The tragic tale of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon illustrated the dangers. Their newborn daughter, Victoria, was discovered dead in a shed in Brighton. This heartbreaking tragedy has rightfully garnered national outrage. It gives us a window into the couple’s unusual lifestyle and unique choices that led them to their desperate situation. The two of them maintained that they had no alternatives. They thought they had no choice but to languish among the toxic waste.
Constance Marten, who was born into similar privilege, as a child lived for a time at Crichel House, an 18th-century Georgian country estate in Dorset. Her pedigree is impressive. Her father Napier Marten, himself the son of a marquess, has family connections to British royalty. His mother was a childhood friend of Princess Margaret and goddaughter to the Queen Mother. Born into wealth, Marten initially enjoyed her privilege, but soon became ashamed of her choice to bear children with Gordon. Her family could never accept him due to his non-traditional upbringing.
In her early twenties, Marten dazzled elite social circles with her presence. She was even named “babe of the month” in Tatler magazine. She has three younger brothers: Maximilian, Freddie, and Tobias. That all changed for her when she met Mark Gordon in 2014 after an unusual encounter at the mall. Over time, their relationship deepened, and they participated in a non-legally binding marriage ceremony in Peru two years after first meeting.
Their path would take a much more dangerous turn when the couple soon came to be on the run from law enforcement. Their goal was to spend no more than three days in any one council district. They were concerned that extending their stay would allow local government authorities to detain their newborn daughter. Their tenuous existence was further complicated by a sense of paranoia. They spent the winter battling the elements in an insufficient wardrobe and with scant provisions, living in a tent on the South Downs.
Tragedy struck when Constance Marten developed a “shattered spleen” at 14 weeks gestation with Victoria. This shocking episode was only one of many signs of the couple’s stormy existence. They dealt with homelessness, trauma and other major obstacles. Just a few months earlier, officials had found them inadequate to care for four other children, removing those children from the home.
Their financial resources were equally strained. The couple reportedly spent thousands on taxis to navigate the country, as well as on hotels and holiday lets. Every day, they focused everything on maintaining a sense of normalcy even amidst all the craziness around them. Their perpetual efforts to evade police winged them into a deadly scenario.
Their nightmare got worse when a family court judge had previously ruled against them after an explosive incident in November 2019. The couple’s decisions left many observers wondering about their judgment and whether they could protect Victoria from harm.
Marten has spoken candidly about her feelings of embarrassment regarding her relationship with Gordon, stating she was “highly embarrassed about the fact I had children with Mark and the fact they do not come from an upper-class, privileged background.” This powerful expression of her orientation captures the struggle she was going through inside, the collision of her aristocratic upbringing with presence where she found herself.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon even tried to flip the script on the Lost Generation stereotype, claiming that he was not disadvantaged. The notion that I was disadvantaged simply wasn’t true. My mother had two or three houses. She always provided for us. She showed me empathy,” he stated.
Their heartbreaking tale is unfortunately an archetype of our conditions with society at large involving homelessness, mental illness, and parental duty. As you may know, many observers have raised alarm on the systemic failures that allowed this situation to fester without action for so long.