3 From a letter to Mark Ogilvie-Grant, 1960.
4 Eventually Connolly married glamorous Miss Skelton – the ‘Conk’ (concubine), as Nancy and Waugh called her – although he found her rather hot to handle. She had previously been the mistress of King Farouk of Egypt; during her marriage to Connolly she went back and forth between him and the publisher George Weidenfeld (whom she then married); and finally married Derek Jackson, ex-husband of Pamela Mitford. Evelyn Waugh wrote to Nancy in 1950 asking: ‘Why can’t one’s friends marry nice girls?’ to which she replied: ‘I call them the insect-women oh aren’t they horrible & so mal-elevées. I mean Cyril brought Miss S to a v. small cocktail party I had & she sat & read a book! Then my brother in law Jackson turned up...’
5 From a letter to Evelyn Waugh, 2 August 1955.
6 Jessica told this story, with every appearance of great good humour, during the 1980 BBC documentary Nancy Mitford: A Portrait by Her Sisters.
7 The sketch was for a charity revue, to which Violet Trefusis also contributed: ‘Mine is too lovely; the daughter of un vieux duc who becomes a man and wins the Tour de France. The duc doesn’t turn a hair’, Nancy wrote to Harold Acton. She continued in familiar vein, knowing that Acton would love it: ‘Violet has retired to Florence to write hers, in the company of two professional dramaturges...’
8 From a letter to Evelyn Waugh, 16 June 1952.
9 From a letter to Katherine, Viscountess Mersey, 16 March 1970.
10 The phrase is from John Julius Norwich.
11 In his diaries, Noël Coward referred to an evening in 1960 spent at Jamie (Hamish) Hamilton’s: ‘Nancy Mitford, Debo Devonshire, Diana Cooper, Harold Nicolson, etc.: very civilised and charming and an irrefutable proof that, in spite of the “modern trend”, genuinely witty and educated conversation can still take place.’
12 Lord Stanley had written a book called Sea Peace which contained a portrait of Peter. In his review of the book in Time and Tide, Waugh wrote: ‘“Prod” has an element of genius which Lord Stanley quite misses in casting him in a P.G. Wodehouse part and in crediting him with a desire to please which is most unfamiliar...’
13 The phrase was used by the journalist Nancy Spain, in a 1953 radio broadcast describing a visit to interview Nancy at Redesdale Cottage (she was then on tour with The Little Hut). ‘I have been reading’, Nancy said, ‘for a life of Madame de Pompadour I hope to write. I don’t know. I get so cold when I’m writing.’
14 From Diana Mosley’s A Life of Contrasts.
15 From a letter to Jessica, 8 March 1968. ‘Re the Change. I never had it.’
16 Nancy was always ‘vous’ to Palewski; this was not so much a deliberate coldness, more a respectful courtesy. Charles-Edouard de Valhubert addresses Grace as ‘vous’ in The Blessing.
17 In a deliciously succinct quote from a letter written in January 1958 to Violet Hammersley, Nancy described having visited Powell, L.P. Hartley (Leslie) and Evelyn Waugh over the holiday season. ‘My visits to the major novelists were very successful. The food of all 3 about equal (not good). Leslie had the warmest house & warmest heart, Evelyn by far the coldest house & Tony Powell the coldest heart but the most fascinating chats and a pate de foie gras...
‘I find all these writers take themselves very seriously & Tony Powell speaks of Punch, of which he is literary editor, as though it were an important vehicle of intellectual opinion...’
18 ‘Xopher’ was an old friend of Nancy’s from the days of the Swinbrook Sewers. A scriptwriter and producer for the BBC, he also wrote a biography of Evelyn Waugh. At the end of her life he advised Nancy to accept the CBE she was offered: ‘I’d never heard of CBE but I’m told it’s a good sort...’
19 The author of this article, the Standard’s Paris correspondent Sam White, was extremely full of himself for having penetrated the roman a clef mystery of Nancy’s new novel. Little did he know. He himself was portrayed as the low-life journalist Amyas Mockbar, who plagues the lives of Fanny and Alfred with ludicrous stories: I WALK WITH THE SCREAMING TEN THOUSAND, he writes, when an apparent riot takes place outside the Embassy (in fact it is a crowd of teenagers waiting for a jazz concert). Nancy was spot-on in her parody of White’s style, so much so that he wanted to sue but was dissuaded by Lord Beaverbrook. After an uncomfortable moment, Nancy had achieved what she wanted: revenge upon White for printing her unflattering remarks about Maurice Chevalier made during the filming of Count Your Blessings.
20 This was from ‘A Revolutionary Diary’ published in 1968 in the Spectator. The tone, perceived to be reactionary, annoyed certain readers: ‘There is no bread in the house but I have found some cake and would like Miss Mitford’s permission to eat it’, wrote the party-going mouth organist Larry Adler in a letter to the magazine.
