S. Ambassador up to that time.

People thought Angie was just a rich playboy when President Truman appointed him Ambassador to El Salvador. He was 36 years old, the youngest ambassador in United States history, and the Duke name represented entrenched, giant capitalists. He then served as Chief of Protocol a second time, for less than six months, until he was appointed to become the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. He served in that position for seven months. In 1969, he was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree from Duke University.

When Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election, the Democrats were again in power, and in 1979 the administration brought him back again to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, a position he held until 1981, when he was succeeded by Joseph Verner Reed, Jr. following Ronald Reagan's election to president. From 1992 to 1995, Duke served as the elected president of the Council of American Ambassadors. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Personal life In 1937, he married Priscilla Avenal St. George (1919–1995) at St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Episcopal Church. She was the daughter of George Baker Bligh St. George and Katharine St. George, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York. Her maternal grandmother, Catherine Delano Collier, was the younger sister of Sara Delano Roosevelt, the mother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and her great-grandfather was George Fisher Baker, the financier and philanthropist. Her father was the grandson of Robert St George, himself the son of Sir Richard Bligh St George, 2nd Baronet. Before their divorce in August 1940, they were the parents of:

Angier "Pony" St. George Duke (1937–2014), who married Mary Ellen Haga in 1973. He was known for infecting Margaret Housen with gonorrhea in 1970. His son, Benjamin Buchanan Duke, married the poker player Annie Duke.

Following their divorce, Priscilla married State Senator Allan A. Ryan, Jr. (1903–1981) in 1941. In November 1940, the 26-year-old Duke married the 34-year-old Margaret Screven White immediately after her divorce from J. M. Tuck. Margaret had also been married to Fitzhugh White and was the daughter of Franklin Buchanan Screven, great-granddaughter of Admiral Franklin Screven, commander of the Confederate USS Merrimack, and a descendant of Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She was the daughter of Isabella de Zurita and Dario de Arana, and the granddaughter of the 10th Marquis de Campo Real,

Maria-Luisa Duke (b. 1954), Drexel Dario Duke (b. 1957).

In 1962, he married Robin Chandler Lynn (1923–2016), who served as the United States Ambassador to Norway during the Clinton administration. She had previously been married to Jeffrey Lynn, the actor and film producer, and was the daughter of Richard Edgar and Esther Chandler Tippett. They lived together at The River House on 52nd Street in New York City. Robin and Angier remained married until his death in 1995.

Angier Biddle Duke, Jr. (b. 1963)

Duke died at the age of 79, from being struck by a car while rollerblading.