George de Cuevas

Around the time of the wedding, Cuevas had been serving as a secretary at the Chilean legation in London; the bride had been raised in Italy and studied chemistry at Cambridge University.

Cuevas and his wife sponsored an exhibition in 1940 at the New York World's Fair that included old masters and French moderns borrowed from private collections and valued at $30 million.

"[3] On 30 March 1958, at age 72, Cuevas faced off against the 52-year-old retired ballet master and choreographer Serge Lifar in a duel in France.

[12] The duel was conducted in front of 50 newspaper photographers and ended with the two combatants in tears and embraces in what The New York Times called "what may well have been the most delicate encounter in the history of French dueling", with the sole injury being a cut on Lifar's right forearm in the seventh minute.

[13] The final success of his career was a production of The Sleeping Beauty that debuted in Paris in October 1960 and was well received by critics.

[3] His troupe was to have opened Sleeping Beauty in Cannes the night after Cuevas died, and it canceled the performance in his memory.