In a time past and past perfect, the Kennedys were considered the American royal family. In a society eager to create myths and with an imperative need for blue blood to flow through its veins (at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the marriages of rich heiresses with half-ruined English, French, and Italian nobles were famous) the imagery consecrated to what is probably the most notable surname in the United States.
None of the nine children fathered by Joseph and Rose are currently living, with Jean Kennedy Smith being the last child to die at the age of 92 in 2020. However, she is a fundamental witness to Camelot in which John and Rose reigned. Jackie is Ethel Skakel (94), the loving wife of United States Attorney General Robert Kennedy, assassinated in 1968 just five years after the Dallas assassination.
Ethel was born into a privileged environment since her mother founded the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, a company linked to the prosperous steel business. Despite having eight siblings, she studied at the best schools, including the Manhattanville College of Sacred Heart, where she met Jean Kennedy, with whom she became close friends and they were even roommates on campus.
Jean did not hesitate to introduce her to her brother Robert during a skiing vacation in Quebec in 1945. Paradoxically, at that time the young man was dating Patricia, Ethel's older sister, with whom she would break up shortly after. And as friction makes love, friendship gave way to love and the couple married in 1950. They hit it off immediately despite the republicanism of the Skakel since Ethel shared other significant traits of the clan, such as being of Irish origin, Catholic, and sports lover.
In their 18 years of marriage, they had 11 children, of which only 10 are living since one of them, David, died of drugs at the age of 28 in 1984. That was the hardest blow of her life after the murder of her husband, We must add another very painful one when three years ago he buried his granddaughter Saoirse, 22, due to an accidental overdose. These deaths are already part of the much-vaunted Kennedy curse.
The young woman lived with her in the Kennedy complex in Hyannis Port in Massachusetts, a 2.4-hectare property facing the Atlantic that houses three buildings, including the 850-square-meter main mansion that they donated a decade ago to the Edward Institute. Moore Kennedy for the United States Senate (EMK) to make people aware of the importance of this part of the legislative branch of the federal government in preserving democracy.
Ethel has lived in a house adjacent to the mansion since she sold Hickory Hill for $8.25 million in 2009, the 2.5-hectare property in the state of Virginia where the iconic white-facade mansion sits, with 12 fireplaces and 2 swimming pools. In both residences, this great woman always helped in the electoral campaigns of her brother-in-law and husband, becoming a fundamental pillar for her in-laws. She was part of the management team of JFK's congressional, senate, and presidential campaigns and supported her husband when he was determined to eliminate social inequalities between rich and poor, black and white, or young and old. Currently, they consider her the great matriarch of it.
When she became a widow, Ethel publicly stated that she would never marry again and she kept her word. Therefore, when she had to attend an event, on most occasions she was accompanied by her close friend, the singer Andy Williams. Due to certain health problems caused by her advanced age, Ethel Kennedy no longer attends public events. To get to know her better, you have to watch the documentary that her daughter Rory filmed a decade ago, born months after the murder of her father.
