The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family (77 page)

5
Letter from Brigid Keenan to the author.

6
NM to DD, 29 March 1969, in Mosley, Charlotte,
Love from Nancy
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1993), p. 562.

7
OSU, JM to DD, 17 July 1969.

8
CHP, JM to DD, 13 May 1969.

9
Pele de Lappe, interview with the author, October 1999; JM to Pele, 26 May 1969.

10
RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, 1999.

11
NM to DD, 24 October 1969, in
Love from Nancy
, p. 570.

12
OSU/1710, NM to JM, 23 May 1972.

13
CHP, JM to DD, 14 June 1973.

14
OSU, JM to RT, 14 June 1973.

15
OSU/1637, JM to William MacBrian, 30 September 1986.

16
A rare form of cancer, often called Hodgkin’s lymphoma because it affects the lymph glands and the body’s immune system. Treatment for this condition has now greatly improved and no sufferer would have to tolerate the pain that Nancy did.

17
OSU, JM to DD, 16 April 1994.

18
JM to James Lees-Milne, 24 May 1973.

19
JM to Gaston Palewski, 8 June 1973, in
Love from Nancy
, p. 606.

20
OSU/1712, Joan ‘Rudbin’ Rodzianko to JM, 5 July 1973.

21
OSU/1710, DD to JM, 8 July 1973.

22
Lees-Milne, James,
Ancient as the Hills
(John Murray, 1997), p. 57.

23
CHP, enclosure with JM to DD, c. June 1973.

24
Ibid
., JM to DD, 19 September 1974.

25
Pryce-Jones, David,
Unity Mitford
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976), p. 1.

26
OSU/1561, JM to DD, 25 January 1974.

27
OSU/1361, DD to JM, 11 February 1974.

28
OSU/1642, JM to Idden (Ann Farrer Horne), 23 February 1980.

29
OSU/1651, PJ to JM, 22 September 1976.

30
CHP, 26 October 1976.

31
OSU misc., Clementine, Lady Beit to JM, c. November 1976.

32
OSU/1738, JM to Emma Tennant, 24 July 1985.

33
Dalley, Jan,
Diana Mosley
(Faber and Faber, 2000), p. 284.

34
Lees-Milne, James,
Through Wood and Dale
(John Murray, 1998), p. 160.

35
Mosley, Diana,
A Life of Contrasts
(Hamish Hamilton, 1977), p. 264.

36
YUL, DD to JLM, 29 July 1988.

37
Mosley, Diana,
The Duchess of Windsor
(Sidgwick & Jackson, 1980).

38
OSU/1713, Joan ‘Rudbin’ Rodzianko to JM, 22 September 1980.

39
Lees-Milne, James,
Deep Romantic Chasm
(John Murray, 2000), p. 86.

40
Sunday Times Magazine
, ‘A Life in the Day’, DM in interview, November 1983.

41
Guinness, Jonathan and Catherine,
The House of Mitford
(Hutchinson, 1984), p. 553. It is probably fair to say that Myra Hindley, sentenced to life imprisonment more than thirty years ago for her part in the torture and murder of child victims, is the most hated woman in Britain. Lord Longford has campaigned for years for her release on the grounds that she has repented and is a reformed character. Each time this is suggested British newspapers are besieged with angry letters. The Home Secretary has recently stated that for Myra Hindley life means the whole of her life.

Chapter 22: Relatively Calm Waters, 1980–2000

1
Marge Frantz, interview with the author, Santa Cruz, October 1999.

2
In 1977.

3
Decca’s record choices included ‘The Red Flag’ and ‘I’m Sex Appeal Sarah’, a song she used to sing in Boudledidge to entertain visitors to Asthall.

4
Sunday Times Magazine
, Julian Jebb, ‘The Mitford Sisters’, 25 May 1980.

5
Though it was a Raeburn, not an Aga.

6
OSU/1709, NM to JM, 15 November 1968.

7
‘The Mitford Sisters’.

8
The Mitford Girls
(1981) written by Ned Sherrin and Caryl Brahms.

9
OSU/1633, JM to Jonathan Guinness, 10 October 1983.

10
Guinness, Catherine, ‘Words with my Aunt, Jessica Mitford’, from an unidentified magazine, in JM’s scrapbook at her home in Oakland.

11
Interview in JM’s scrapbooks, at the Treuhaft home in Oakland.

12
San Francisco Chronicle
, 21 September 1986.

13
OSU/1637, DD to JM, 2 December 1986.

14
One cannot help wondering if this DVT was caused by the long flight.

15
YUL, DM to JLM, 9 February 1988.

16
OSU/1783, JM to Dobbie Walker, 20 November 1989.

17
Desert Island Discs
, presented by Sue Lawley, 26 November 1989.

18
Daily Telegraph
, 27 November 1989, p. 36.

19
Her choice of records was entirely classical, pieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Puccini, a Chopin mazurka and two pieces of Wagner, the ‘
Liebestod
’ from
Tristan and Isolde
and a duet from
The Valkyrie
.

20
OSU/1651, JM to Contancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly, 12 April 1994.

21
Interview, Oakland, California, October 1999.

22
OSU, Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly to Maya Angelou, 10 December 1994.

23
Dinky was, and still is, a highly qualified casualty nurse in A & E. Interestingly Decca identified Dinky as possessing many of Pam’s ‘Womanly’ qualities even as a small child; see her letters to Sydney in 1941–3.

