once upon a War

Lady Diana as nurse, 1916.

July marks the centennial of World War I. There are so many fine resources for delving into the lives of Britain's brave. I always turn to Lady Diana Manners autobiographies-beyond the story of her fascinating life- a picture of the war comes into focus-through her work as a wartime nurse, as friend to the men that died in the conflict, and through the letters from her then beau-and later husband Duff Cooper.

Read more about one of my favorite subjects-Lady Diana- from all the little augury entries, here.

the Way of the Windsors: Untitled in Virginia

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I am wrapping up the Hugo Vickers book on the Windsors-specifically the Duchess. It is (what I think)  an honest look at a life Behind Closed Doors. If you have notions of their Life- for better or worse-richer or poorer-in sickness and in health, I suggest you take the Vicker's Cure.

While I may dote on her Style & in many ways this was what she Did- or better said perhaps- what was left for her to do. I have never made bones about the likes I have for- the Stylish- the Artist- the Talent-but never have I mistaken that attribution for- the Saint or the Sinner-whichever you think.  People are fallible- and as we have seen in  Royals- whether born to the crown or married to it-they are all too much so.

The Windsors were in an untenable position- as was their once beloved brother sovereign George VI. To assign blame to one camp or the other is a time waster and the Vickers book wastes no time there, yet  the author paints us a sympathetic picture of the aging Duchess tempered with stacks of facts and proof of- in the book. I was impressed, almost to the point of the text going dry in a few spots with a precise recap of events, yet this is all too necessary and no true Windsor diehard will object-nor will the historian that wants the facts born out by proof and Vickers let's Us all have it! Readers-I hope will not just be the Windsor fan base-but their detractors as well and If they do read it-will find  a good case for burying the hatchet-whether they admit it or not.

We all know how the story ended-and began to an extent-but everything from there out was mostly Behind Closed Doors-and Hugo Vickers has painstakingly opened that door to cast some light where a Life led in Exile and for a good part of  it-ostracism -deserves some sunshine. We can not begin to know the absolute truth where the Windsors are concerned, but I can not help thinking less Fear from both Sides -the King and the Once King and all factions would have served the Monarchy one man escaped- and the other became imprisoned by- to the better end.

The Windsors did do good- Vickers recounts their good works in the book- no more-no less. They could have done more-done better- but they didn't. They did what many wealthy couples did-still do, They were fallible in a world where most onlookers think there is a royal decree of infallibility.

While the Duke left his crown in England it seems he spent much time embittered by the slights he was served up and there were many- and many were just that-only slights. That idea of being Royal is more than just a title & that it run through the veins or gets in the veins and head certainly applies to the Duke. He was after all-meticulously groomed to be King. His lifelong quest to gain the title of Royal Highness for his bride-wife was his ultimate goal-I guess he thought it would in some way validate her in the public's eye-her own vanity and his self esteem. What he sought meant the world to Him-His Royal Highness-and was that title was fiercely withheld as was his absolute freedom to move about as he pleased without gaining permission. It must have been hard-Damn hard.

In one of the many wonderful first hand accounts and quips some of the best came for Cleveland Amory and Lady Diana Cooper. Amory had been selected to ghost write a book for the Duchess and got of on the wrong royal foot with the Windsors  by suggesting said title be Untitled. The royal WE was not amused.
From Diana Cooper- her take was that she always curtsied  to the Duchess- though not decreed because of the Highness issue-but out of Respect and Politeness for the Duke. She also said had she "taken him on" she would have removed the Duke to the Virginia colonies and immersed him in the things he would have loved most about America. Seems fittin'.

Perhaps it was Cecil Beaton that put it best when upon first meeting Wallis-pronounce she was all wrong. While on the next meeting- she was much improved and as time went by she was down right Royal.
Was it Beaton's opinion that improved- or Wallis that improved as she rose to her the height of her powers-as far as she could -but not to the Duke's much desired-Her Royal Highness?

 Photo by Tim Whitby/Getty Images Europe

Hugo Vickers' website here

when straw calls III

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WORKING STRAW

lady diana cooper (at left), painting by Pissarro

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if I may say so

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I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, 

except toward the things which were sacred to other people.

