— The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh (Hodder & Stoughton) 1996
Mosley, Diana: A Life of Contrasts: The Autobiography of Diana Mosley (Hamish Hamilton) 1977
— The Duchess of Windsor (Gibson Square Books) 2003
Mosley, Leonard: Castlerosse (Arthur Baker Ltd) 1956 Myers, A. Wallis: Captain Anthony Wilding (Hodder & Stoughton) 1916
Nicolson, Harold: Diaries and Letters 1950-59 (Collins) 1966
Picardie, Justine: Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life (HarperCollins) 2010
Quinn, Edward: Riviera Cocktail (teNeues) 2011
Ring, Jim: Riviera: The Rise and Rise of the Côte d’Azur (Faber and Faber) 2011
Sebba, Anne: That Woman: The Live of Wallis Simpsony Duchess of Windsor (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) 2011
Sheean, Vincent: Between the Thunder and the Sun (Macmillan)
1943
Slater, Leonard: Aly: A Biography (W.H. Allen) 1966 Smith, Jane S.: Elsie de Wolfe: A Life in the High Style (Atheneum, New York) 1982
Smith, Sally Bedell: Reflected Glory: The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman (Touchstone, New York) 1997
Soames, Mary: Clementine Churchill (Cassell) 1979
— Speaking for Themselves: The Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Doubleday) 1998
— A Daughter’s Tale: The Memoir of Winston and Clementine Churchill’s Youngest Child (Doubleday) 2011
Staggs, Sam: Inventing Elsa Maxwell: How and Irrepressible Nobody Conquered High Society, Hollywood, the Press, and the World (St Martin’s Press, New York) 2012
Thompson, W.H.: I Was Churchill’s Shadow (Christopher Johnson) 1951
Tomkins, Calvin: Living Well is the Best Revenge (MoMA, New York) 2007
Vickers, Hugo: Cecil Beaton: The Authorized Biography (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) 1985
Williams, Emrys: Bodyguard: My Twenty Years as Aly Khan’s Shadow (Golden Pegasus Books) 1960
Windsor, Wallis Warfield, Duchess of: The Heart Has Its Reasons: The Memoirs of the Duchess of Windsor (Michael Joseph) 1956
Young, Kenneth: Churchill and Beaverbrook: A Study in Friendship and Politics (Eyre and Spottiswoode) 1966
Ziegler, Philip: Diana Cooper (Alfred A. Knopf, New York) 1982
Acknowledgements
I owe a debt of gratitude to many people who helped in one way or another during the research or production of this book, and the following list is not conclusive. I hope, though, that I have contacted everyone personally to thank them appropriately, including those who for one reason or another wished to remain anonymous.
Anne Biffin, Kate Bower (Ian Brodie Ltd), Sophie Bridges (Churchill College, Cambridge), Judith Brown, Marie Brunell (Archives Municipal de Cannes-Montrose), Desiree Butterfield-Nagy (Fogler Library, University of Maine), Jacques Cygler, the late Duchess of Devonshire, Lord Digby, Mel Johnson (University of Maine), Barbara Kroger (Rauner Library, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire), Helen Marchant, the late Diana Mosley (notes from various interviews), Richard Pike (Curtis Brown), Maureen Rivett, the late Heather Rubin, Anne Sebba, Jane Turner, Barry Singer (Chartwell Booksellers), Hugo Vickers, Kay Williams (Chartwell NT). A special thank you to Hussein Hinnawi of Damascus, who was able to discover for me that Prince Aly Khan’s mausoleum is undamaged by the civil war in Syria.
No book is produced by the author alone. I should also like to thank the ‘backroom boys’ at Little, Brown, who have been such a massive support – especially when I experienced a bout of ill health which put back publication by over a year. Thank you, everyone, for standing by me.
Commissioning editor: Richard Beswick
Editor: Zoe Gullen
Picture researcher: Linda Silverman
Production: Marie Hrynczak
Jacket designer: Bekki Guyatt
Proofreader: Steve Gove
Indexer: Mark Wells
And finally, thank you to my literary agent, Louise Chinn Ducas, who is an unfailing prop and stay; a friend through thick and thin.
