| Nancy Mitford | |
|---|---|
 Nancy Mitford, 1957 |
|
| Born | 28 November 1904 London, England |
| Died | 30 June 1973 (aged 68) Versailles, France |
| Occupation | Novelist, Biographer |
| Notable work(s) | Love in a Cold Climate |
The Hon. For the town in Argentina, see 28 de Noviembre. Events Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Versailles (vɛʀsaj in French) formerly de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A novel (from Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for "new" "news" or "short story Biographers are Authors who write an account of another person's life while autobiographers are authors who write their own Biography. Love in a Cold Climate is a Novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. Nancy Freeman-Mitford, CBE (28 November 1904, London - 30 June 1973, Versailles), was a novelist and biographer, one of the "Bright Young Things" on the London social scene in the inter-war years. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British Order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. For the town in Argentina, see 28 de Noviembre. Events Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Versailles (vɛʀsaj in French) formerly de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important She was born at 1 Graham Street (now Graham Place) in Belgravia, London, the eldest daughter of Lord Redesdale. Belgravia is a district of central London in the City of Westminster, situated to the south-west of Buckingham Palace. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale, ( 13 March 1878 - 17 March 1958) was an English landowner and was the father of the
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Novelist and biographer
She is best known for her series of novels about upper-class life in England and France, particularly the four published since 1945; but she also wrote four well-received, well-researched popular biographies (of Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Frederick the Great). Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour ( December 29, 1721 &ndash April 15, 1764 François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the She is one of the noted Mitford sisters and the first to publicise the extraordinary family life of her very English and very eccentric family, giving rise to a "Mitford industry" which continues to roll on. The Mitford family is an aristocratic English family that traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman Conquest.
U and non-U
She was an essayist in Noblesse Oblige (1956), which helped to popularise the 'U', or upper-class, and 'non-U' classification of linguistic usage and behaviour (see U and non-U English) — although this is something she saw as a tease and she certainly never took the matter seriously. However the media has frequently portrayed her as the snobbish inventor and main preserver of this usage. She is credited as editor of the book but in fact the organisation of the project was done by the publishers. One of her novels had been used by Professor Alan Ross, the actual inventor of the phrase, as an example of upper-class linguistic usage.
Letters, journalism and essays
Nancy Mitford's gift as a comic writer and her humour are evident throughout her novels and also in the many articles which she wrote for the London Sunday Times. The Sunday Times is a Sunday Broadsheet Newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. In the 1950s and 1960s in the days before television was widespread these articles made her appear to be England's expert on aspects of life across Europe. In 1986 her niece Charlotte Mosley edited some of these works in: A Talent to Annoy; Essays, Journalism and Reviews 1929-1968. She was a noted letter-writer and her correspondence has been edited by her niece as: Love from Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford (1993) and in The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh (1996); also The Bookshop at 10 Curzon Street: Letters between Nancy Mitford and Heywood Hill 1952-73 (2004). Curzon Street is located within the exclusive Mayfair district of London. Her letters and essays are notable for their humour, irony and cultural and social breadth.
Politically a moderate socialist, she somehow kept on good terms most of the time with her sisters, despite the extreme political views of Diana and Jessica, mainly by deploying her acerbic wit. The Mitford family is an aristocratic English family that traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman Conquest. Some of their letters are republished in The Mitfords; Letters between six sisters (2007).
Romantic life
In 1933, after a going-nowhere romance with gay Scottish aristocrat Hamish St Clair-Erskine, she married The Hon. Peter Rodd, the youngest son of the 1st Baron Rennell. Lieutenant-Colonel The Honourable Peter Murray Rennell Rodd ( 16 April 1904 &ndash 1968 was a younger son of Rennell Rodd 1st Baron Rennell James Rennell Rodd 1st Baron Rennell, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC ( 9 November 1858 &ndash 26 July 1941) The marriage was a failure; her husband was unfaithful and couldn't keep a job; in time Nancy took over the family finances, working in a bookshop, and was unfaithful in her turn. Though the Rodds separated in 1939, they continued to see one another on a purely friendly basis, and Rodd used her Paris flat as an occasional base. She also gave him financial assistance from time to time. They were divorced in 1958 (although Nancy is described as "the wife of Peter Rodd" on her headstone).
The turning-point in Nancy's hitherto very English existence was her meeting with French soldier and politician Colonel Gaston Palewski (Charles de Gaulle's Chief of Staff), whom she always called 'Colonel' and with whom she had a relationship in London during the war. Gaston Palewski (20 March 1901 - 3 September 1984 French politician was a close associate of Charles de Gaulle during and after World War II. Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle ( ( 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French General and statesman who led the Free French At the end of the Second World War she moved to Paris, to be near him. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The largely one-sided affair, which inspired the romance between Linda Talbot (nee Radlett) and Fabrice de Sauveterre in Mitford's novel The Pursuit of Love, lasted fitfully until Palewski's affair with and eventual 1969 marriage to Violette de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duchess of Sagan.
