The viceroy's daughters : the lives of the Curzon sisters / Anne de Courcy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Courcy, Anne.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Curzon family.

Ravensdale, Mary Irene Curzon, Baroness, 1896-1966.

Ravensdale, Mary Irene Curzon.

Mosley, Cynthia, Lady, 1898-1933.

Mosley, Cynthia.

Metcalfe, Alexandra Curzon, Lady, 1904-1995.

Metcalfe, Alexandra Curzon.

Curzon, George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquis of, 1859-1925--Family.

Curzon, George Nathaniel Curzon.

Aristocracy (Social class)--Great Britain--Biography.

Aristocracy (Social class).

Great Britain--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 422 p., [32] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : William Morrow, [2002], c2000.

Summary:

"Irene (born 1896), Cynthia (born 1898) and Alexandra (born 1904) were the three daughters of Lord Curzon, viceroy of India from 1898 to 1905 and probably the grandest and most self-confident imperial servant Britain ever possessed. After the death of his fabulously rich American wife in 1906, Curzon embarked on a long love affair with the novelist Elinor Glyn, before dropping her to marry his rich and beautiful second wife. It was his fierce determination to control every aspect of his daughters' lives - including the money that was rightfully theirs - that led them one by one to revolt against their father." "The three Curzon sisters were at the very heart of the fast and glittering world of the twenties and thirties. Irene, intensely musical and a passionate fox hunter, had love affairs with the glamorous Melton Mowbray hunting set. Cynthia (Cimmie) married Sir Oswald Mosley, joining him first in the Labour Party, where she became a popular and successful Labour MP herself, then following him into fascism. Alexandra (Baba), the youngest and most beautiful, married the Prince of Wales's best friend - and best man - Fruity Metcalfe. On Cimmie's early death in 1933, Baba flung herself into a long and passionate affair with Mosley and a liaison with Mussolini's ambassador to London, Count Grandi, while simultaneously enjoying the romantic devotion of the foreign secretary, Lord Halifax." "Based on unpublished letters and diaries, The Viceroy's Daughters throws new light on Oswald Mosley, Nancy Astor and the Cliveden set, Lord Halifax, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It is also a wonderfully revealing portrait of British upper-class life in the first half of the twentieth century."--Jacket

Contents:

Curzon and his circle

Viceroy and Vicereine

The schoolroom at Hackwood

Elinor Glyn

Enter Grace Duggan

Growing up

"She must do as she pleases"

Baba comes out

The absentee wife

Melton Mowbray: life at the Gallop

The passing of the viceroy

Cimmie and Tom: early married life

Irene: in love with married men

Lady Cynthia Mosley, MP

The Mosley memorandum

The new party

High life and low morals on the Riviera

Diana Guinness, trophy mistress

"Goodbye my buffy"

Keeping it in the family

The blackshirt phenomenon

Baba and Diana: sharing mosley

Mrs. Simpson rules

Abdication

"I should have kissed her but I just couldn't"

The cliveden set

At home with the Duke

Fruity speaks his mind

Britain at war

"My idea of a perfect evening"

The dorch

An unexpected proposal

The halifax letters

Sisterly jealousy

Peace but not accord

Envoi.

Notes:

Originally published: Great Britain : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 407-409) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Miller Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

0066210615 (alk. paper)

OCLC:

49225668