Mark Twain

photograph of Lady Diana Cooper in the Belvior Castle Chapel

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Lutyens at Play

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that the revered architect Sir Edwin Lutyens & the Never Land Peter Pan would ever cross paths seems unlikely-but there is more than just a passing connection. Lutyens and J.M.Barrie-creator of Peter, the lost boys and the Darling children- were friends. The original sets for the Barrie play were designed by Lutyens.

The nursery was a big square room, with a gay frieze round the walls 

of nursery tale pictures and jungle animals. There was a bathroom

leading out of it, and the playroom was next door.  The window

to which the strange boy had come had never had bars across as

most nurseries do. Wendy's bed was nearest the fire, which had a 

brass fireguard set round it. The boys were on the other side of the 

room, and over each bed there was a night light fixed to the wall.

The story goes that the Darling children's nursery-described by Barrie, was modeled after the Lutyens children's own nursery at Bloomsbury Square. Apparently the British architect's genius lay in many directions, including a love for and a special affinity with children. He let his creativity soar when designing nurseries: a circular nursery- so no child would be sent to stand in a corner, secret windows, & checker board floors laid out for nursery games.

Queen Mary's Doll House

Lutyens delighted in designing Queen Mary's Doll House and included a toy theatre staging Peter Pan- of course. Lady Sackville admonished him for giving more attention to it than to an important commission he had just received for a new headquarters for the Persian Oil Company  (from the LUTYENS TRUST)  The Doll House project commenced in 1920 and was completed in 1924.  All in miniature with nothing left undone, working plumbing, electricity and titled books- their text written out in full.

The Queen's Library

 Lutyens Nursery in the Queen's Doll House

Doesn't this Lilliputian nursery seem just perfect?

Lutyens was known for his energetic nature, his raucous humor and puns. Lady Diana Cooper said  'Duff and I would give up anything if Ned Lutyens was free for lunch-he was such fun.'  E. V. Lucas wrote about him  in The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House: ‘...His friends were legion; his mind was electrically instant to respond to any sympathetic suggestion; he never broke his word; he never let you know if he was tired; and with it all he was out for fun.’(from the LUTYENS TRUST) He charmed, he vexed and  he always captivated children. His designs found free reign for whimsy in New Delhi in the nursery at the Viceroy's House. His constant doodlings resulted in a child's delight of chandeliers for the nursery at Viceroy House- Angels in Prayer and Children Fishing.

 light bulbs
-as egg yolks

-as bait off fishing lines

&
-as celestial stars in orbit.

Sir Edwin & his family 

photographs from the Lutyens Trust here

that Lutyens own children did not delight in his company is quite impossible. There is something of the child in all of us & as Albert Einstein said:

The Pursuit of Truth and Beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted 

to REMAIN CHILDREN all our lives-

The Luytens Trust here
Lutyens Furniture here
Windsor Castle here

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a bit gritty another one

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It might not have been the first modern bath, but according to the Country Life archives- It was the prettiest by far in 1920. The address 90 Gower Street, belonged to Lady Diana Cooper. Her mother, the Duchess of Rutland was the artist of this Chinese paper used in the bath above.  The Lady remembered :

'We took a tracing  of a Chinese paper at Belvoir and together on ladders we painted the white trees and birds and cages and butterflies on a pale green ground. It had a marble perspectived balustrade and ,as at Belvoir, a marbled dado. The bath was hidden in a lidded coffer marbled to match. There was a large sofa, a pretty fireplace and gilded looking-glasses...All the floors were carpeted white to the walls. I felt like a queen in a fairy story and could not ask for more...'


this bedroom from  Belvoir featured on the Timothy Everest site here  seems to be the paper Diana and the Duchess worked from. What one can do with a little ingenuity and a family Castle. (here)

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religiously

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Frederick Childe Hassam The Room of Flowers

My usual day- amongst my books reading,
at the moment- Off on a jaunt to New York.

