Was Condé Montrose Nast, founder of the publisher Condé Nast, really a Spanish/Portuguese noble?

Question

No biography of him that I've been able to find tells the story behind the title that he used--it's the equivalent of count or earl in Spain and Portugul, and is also a reference to a junior branch of the Bourbon dynasty. He was born in the U.S. to an American father, although his mother was distant French aristocracy and I believe one of his two wives also had some connection to European nobility--but neither of those facts explains his use of the title. Was it just an affectation? Thanks very much--I haven't been able to find a satisfying answer, and it's driving me nuts! (I know, clearly I have too much time on my hands...)

No biography of him that I've been able to find tells the story behind the title that he used--it's the equivalent of count or earl in Spain and Portugul, and is also a reference to a junior branch of the Bourbon dynasty. He was born in the U.S. to an American father, although his mother was distant French aristocracy and I believe one of his two wives also had some connection to European nobility--but neither of those facts explains his use of the title. Was it just an affectation? Thanks very much--I haven't been able to find a satisfying answer, and it's driving me nuts! (I know, clearly I have too much time on my hands...)
UPDATE: I KNOW that he was born in the U.S.--I state that clearly above. That would not neccessarily have stopped him from a) buying a title, b) being enobled later in life, c) inheriting a title from a distant relative...

Answer 1

[edit] Background
Born in New York City, New York, Nast was the son of William F. Nast, a broker who served as U.S. attaché in Berlin, and his wife, the former Esther Benoist, the daughter of a St. Louis, Missouri banker. He graduated from Georgetown University in 1894 and received a law degree from St. Louis University in 1897.


[edit] Career
After working for Collier's Weekly (1898–1907) as its advertising manager, Nast bought Vogue, then a small New York society magazine, transforming it into America's premier fashion magazine. He then turned Vanity Fair into a sophisticated general interest publication. Nast eventually owned a stable of magazines that included House & Garden, British, French, and Argentine editions of Vogue, Jardins des Modes, and Glamour (the last magazine added to the group while he was alive). While other publishers simply focused on increasing the number of magazines in circulation, Nast targeted groups of readers by income level or common interest.

Nast had a talent for spotting good editors. Among his staffers were Edna Woolman Chase, who served as the editor in chief of Vogue; Frank Crowninshield, who launched Vanity Fair for Nast; and Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley as well as Diana Vreeland.

Nearly ruined in the Great Depression, Nast spent his last years struggling to regain his early prosperity. He died in New York City and is interred in the Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York.


[edit] Marriages
Conde Nast was married twice. His wives were:

(Jeanne) Clarisse Coudert (later Mrs. J.V. Onativia), a Coudert Brothers law-firm heiress who became a set and costume designer. Married in 1902, separated in 1919, and divorced in 1923, they had two children, Charles Coudert Nast and Natica Nast. (See photographs of Clarisse Nast on Wikimedia Commons.)
Leslie Foster (later Lady Benson), whom he married in 1928; a granddaughter of Gov. George White Baxter of Tennessee, the bride was 20, the groom was 55. Divorced in the early 1930s, they had one child, a daughter, Leslie (who married firstly, Peter George Grenfell, 2nd Baron St. Just, and secondly, Lord Bonham Carter).
Between 1932 and 1936, Nast's companion was the Vanity Fair writer Helen Brown Norden, author of The Hussy's Handbook (1942).


[edit] Death
Conde Nast died in 1942 and is interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. Specifically, his grave is located in Section 25 of the cemetery, near Babe Ruth and Billy Martin.

Answer 2

No. He was born in New York.

Check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cond%C3%A9_Montrose_Nast