This is a fascinating biography, and one
that I definitely recommend. It tells the story of the
Mitford family, starting at around 1900 and continuing pretty
much to the present day. The main focus is on the six
daughters, Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Decca (Jessica) and Debo.
There was also a son Tom, but his path through life was rather
more conventional, and ended prematurely when he was killed in
WW2. The family were minor aristocrats, and quite well
connected. Winston Churchill married a cousin of the
father’s, and intervened on a few occasions to the family’s
advantage.
It seems as if all of the family were blessed with great
senses of humour and wit. This means that the early sections
of the biography are very amusing to read. Nancy might have
been a bit of a horrible tease, but it’s hard not to smile at
the story of her making one of her younger sisters cry at the
plight of a lonely match. At this point in the story, it
feels like the biography is the story of lovable aristocratic
eccentrics. But as the girls grow up, their adult careers
become even more interesting, and still spiced by occasional
flashes of wit.
Most amazing is Unity’s story: she became a personal
confidante and friend of Hitler, and spent a great deal of
time alone in his company. She didn’t see him in a political
context, but had amazing access to him. When war broke out in
1939, she was in Munich, attempted to commit suicide, had her
hospital bills paid by Hitler, and was put on a special train
to Switzerland, from where she returned to the UK. Through
her, other members of the family also had various privileges
bestowed on them, such as privileged access to the 1936
Olympics.
If Unity was an obsessive nut-case (she basically stalked
Hitler until he noticed her), Diana seems slightly more
normal. She had an early conventional marriage, but then fell
in love with Sir Oswald Mosley, had an affair with him until
his wife died, divorced her husband, and married Mosley (at a
private ceremony in Berlin with Hitler in attendance (!)).
Mosley founded the British Union of Fascists, and seems
impossible to admire. Nonetheless, he and Diana had a long
and happy marriage. On his behalf, Diana also spent quite a
bit of time with Hitler, trying to persuade him to accept a
radio broadcasting scheme that would raise revenue for
Mosley’s political schemes. Not long after war broke out,
both were imprisoned. Diana is still alive (or was, as
recently as 22
November last year). If the biography has any failing, it
is that it fails to explain how Diana could be so blind to her
husband’s flaws. I can only imagine that she shares them
herself.
The fifth sister, Decca was ideologically opposite. She ran away when
less than 20 years old to support the Communist cause in Civil War
Spain, and emigrated to the US just before WW2 began. There she
became a US citizen, joined the US Communist Party (until the mid
50s), and was for a while denied a passport. She became a famous
writer and journalist, following in Nancy’s footsteps who’d had great
success with light novels such as Pursuit of love and
Love in a cold climate.
The other sisters all have interesting stories too, particularly
Nancy, as do their parents, David and Sydney. Lovell writes about
them all very well and sympathetically. It’s definitely sad to read
of them gradually succumbing to the inevitable cancers and other
frailties of old age.