24
RT’s address at the memorial service held for JM in London.

25
DM to the author, 25 February 2001.

26
During one visit to Chatsworth for research the author conducted a mini-census, asking people at nearby tables in the restaurant what had most impressed them. Almost universally they commented on the ‘warm and well-cared-for atmosphere – like a family home’.

27
The author’s late husband, Geoffrey A.H. Watts, chaired and served on the boards of over sixty companies. He said several colleagues told him that appointing Debo to the board of Tarmac Ltd was the best thing the company had ever done.

28
YUL, SR to JLM, 30 March 1958.

Acknowledgements
and Credits

During the research for this book I was given a considerable amount of help and assistance by the family, primarily Debo (the Duchess of Devonshire), Diana (the Hon. Lady Mosley), Robert Treuhaft and Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly. I should like to express my immense gratitude to them, and also to the following who have helped in various ways:

Joe Allen, Rosemary Bailey, ‘Rab’ Bailey, Norman Bell, K.V. Blight (House of Lords Archivist), Julia Budworth, Michael Burn, Ruth Caruth (Beinecke Library, Yale University), Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, Richard Cohen, Betty Colchester Wemyss, Ellen R. Cordes (Beinecke Library, Yale University), Gill Day, Pele de Lappe, Katie Edwards (Decca’s secretary), Penny Finchmullen, Marge Frantz, Elva Griffith (Ohio State University), the Hon. Desmond Guinness, Jonathan Guinness (Lord Moyne), George Gutekunst, Janie Hampton, Bevis Hillier, Quentin Keynes, Karen J. Leonard, Lady Elizabeth Longford, Lord Longford, Graeme R. Lovell (advice on inheritance taxes), Mrs J. MacKinnon, Priscilla McWilliams, Helen Marchant (secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire), Doreen Morris, Charlotte Mosley, the Hon. June Ogilvy, Bernadette Rivett, Doug Scherer (Ohio State University), Geoffrey D. Smith (Ohio State University), Madeau Stewart, Peter Y. Sussman, Rosemary Taylor, Janet Topp-Fargion (British Library Sound Archive), Sally Toynbee, Michael Waite, Doris ‘Dobbie’ Walker.

Copyright Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the following for their generosity in granting permission for copyright material to be printed in this book, as follows:

Unpublished Material

The Duchess of Devonshire, for quotations from letters by Sydney (Lady Redesdale), Mrs Pamela Jackson, Unity Mitford, and her own unpublished writings, also the unpublished writings of Nancy Mitford and to quote the passage from
Wigs on the Green
.

Diana, Lady Mosley for unpublished and published quotations by herself and Sir Oswald Mosley, and other members of her immediate family.

Robert Treuhaft for quotations by Jessica (Decca) Mitford, himself and Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly.

The Rare Books and MSS Department of Ohio State University, which owns the physical property of Jessica Mitford’s papers.

The Beinecke Library at Yale University, which owns the physical property of the James Lees-Milne papers.

Published Material

For quotations from various books (see bibliography for full details of publication):

Desmond Elliott and the Estate of Sir John Betjeman to quote from letters and poetry of Sir John Betjeman.

David Higham Associates for permission to quote from the works of James Lees-Milne.

Hodder & Stoughton for permission to quote from
Love from Nancy.

Sally Toynbee for permission to quote from
Friends Apart.

The
Lady
to quote from articles by Nancy Mitford.

Cassell Plc for quotations from
Beloved Infidel
.

Peters, Fraser & Dunlop Group for quotations from the published works of Nancy Mitford:
Love in a Cold Climate
,
The Pursuit of Love
,
The Water Beetle
and
Wigs on the Green
. And from the works of Nicholas Mosley:
Rules of the Game
and
Beyond the Pale
.

The
Sunday Times
for permission to quote from the Julian Jebb article ‘The Mitford Sisters’.

The Trustees of the Jessica Mitford Estate for permission to quote from
Hons and Rebels
and
A Fine Old Conflict.

NB The author has assumed ‘fair usage’ for quotations of less than 200 words from any publication. Strenuous attempts have been made to contact all copyright holders. In the few cases where it has not been possible to trace assigns and heirs, the author apologizes, and requests that copyright holders make contact through the publishers. Any such notification will be fully acknowledged in future editions of this book.

I should like to sincerely thank those involved in the various production processes of this book. At Little, Brown (London), Richard Beswick, Viv Redman and Hazel Orme. At W.W. Norton (NY), Starling Lawrence, who was responsible for the book’s conception. And my literary agent Robert Ducas, who is a never-failing source of support.

Finally, my thanks to David Baldwin, Vanda Hamarneh, Fatie Darwish and Shadi Kabalan (‘Song of a Tiger’), who, each in their own way, were of assistance when the page proofs of this book went astray between London and Damascus.

Picture Credits

Devonshire collection, Chatsworth, by kind permission of the Duchess of Devonshire: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 54, 57, 61 (by kind permission of Desmond Guinness)

OSU: 12, 13, 17, 25, (by kind permission of Robert Treuhaft)

Diana Mosley: 23, 32, 42, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60

Hulton Getty: 24

Associated Press: 35

Popperfoto: 48

Bibliothèque Nationale: 51

Robert Treuhaft: 53, 62, 63