21 From an article entitled ‘Views’ published in the Listener.
Chapter 11
1 As described by Nancy in her 1966 television interview about The Sun King.
2 From a letter to Sir Hugh Jackson, 4 April 1966; he would have agreed whole-heartedly.
3 From The Sunday Times, 30 July 1950.
4 From a letter to Deborah, 30 January 1964.
5 From a letter to Deborah, 9 July 1965.
6 From a letter to Anthony Powell, 28 May 1966.
7 From a letter to Sir Hugh Jackson, 4 August 1966.
8 Bowra’s book was entitled Memories 1898–1939.
9 From a letter to Sir Hugh Jackson, 29 January 1967.
10 From a letter to Raymond Mortimer, 19 December 1971.
11 From a letter to Deborah, 28 September 1968.
12 From a letter to Palewski, 8 October 1967.
13 A writer named Ian McInnes was said to have plagiarised ‘large parts’ of Pompadour in a book called Painter, King and Pompadour. Nancy won her legal action against McInnes, his publishers and printers in February 1966, and was awarded £100 damages and costs.
14 Love in a Cold Climate was both suggested and read by Prunella Scales, who no doubt understood very well the need for restraint. ‘It was partly that [over-expressiveness] I minded so much when they read The Pursuit of Love’, Nancy wrote to the BBC, referring to an adaptation done in 1963. In 1974 Pursuit was done again on the radio, this time as a rather freely interpreted drama. It contains additions such as the characters Celia Debenham, Bunty Fairweather and Hugo de Vrees, and begins with Uncle Matthew listening to Galli-Curci and shouting at his dogs Sebastian and Rudolph (‘stop chewing that antimacassar’).
The same adapter also dramatised The Sun King: in 1972, when she was very ill, Nancy wrote him ‘a charming scrawl saying she has gone through the scripts & (quote) “nothing seems to be out of place. It must have been a job”.’ What she thought of his adaptation of Pompadour – dramatised as a three-part series called The King’s Favourite – is unrecorded, however. One wonders whether she would have approved this exchange, for example, between Pomp and the King: ‘I have never been happier, Your Majesty’; ‘You must not call me “Your Majesty”. This is the night for changing names. You must call me Louis...’
15 Jacques Bénigne Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, whose sermons were one of the great literary achievements of Louis XIV’s reign.
16 From a letter to Deborah, 21 April 1967.
17 From a letter to Valentine Lawford (a good friend of Nancy’s who lived with the photographer Horst), 23 February 1968. At the end of the letter Nancy commends Lawford for his ambition to write a history of the Thirty Years War: ‘I shall call you Father Courage, it’s the bravest thing I ever heard.’
18 From a letter to Sir Hugh Jackson, 20 July 1969.
19 From a letter to Sir Hugh Jackson, 10 August 1969.
20 From a letter to Evelyn Waugh, 14 April 1949.
21 From a letter to Sir Hugh Jackson, 30 April 1970.
22 From a letter to Raymond Mortimer, 10 October 1970.
23 ‘The very worst’, Nancy wrote to James Lees-Milne in 1972, ‘is something on your face called tic douloureux. Bags not having that
as well –!’
24 As it was described by the Sunday Express interviewer who visited Nancy in 1968.
25 The ‘medal’ had its funny side, being a scapular of the kind worn by Marie Antoinette at her trial. ‘What a great and not only charming woman she was!’ wrote the priest in his accompanying letter to Nancy.
26 Said, famously, by Proust.
27 So an indignant Alastair Forbes wrote in his Spectator review of Nancy’s letters.
28 This was said by Palewski (unnamed then, except as ‘The Colonel’) in the 1980 BBC documentary Nancy Mitford: A Portrait by Her Sisters.
