At her father's estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, she created one of the largest indoor botanical displays in the United States.

[8][9] One of the pieces of real estate in question was a Manhattan mansion at 1 East 78th Street[8] which later became the home of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.

When she turned 18, in 1930, the 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m)[10] tall Duke was presented to society as a debutante, at a ball at Rough Point, the family residence in Newport, Rhode Island.

When Duke came of age, she used her wealth to pursue a variety of interests, including extensive world travel and the arts.

[17] In 1945, Duke began a short-lived career as a foreign correspondent for the International News Service, reporting from different cities across the war-ravaged Europe.

Duke's interest in horticulture led to a friendship with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientific farmer, Louis Bromfield, who operated Malabar Farm, his country home in Lucas, Ohio in Richland County.

[30] Winters were spent at an estate she built in the 1930s named "Shangri La" in Honolulu, Hawaii;[31] and at "Falcon Lair" in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles, California,[32] once the home of Rudolph Valentino.

She purchased her own Boeing 737 and redecorated the interior of the plane to travel between homes and her trips to collect art and plants.

[35] In 1966, Eduardo Tirella, curator of Duke's art holdings for the previous decade, decided to leave for a career in Hollywood as a production designer.

In the end, $473,000 in today's dollars[37] was divided among Tirella's eight siblings when Duke was found negligent after a trial held five years later.

He found initially that the police file on the case and the transcripts of the wrongful death suit brought by Tirella's family were missing from archives where they would normally be kept, but was able to find some of those documents.

Shortly before the medical examiner arrived at the hospital, for instance, Duke had hired him as her personal physician, meaning anything she told him was protected by doctor-patient privilege.

The deep grooves left by the Polara's rear tires in the gravel suggest considerably more acceleration than what might have resulted from an accidental depression of the gas pedal.

Lance, and several other experts who reviewed the evidence, concluded that it was far more likely that Duke had deliberately run Tirella over out of rage at his decision to leave her for Hollywood.

[36] Duke married twice; the first time in 1935 to James H. R. Cromwell, the son of Eva Stotesbury and stepson of wealthy financier Edward T.

Because of her great wealth, Duke's marriage to Rubirosa attracted the attention of the U.S. State Department, which cautioned her against using her money to promote a political agenda.

Nonetheless, during the marriage, she gave Rubirosa several million dollars in gifts, including a stable of polo ponies, sports cars, a converted B-25 bomber, and, in the divorce settlement, a 17th-century house in Paris.

[48] Duke had numerous love affairs, with, among others, surfing pioneer Duke Kahanamoku, film actor Errol Flynn, British politician Alec Cunningham-Reid, U.S. Army General George S. Patton, jazz pianist Joe Castro, Naval fighter pilot James W. Robb[49] and U.S. writer Louis Bromfield.

[52] Also in 1988, at the age of 75, Duke legally adopted a woman named Chandi Heffner, then a 35-year-old Hare Krishna devotee and sister of the third wife of billionaire Nelson Peltz.

[54] The two women had a falling out, and the final version of Duke's will specified that she did not wish Heffner to benefit from her trust funds; she also negated the adoption.

Nanaline was a shrewd businesswoman, often compared to Hetty Green, and when she died in 1962, she left her daughter an estate then estimated to be worth $250 million.

[56] Duke also owned numerous shares in big-name companies, such as General Motors, and had a large financial team of bankers and accountants to manage her holdings.

Duke's first major philanthropic act was to establish Independent Aid, Inc., in 1934, when she was 21 years old, in order to manage the many requests for financial assistance addressed to her.

[59] In 1963, Duke funded the construction of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram on land leased from the state forestry department of Uttar Pradesh in India.

[61] In 1968, Duke created the Newport Restoration Foundation with the goal of preserving more than eighty colonial buildings in the town.

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, with whom Duke was friends, was the vice president and publicly supported the foundation.

Duke's extensive travels led to an interest in a variety of cultures, and during her lifetime she amassed a considerable collection of Islamic and Southeast Asian art.

[citation needed] Even more sensational accusations were made by a nurse, Tammy Payette, who contended that Lafferty and a prominent Beverly Hills physician, Dr. Charles Kivowitz, had conspired to hasten Duke's death with morphine and Demerol.

In 1996, the year Lafferty died, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office ruled there was no firm evidence of foul play.

New York courts ultimately removed Lafferty for using estate funds for his own support and U.S. Trust for failing "to do anything to stop him".