Illustrations
1. Rockland, Maine, a sleepy little port during Maxine’s childhood
2. & 3. Maxine in her early twenties. Her beauty helped propel her to fame as an actress
4. Maxine begins the transformation into an English ‘lady’ – with Gertrude at Jackwood
5. Maxine and Nat in the drawing room at Jackwood
6. Gertrude (left) and Maxine in the study at Jackwood
7. Maxine with Lady Diana Manners at Belvoir Castle
8. Even in this photograph with the Hon George Keppel (right) Maxine appears to cold-shoulder Nat
9. Maxine and Winston, Cannes Golf Course, during a holiday in February 1913
10. Walking on the Croisette at Cannes; Maxine and Lady Portarlington (left)
11. Hartsbourne Manor, Hertfordshire. By now Maxine’s transformation was complete
12. Maxine’s famous ‘Saturday to Monday house parties at Hartsbourne included a host of celebrity visitors
13. Regular visitors to Hartsbourne were best friends F.E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead) and Winston Churchill
14. Maxine as the cool ‘Duchess of Harts’ . . .
15. . . . and the smouldering stage presence.
16. Maxine with the King at Marienbad in 1909
17. (inset) Tony, the love of Maxine’s life: tennis ace Anthony Wilding
18. Anthony Wilding, Wimbledon champion for four consecutive years
19. Maxine with her chauffeur turned ambulance driver with one of the ambulances she provided
20. Maxine’s barge Julia, which brought food and medical supplies to 350,000 displaced people in Belgium
21. Winston and Archibald Sinclair visited Maxine on the Julia in February 1916
22. Above this photo in her album Maxine wrote ‘Some of my poor refugees’
23. Maxine’s theatre on Broadway
24. Post-war friends, Cole Porter and Elsa Maxwell
25. The Murphys at Antibes gathered an eclectic set around them
26. & 27. Eccentric genius: Elsie de Wolfe (Lady Mendl) credited her robust health to standing on her head for long periods every day
28. & 29. The Château de l’Horizon; built by Maxine on the French Riviera between Cannes and Antibes
30., 31. & 32. When the new King rented the villa from Maxine it was described as ‘like a palace of an enchanted dream’
33. & 34. Daisy Fellowes on her yacht the Sister Anne, and (inset) showing how well she wore 1930s fashions
35. The Churchills were among the first visitors to Maxine’s villa, and an ageing Maxine but Clementine did not care for the people she met there
36. Winston with Doris Castlerosse (back to camera) and an ageing Maxine
37. Winston on the famous chute into the sea. l1lere is a video online of him clowning on this slide
38. ‘Naughty Lady C’: Doris in her signature micro shorts
39. Maxine in the swimming pool at Chateau de l’Horizon in 1939
40. Noël Coward visited Maxine shortly before her death, ‘looking more beautiful than I had ever seen her ... I knew I should never see her again’
41. Maxine’s grave in the Protestant cemetery, Cannes. She had always knocked years of her age so the date of her birth is wrong, and due to the war no one checked the carving. Her name is also misspelled
42. The Second World War on die Riviera. Occupation, first by Italian and then by German troops, meant extreme hardship for local residents
43. Report of the Allied landing on the Riviera, August 1944
44. Allied ships off St Tropez
45. Entertaining went on at the Chateau de I’Horizon as before, regardless of cost, when Rosita Winston rented the villa after the war
46. Prince Aly Khan. Women found his warmth, charm and energy irresistible
47. Aly’s private plane, a De Havilland Dove named Avenger
48. Aly, dressed in tribal robes at Salamiyeh, Syria. A first-rate horseman, he was revered as a godlike figure in Syria and chose to have his to
mb erected there
49. Rita Hayworth as the eponymous move heroine Gilda – but the passionate Gilda was not Rita. Rita wanted a quiet family life. ‘Men go to bed with Gilda,’ she said ruefully, and wake up with me!’
