Prudence Mary McCoy (Prudence 2)
Prudence Mary McCoy was born in London before the family had moved to New York. Growing up as the only child of a working, and increasingly busy, mother, Prudence often wished her mother had possessed the interest or the energy to have more children. After her husband died, however, Prudence Morris McCoy didn’t have enough of either resource. Prudence Mary learned to entertain and depend on herself, two talents that were to serve her well in her own life.
When Prudence was eight, her mother enrolled her at the Berkhamsted School for Girls, in Hertfordshire, England – ‘exiled me,’ according to 'Pru2' -- nestled away in a bucolic corner of England where she hoped her headstrong Prudence Mary would stay out of the trouble she’d already started getting into.
No such luck. Young Prudence Mary immediately rebelled against the rules and regulations at Berkhamsted – it all reminded her too much of living at home with her mother – and for the next several years she proved to be a colorful and unpredictable ‘pain in the arse’ for the hapless Headmaster, Mr. Ian McLeighton. Had it not been for her mother’s growing success, and fame, there’s no doubt 'Pru2' would have been tossed out of Berkhamsted and sent packing.
Instead, she stayed, graduated second in her class and went on to Cambridge where she took a First in English Literature. Having proven to her mother that she could do anything she wanted to do – if she wanted to, that is – she promptly jumped on the back of her boyfriend’s motorcycle and took off on an eight month tour of Europe. She didn’t write home.
Having sown those wild oats, Prudence came back to England, moved into a run down flat in Notting Hill Gate (before it was cool) and started the trendy fashion magazine ‘A-Z’ which quickly became the Bible of the European haute couture fashion industry.
Just as her mother had been the Queen of Queens, Prudence became the Queen of Chelsea, a visible and colorful figure in the go-go fashion world of glitzy models, extravagant fashion shows, outrageous designs and deliciously decadent living. Prudence burned more than a few candles at both ends. Living in New York City, her mother watched from a distance, shocked and critical of her daughter’s excesses. Which, of course, is precisely what 'Pru2' wanted.
Despite her success and celebrity – or perhaps because of it and the exhausting toll it was taking on her -- when Jeffrey Symcox asked in 2006 if she would be interested in continuing her mother’s work, much to Jeffrey’s surprise, Prudence said yes. Having been shuffled to the edges of her busy mother’s life as a young girl, Prudence saw this as an opportunity to reconnect to her mother.
And, yes, to do the job better than her mother. There was always a bit of a competitive spark between the two women, one that was only fed by 'Pru2’s' successes and her mother’s reluctance to acknowledge that success.
Young, creative and technically sophisticated, Prudence quickly expanded her mother’s work after she died. While continuing to write the “PruPointers” column and publishing helpful hints books, Prudence embraced the Internet, creating a popular interactive website and writing a widely read ‘blog’. A syndicated television show, “PruPointers” is enjoyed by fans around the world.
Prudence Mary McCoy travels around the world for book signings, conventions and conferences where she is the featured speaker, attracting thousands of her fans.