Life in Paris and Versailles
Based in Paris in an apartment at 7 rue Monsieur, VII, Mitford had a busy social and literary life and received countless guests visiting the city. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city She had a huge number of friends and acquaintances in the English, French and Italian aristocracies, as well as in the international set in Paris. She travelled frequently and established a pattern of visits to country houses in England, Ireland and France as well as annual visits to Venice. Although much of her life was spent in France, she remained English to the core in her beliefs and attitudes.
Nancy Mitford's public persona was remarkable: she was invariably elegantly dressed (often by Dior or Lanvin), she lived a hectic social life, and was a well-known public personality in the United Kingdom even though she lived in Paris. She had a particular "Mitford" brand of humour which became very well known through her novels and newspaper articles and attracted a cult following. Her "teases" were famous, including a description in a Sunday Times article of Rome as a village centred on the vicarage, one post office and one train station. The posthumous publication of her letters has enhanced her reputation.
Her novels, articles and biographies gave her a long-sought financial independence. Financial concerns, and in particular the need to provide for her old age, had been (especially in earlier years) a constant interest. In 1967 she moved from Paris to 4 rue d'Artois in Versailles where she bought a house, but which isolated her from the life she had established in Paris. Versailles (vɛʀsaj in French) formerly de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important The owners of her Paris apartment needed it back for their children and she wanted a garden. Her friends who might visit her in Paris were dying; Evelyn Waugh in 1966. Arthur Evelyn St John Waugh (ˈiːvlɪn ˈwɔː (28 October 1903 &ndash 10 April 1966 was an English Writer, best known for such darkly humorous and Her relationship with Palewski was cooling. From her biography of Louis XIV she also knew Versailles very well.
Awards
She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and an Officer in the French Legion of Honour in 1972. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British Order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. It was Palewski who formally invested her, presenting her with the latter decoration, when she was already fatally ill. She died of Hodgkin's Disease on 30 June 1973 in Versailles. Hodgkin's lymphoma, also known as Hodgkin's disease is a type of Lymphoma first described by Thomas Hodgkin in 1832 Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Versailles (vɛʀsaj in French) formerly de facto capital of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important Palewski was with her on the day of her death. Her remains were brought home to England and are interred in the Swinbrook Churchyard in Oxfordshire with those of her younger sisters, Unity Mitford (1914-1948) and Diana, Lady Mosley (1910-2003). History See also History of Oxfordshire The county of Oxfordshire was formed in the early years of the 10th century and is broadly situated in the Unity Valkyrie Mitford ( 8 August, 1914 – 28 May, 1948) was one of the noted Mitford sisters. Diana Lady Mosley (née Freeman-Mitford 17 June 1910 &ndash 11 August 2003) was one of Britain's noted Mitford sisters and
She is the subject of several biographies, including: Nancy Mitford: a Memoir by Harold Acton (1976), Nancy Mitford: A Biography by Selena Hastings (1986) and Life in a Cold Climate by Laura Thompson (2003). Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton KBE ( 5 July 1904 - 27 February 1994) was a British writer scholar and Dilettante
Bibliography
- Highland Fling (1931)
- Christmas Pudding (1932)
- Wigs on the Green (1935)
- Pigeon Pie (1940)
- The Pursuit of Love (1945)
- Love in a Cold Climate (1949)
- The Blessing (1951)
- Madame de Pompadour (1954)
- Voltaire in Love (1957)
- Don't Tell Alfred (1960)
- The Water Beetle (1962)
- The Sun King (1966)
- Frederick the Great (1970)
- In the 1930s she also edited the early Victorian letters of the family of her great-grandparents, Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley and his wife Henrietta Maria, daughter of the 13th Viscount Dillon. The Pursuit of Love is a Novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1945 Love in a Cold Climate is a Novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The Blessing is a comic satirical Novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1951 Voltaire in Love is a popular history of the sixteen-year relationship between Voltaire and the Marquise du Châtelet. Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the Edward John Stanley 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley ( 13 November 1802 &ndash 16 June 1869) entered the House of Commons as Whig Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee 13th Viscount Dillon ( 28 October 1777 &ndash 24 July 1832) was an Irish peer, writer and These were published as:
- The Ladies of Alderley: Letters 1841-1850 (Hamish Hamilton, 1938)
- The Stanleys of Alderley: Their letters 1851-1865 (Chapman & Hall, 1939)
- She was also the subject of a biography by Selina Hastings, published by Hamish Hamilton in 1985.
- She wrote the Preface to Saint-Simon at Versailles by Lucy Norton, which was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1958.
Trivia
- In the Angel television series' episode "She", a reference is made about a flower called "Nancy's Petticoat" and how it was named after Nancy Mitford. Angel is an American Television series, a Spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In reality, there is no flower named after Mitford. [1]
External links
- Literary Encyclopedia: Nancy Mitford
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