50. When Elsa Maxwell arranged an introduction between Rita and Aly she advised, ‘wear something white, arrive late and really make an entrance’
51. Aly Khan and Rita Hayworth at their civil marriage ceremony, Yallauris, France
52. The newlyweds leave the mairie to return to the Chateau de l’Horizon
53. Huge floral arrangements of their initials, A (Aly) and M (Marguerite – Ritas real name), floated on the pool, to which gallons of perfume had been added to scent the air
54. Rita cuts the wedding cake with Aly’s officers sword
55. The newlyweds at the reception
56. After the marriage to Rita Hayworth ended, Aly fell madly in love with Gene Tierney but dropped her when his father threatened to disinherit him if he married another movie star
57. Aly and Bettina. They were engaged and she was bearing his child when he crashed his car in Paris a few weeks before their planned wedding
58. Aly’s death on a Paris backstreet in a car crash made headlines
59. Prince Aly Khan’s mausoleum in Salamiyeh, Syria. Still cared for despite over five years of civil war as this book is published
Index
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Aberconway, Lord, 352*
DAbernon, Lord, 78
Affair in Trinidad (Vincent Sherman film, 1952), 381
Aga Khan Development Network, 393
Aga Khan III, 103-4, 198, 282, 316–17, 339; and Churchill, 124–5, 240–1; Villa Jean-Andrée, Cap dAntibes, 167, 242–3, 244; in Switzerland during war, 238, 244–5, 246–7, 249; and Islam, 238–9, 241–2, 253–4; background of, 238–40; and League of Nations, 240, 363–4; personal charm, 240, 296, 318–22; horse breeding and racing, 240–1, 246–50, 252, 322; personal life, 242, 243–5, 254, 257, 318; meeting with Hitler (1939), 247; presented with his weight in gold (1937), 253, 322; presented with his weight in diamonds (1946), 253–4, 288, 322; and Aly s playboy lifestyle, 254–5, 317–18, 325–6; and Aly Khan-Rita Hayworth marriage, 277, 283–4, 286, 287, 288, 289, 297, 326; Platinum Jubilee Observance (Karachi, 1954), 322–3; opposes Aly s relationship with Tierney, 325–6, 337, 338; approves of Bettina, 342; death of (1957). 342–4
Agnelli, Giovanni (Gianni), 278–82, 351–5, 358; car crash on the Corniche, 355–7
Aitken, Max and Jane, 258
Aix-les-Bains, 132, 134
Alatorre, Gloria Rubio, 232*
Albania, 191
Albemarle, 7th Earl of, 31
Albert I, King of Belgium, 64, 68*
Alexander, Grand Duke of Russia, 78
Alexandra, Queen, 301 Algeria, 370
Alington, Lord and Lady, 32, 38
All India Muslim League, 239 Aly Khan, Prince: Second World War service, 219–22, 245–6, 247–50; sees Château de EHorizon (August 1944), 221, 223; buys Château de l’Horizon, 233, 235–7; playboy lifestyle, 242, 250–1, 254–5, 257, 267, 270–1, 287, 296, 297, 314–18, 339–41, 352–3, 361–2; dislike for Yvette, 245, 252, 254–5; rescues stolen horses, 247–50; horse breeding and racing, 250, 251, 252, 256, 321, 340–1, 372; and Ismaili faith, 251–2, 253, 290, 296–7, 322–3, 340, 362, 371–2, 374–5; and fast cars, 254, 321, 324, 370–1, 372–4; and succession issue, 254, 322–3, 326, 337–9, 343–4. ЗбЗ-4> 371–2; house near Paris, 255; and Pamela Churchill, 255, 256–8, 259, 268, 270, 278, 282, 314, 353–4; racing colours, 256; annual summer ball in Paris, 256–7, 370; and sexual technique, 257–8; meets Rita Hayworth, 264–8; relationship with Rita Hayworth, 265–71, 275–8, 282, 341, 352–3; in Spain with Rita Hayworth, 271–4, 278, 282, 285; marries Rita Hayworth (27 May 1949), 283–90; birth of daughter Yasmin, 290–1; married life with Rita Hayworth, 291–2, 293–7, 320; skiing accident at Gstaad, 291–2; end of marriage to Rita Hayworth, 297–8, 311, 314, 323, 326; and Gene Tierney, 317–18, 323–4, 325–6, 337–9, 341; in Rio for Mardi Gras, 340–1; and Bettina, 341–3, 369–70, 371, 372–4, 375; bypassed for succession, 343–4, 363–4, 371–2; ambassador for Pakistan at UN, 361–5, 367, 368–9, 370; womanising in USA, 371; death of (12 May 1960), 372–5