Select Bibliography
ACTON, Harold, Nancy Mitford: A Memoir, Hamish Hamilton, 1975
BARROW, Andrew, Gossip 1920–1970, Hamish Hamilton, 1978
BEEVOR, Antony and ARTEMIS COOPER, Paris After the Liberation: 1944–1949, Hamish Hamilton, 1994
CARPENTER, Humphrey, The Brideshead Generation, Houghton Mifflin, 1989
COOPER, Artemis (ed), Mr Wu & Mrs Stitch: The Letters of Evelyn Waugh and Diana Cooper, Hodder & Stoughton, 1991
DALLEY, Jan, Diana Mosley: A Life, Faber and Faber, 1999
D’ARJUZON, Antoine, Une Passion Inachevée: Violet Trefusis, Perrin, 2001
DAVIE, Michael (ed), The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976
GUINNESS, Jonathan with Catherine Guinness, The House of Mitford, Hutchinson, 1984
HASTINGS, Selina, Evelyn Waugh: A Biography, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994
HASTINGS, Selina, Nancy Mitford, Hamish Hamilton, 1985
HASTINGS, Selina, Rosamond Lehmann, Chatto & Windus, 2002
JAMES, Robert Rhodes (ed), Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon, Phoenix Press, 1996
LANCASTER, Marie-Jacqueline, Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure, Timeless Press, 2005
LEES-MILNE, James, Ancestral Voices & Prophesying Peace, Chatto & Windus, 1975
LEES-MILNE, James, Ancient as the Hills, John Murray, 1997
LEES-MILNE, James, Another Self, John Murray, 1998
LOVELL, Mary S., The Mitford Girls, Little, Brown, 2001
MITFORD, Jessica, Hons and Rebels, Gollancz, 1960
MOSLEY, Diana, A Life of Contrasts, Hamish Hamilton, 1977
MOSLEY, Diana, Loved Ones, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985
PRYCE-JONES, David, Unity Mitford: A Quest, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976
RHYS, Jean, Good Morning, Midnight, André Deutsch, 1967
RHYS, Jean, Quartet, Penguin, 2000
RHYS, Jean, Smile, Please, André Deutsch, 1979
TOYNBEE, Philip, Friends Apart, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1980
TYNAN, Kenneth, Profiles, Perennial, 1990
WAUGH, Evelyn, Brideshead Revisited, Longman, 1968
WAUGH, Evelyn, Vile Bodies, Methuen, 1930
ZIEGLER, Philip, Diana Cooper, Hamish Hamilton, 1981
By Nancy Mitford
Books
Highland Fling, Thornton Butterworth, 1931
Christmas Pudding, Thornton Butterworth, 1932
Wigs on the Green, Thornton Butterworth, 1935
Pigeon Pie, Hamish Hamilton, 1940
The Pursuit of Love, Hamish Hamilton, 1945
Love in a Cold Climate, Hamish Hamilton, 1949
Madame de Pompadour, Hamish Hamilton, 1954
Voltaire in Love, Hamish Hamilton, 1957
Don’t Tell Alfred, Hamish Hamilton, 1960
The Water Beetle, Hamish Hamilton, 1962
The Sun King, Hamish Hamilton, 1966
Frederick the Great, Hamish Hamilton, 1970
Edited by Nancy Mitford
The Ladies of Alderley, Chapman and Hall, 1938
The Stanleys of Alderley, Chapman and Hall, 1939
Translations
The Princesse de Clèves (from Madame de Lafayette), Euphorion Books, 1950
The Little Hut (from André Roussin), 1951
Contributed to
Noblesse Oblige, Hamish Hamilton, 1956
Collected Letters and Journalism
Love from Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford, edited by Charlotte Mosley, Hodder & Stoughton, 1993
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, edited by Charlotte Mosley, Hodder & Stoughton, 1996
A Talent to Annoy: Nancy Mitford’s Essays, Journalism and Reviews 1929–1968, edited by Charlotte Mosley, Hamish Hamilton, 1986
Index
NM refers to Nancy Mitford
Acton, Harold: comment on NM 82, 181, 182, 228, 240, 250, 323, 357, 376; and Peter Rodd 112, 147; NM’s writing 212, 240, 268, 367; comment on Violet Trefusis 300; and Victor Cunard 315
Aga Khan 255
Agnes (NM’s puppy) 140
Airlie, Countess of (mother-in-law to Bertram Mitford) 21, 53
Arlen, Michael 42
Ashburnham, Lady Georgina (mother of Bertram Mitford) 19
Ashford, Daisy 311
Attlee, Clement 252
Bankhead, Tallulah 93
Beaton, Cecil 82, 107, 181, 198, 365
Beauregard, Countess Costa de 302, 318, 353
Beauvau-Craon, Prince Marc de 200
Beauvoir, Simone de 227
Bell, Clive 107
