Robbing the Cradle

What has Joan Collins, Madonna and the wife of Karl Marx in common? Give up?

All three ladies married spouses younger than themselves.

In this day and age, such occasions are numerous enough not to cause undue concern. However, in June 19th 1843, when Karl Marx, a nobody, married Jenny von Westphalen, daughter of a German baron, it was something. Indeed, for several years the two kept their engagement a secret, both realising, that this was not a marriage which would find approval from either family.

An older woman marrying a younger man always causes speculation. What does he see in her? What does she see in him? In the case of Karl Marx, one would be inclined to say, that part of his choice lay in the fact that he was a very selfish man. In this marriage it was less about what he could do for his his wife, and more what his wife could do for him.

While he was busy contemplating the possibility of a world revolution, his wife and six children lived in extreme poverty, supported by the charity of friends.

In the latter part of their married life, while Karl spent his time in the Reading Rooms of the British Museum, Jenny was busy trekking from their two rented rooms in Chelsea, to the pawn broker and back again. Her visits, notwithstanding, the Marx family were ejected from their two rooms for not paying their rent, and moved to cheaper accommodation in Soho. By this time Jenny had got rid of whatever cutlery worth selling could be sold, while the rooms were pretty well innocent of any piece of furniture.

According to British statistics, older women marrying younger man has now risen to more than 25% of all couples.

Some reasons given for the trend is that the older woman, who is still looking forward to having a family, wants a healthy father for her children. Men, on the other hand, when choosing an older woman, are hoping for emotionally and economically independent woman. Most importantly, they are looking for a woman who is old enough to realise that if they want to be happy, it is their responsibility and not that of the husband.

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