Amyn (son of Aly Khan), 237t, 254, 286
Andrée, Princess (Andrée Carron, Begum, wife of Aga Khan), 167, 238–9, 242–4; and Villa Jean-Andrée, 167, 242–3, 244
Anne-Marie (daughter of Comte d’Estainville), 354–5
Antibes, 82, 191, 193, 222, 224, 225, 376; Hôtel du Cap d’Antibes, 82–3, 93t, 160, 164, 194, 226, 264, 266–7, 266*; Eden Roc, 93, 177–8. 226, 230, 351, 368
The Arabian Nights, 257–8
Arabs, oil-rich, 3
Arethusa (Training Ship), 97
Argentina, 225, 317, 372
Argyll, Margaret, Duchess of, 107* art deco, 1, 2, 80, 87–8, 118, 141, 262–3, 379
Ashley, Sylvia, 93
Asquith, Lord, 165
Associated Newspapers Ltd, 185
Astaire, Fred, 265
Astley, Captain Philip, 106, 107
Auribeau, Provence, 261–2
Australia, 24–6
Avenger (Aly Khan’s plane), 251, 257, 259, 271, 374
Avenger II (racehorse), 256
Bahamas, 298, 302–3
Baldwin, Stanley, 99, 100, 132, 134, 152., 173
Balfour, Arthur, 53, 75, 77–9
Balsan, Étienne, 83†
Balsan, Jacques, 82
Barrett, Herbert Roper, 51–2
Barrie, J.M., 51
Barrymore, Ethel, 27, 33
Baruch, Bernard, 165
Bath, Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of, 143
Beaton, Cecil, 93, 116, 118, 121, 122, 157, 233, 306
Beaulieu-sur-Mer, 266*, 268, 269, 282, 354
Beaverbrook, Lord, 151, 182, 185, 217, 255–6, 333; and Valentine Castlerosse, no, 112, 113–14, 124, 230; and Churchill at La Capponcina, 298–9, 312, 326, 344–5
Beckworth Corporation, 284
Bedaux, Charles, 155
Bedaux, Fern, 155, 156
Beecham, Sir Thomas, 121
Beerbohm, Max, 21, 22, 27, 40
Beit, Sir Alfred, 115
Belgium, 62–6, 68*, 280, 363
Belperron (jewellers), 118
Bengali Muslims, 239
Berchtesgaden, 178, 247–8
Beresford, Lord Charles, 40
Berezovsky, Boris Eltsine, 352*
Berlin, Irving, 77*
Berners, Lord, 150
Bernhardt, Sarah, 17
Bersaglieri (Italian mountain troops), 218
Bettina (Simone Bodin), 341–3, 369–70, 371, 372–4, 375
Biarritz, 124, 213, 271
Blenheim Palace, 54, 282
Blood and Sand (Rouben Mamoulian film, 1941), 264
Blue Train, 127–8, 136, 181, 202
Blum, Léon, 148
Boissevain, Charlotte, 189, 190, 194
Boothby, Bob, 120, 121, 122, 334–5
Bourdin, Lise, 315, 324
Bouvier, Blackjack, 367
Bouvier, Lee, 365–6, 367, 368
Bracken, Brendan, 121
Brès, Dr Paul, 96, 189, 190, 191, 202–3
de Broglie, Prince, 117
de Broglie, Princess Jacqueline Marguerite, 312
Brookes, Norman, 57
Broquedis, Marguerite, 57
Brownlow, Lord, 152
Brynner, Yul, 107†
Burke, Tommy, 221, 324
Burton, Sir Richard F., 257–8
Burton, Sir William Pomeroy, 154
Cadogan, Earl of, 219
Caernarvon, Lady, 38
Cairo, 220, 243, 257, 264, 296
Calais, 63, 64, 65
California nightclub (near Cannes), 265
Californie (Picasso’s villa), 85
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br /> Californie area, 85, 152, 244
Callas, Maria, 74, 314*, 387–8
Campbell, Mrs Patrick, 71*
Canfield, Michael, 365–6, 368
Cannes, 56, 81–2,133–4, 156, 195, 376; becomes summer holiday location, 2; Casino, 82,133,136, 139,163,164,166–7,183–4, 226; Villa Corne d’Or, 82, 85; Fete du Mimosa, 191–2; film festival, 192, 263, 314, 342; Le Bal des Petits Lits Blancs, 192; Protestant cemetery, 205; British expats evacuated (June 1940), 215–16; Carlton Hotel, 220–1, 369–70; Palm Beach Casino, 262–3; Municipal Archives, 377, 378
Cap Ferrât, 86,149,186,188–9, 201, 202
de Carlo, Yvonne, 314
Cartier (jewellers), 118
Cartland, Barbara, 198*
Casati, Marchesa, 171
Cassell, Sir Ernest, 38
Cassini, Oleg, 324, 325
Castagneto, Marella di, 357
Castlerosse, Doris (née Doris Delevingne), 93,107–16,117,119, 120,121,124; rumoured sexual liaison with Churchill, 104,142–3, 144–5; Churchill’s paintings of, 104–5, ER. H1* Ï44; background of, 105–6; divorce from Valentine, 150; and Margot Flick Hoffman, 157–8,170, 227, 229; decline and suicide of, 227–30
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