Benson, E.F. 24, 368
Berners, Gerald, Lord 181, 198, 215, 216, 239
Berry, Lady Pamela 150, 304, 318, 319, 355
Besterman, Theodore: correspondence with NM 327–9, 331–3, 335, 343
Betjeman, John 63, 82, 238
Bevin, Ernest 252
Birch, Nigel (‘Niggy’) 78, 80, 200
Blanche, Anthony 94
‘Blor’ (Mitford nanny)
see Dicks, Laura
Bourbon Condé, Princesse Louise-Adelaide de 249
Bowles, Dorothy (sister of Sydney Mitford; ‘Weenie’) 18
Bowles, Jessica (née Evans Gordon; NM’s maternal grandmother) 17
Bowles, Sidney see Mitford, Sydney, Lady Redesdale
Bowles, Thomas (NM’s maternal grandfather; ‘Tap’) 16–20, 86;
The Log of the Nereid 18;
Memoirs 20
Bowra, Maurice: Memories 355
Brabazon, General 23
Brandolini, Contessa Christiana 318
Brazzi, Rossano 294
Bristol Old Vic: The Pursuit of Love (musical) 361
British Union Party see Mosley, Sir Oswald
Brookner, Anita: Hotel du Lac 259, 314
Brownie (Mitford pony) 45
Buchwald, Art 295
Byron, Robert: personality 81, 83, 86, 94; relationship with NM 84, 94, 125, 131–2, 140; death 181
Cavendish, Lord Andrew, 11th Duke of Devonshire (husband of Deborah Mitford) 153, 156
Chamberlain, Houston Stewart 20
Chanel, Coco 323
Channon, Chips 254
Chaplin, Alvilde see Lees-Milne, Alvilde
Charteris, Virginia 190
Chetwynd, Betty 227
Chevalier, Maurice 252, 306
Churchill, Randolph 77, 145, 225, 278
Churchill, Sarah 239
Churchill, Winston 21, 70
Cicogna, Anna-Maria 318, 342
Clinique, Georges Bizet 365
Clive, Archer 77
Cobban, Dr Alfred 307
Cocteau, Jean 227, 252
Colefax, Sybil 181, 185, 195
Collé, Pierre 371
Connolly, Cyril (‘Smartyboots’): relations with NM 79, 232, 277, 299, 306, 316, 318, 378; at Heywood Hill (bookshop) 181; The Unquiet Grave 182, 204; comment on Brideshead Revisited 211
Cooper, Diana: comment on Palewski 189; and de Gaulle 221; relationship with NM 227, 248, 264–5, 255, 266, 275; correspondence with Evelyn Waugh 237, 314
Cooper, Duff 252–3, 257, 278, 280
Count Your Blessings (film based on The Blessing) 293–5
Coward, Noël 252, 330
Cunard, Emerald 181, 197, 198
Cunard, Victor 314–16, 318, 353
Curzon, Lady Alexandra (‘Baba’) 102
Daily Express 74, 144, 267
Daily Mail 267
Daily Telegraph 107, 296–7, 322, 326, 376
Dalley, Jan 162
Daninos, Pierre: Snobissimo 285
Darling, Donald 136
Denis, Madame (niece of Voltaire) 328, 332
Der Stürmer (newspaper) 120
Desplats-Pilter, Roy André (a.k.a. André Roy) 178–80, 184, 193, 200
Devonshire, Deborah, Duchess of (née Mitford; NM’s sister; ‘Debo’): NM’s death 3, 44; NM’s poor relationship with mother 12–13, 15; NM’s teasing of siblings 48–9; upbringing 50, 57, 59–60, 69, 76, 78; description of NM 63; on NM’s naivety 94; comment on Peter Rodd 104, 109; social debut 131; marriage to Andrew Cavendish 153, 156; Unity’s illness 156; stillbirth 158, 168; Counting My Chickens 240; as NM’s literary executrix 241; letter from NM 364–5
Dicks, Laura (‘Blor’; Mitford nanny) 9, 11, 34, 49, 52, 60, 69, 153, 155, 216
Digby, Pamela 145
Driberg, Tom 82, 94, 371
Dumas, Dr (Diana Mitford’s doctor) 363
Dunn, Kit 98
Dunn, Philip 98
Eluard, Paul 252
Elwes, Dominick 229
Elwes, Gloria (née Rodd; sister of Peter; ‘Golly’) 107, 113
Elwes, Peter 229
Elwes, Simon 113, 157
Encounter 283, 284
Enid (Unity’s pet grass snake) 45, 52
Euphorion Books (publishers) 273
Evening Standard 87, 109, 267, 294, 296, 345, 372
Faringdon House, Oxon (home of Lord Berners) 198,
Fauré, Edgar 312
Fellowes, Daisy 255, 256
Figaro, Le (newspaper) 222, 363
Fleming, Ian 269
Forbes, Alistair 185, 189, 191, 195, 197, 231
Francis Holland (NM’s school) 3, 51
Friese-Greene, Mollie 198, 225
Gaulle, Charles de: Palewski connection 186, 193, 221–2, 245, 259, 295, 312; praises The Sun King 358
Gladwyn, Lady Cynthia 250, 318, 320, 376, 379
Gladys (NM’s maid) 159, 160, 198
Gosse, Edmund 20
Gramont, Margot de 259
Green Hat, The (Arlen) 302
Green, Mrs (interviewer) 359
Greene, Graham 282, 316: The End of the Affair 286, 371
Life in a Cold Climate Page 54