reading
The Rainbow Comes and Goes, The Light of Common Day, and Trumpets from the Steep. the three volumes compiled in Autobiography by Lady Diana Cooper

 Wish her Safe at Home by Stephen Benatar


read religiously everyday- a few favourite blogs, read them for me while I am away-

IT'S ABOUT TIME 

enlightening everyday

Art & Beauty

Klimt

Childe Hassam

Van Gogh

Christen Købke

 IVAN TERESTCHENKO

visually stunning- 

Photography & An Artist's Soul

St Tropez

Helga da Silvia Blow

Lapo Elkann

Lacroix

THE STYLE SALONISTE

the most indepth articles- People, Places

Paris

Jean-Louis Deniot

Dodie Rosekrans

Tatiana Sorokko

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Lady Diana Manners, a love letter

to Lady Diana Manners

...I find 

that I miss you 

most inconveniently 

and the thought

of not seeing you

at champagne time

is as exasperating 

as it would be

for the moth 

to miss his candle 

of an evening.

                  -Alfred Duff Cooper

photograph of Lady Diana Manners by E.O. Hoppe, 3 years before her marriage to Alfred Duff Cooper.
ad pages from Duke University  Library  here

Lady Diana & the cabbage

little augury follows something and happily--- down the rabbit hole WEEEE! go.
this time (you're late! you're late!), it is- Cooking with Lady Diana Cooper-

I do not profess to be skilled at cookery. No, No.
Did the Lady?
this recipe- I guess- IF the Lady in question cooked- must have been one of her stock in trade ones.

I imagine my incredible childhood music teacher to be on the same culinary
skill level as Lady Diana.
My lady- FRANCES- How DIVA-ine!
I love her still.
Many hours at the keyboard we spent... In conversation- sharpening my social skills, discussing fashion, city matters-(gossip)-Oh yes---&----I played the piano too. Basically, I graduated with HONORS from the Frances Critcher Wright School of Deportment. (but I digress- not shocking)

one of Lady Frances' Recipes I favor- Quick Tomato Aspic

 the charming blog- Joanna's Food shares Lady Diana Cooper's SPICED CABBAGE recipe HERE .

Diana Cooper's Spiced Cabbage

1/2 a white cabbage, shredded or use a whole JANUARY KING CABBAGE (my note- a wonderful semi-savoyed heirloom dating back to Victorian England ,the French also claim it)
4 tbsp sesame oil
one small onion, chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
good pinch of caraway seed
salt

Heat the oil in a large pan, and gently fry the onion and caraway. As it starts to brown, add the cabbage. Cook as if it was a stir fry - keep it moving, and when it's done to your liking, add the vinegar and salt to taste.(from Joanna's Food blog)

Perhaps
One day, I will share the two ingredient La Frances Aspic recipe with you.

& NO,
I can not imagine Lady Diana doing this either-
But here IT is in -Cecil Beaton's divine black and white.
They say Cecil could get his subjects to do anything.

&;
I would bet My life My Lady Frances never ever milked a cow.
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Devestating Beauty VI: Little Augury Picks

.my personal picks -
the idea of beauty-the devastating kind interests some- Others, Not So Much.

my personal picks reflect an array of faces-

my hope is that the diverse women on the master list in Episode IV will stir conversation on other blogs-your favourites?

there will be more about these women in the year to come here. each a novel surely, here we will just tap into the smallness and the reader is invited to go from there-

Pauline de Rothschild

Lena Horne

Merle Oberon

Lee Miller

Lady Diana Cooper

Tina Chow

Greta Garbo

Diana Mitford

Vivien Leigh

Maya Plisetskaya

Donyale Luna

My DEVASTATING BEAUTIES
that's 10 women
one gorgeous cowboy.

Gary Cooper

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.one episode in a series of Devastating Beauty
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Rosamond "the loveliest Woman in America"

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The Loveliest Woman in America, by Bibi Gaston, is the story of the beautiful Rosamond Pinchot. In her copious diaries- where Bibi Gaston's draws from the intimate details of her grandmother- Rosamond writes about being a part of the upper crust of Manhattan, referring to it as the "on tops." Gaston explains," The Loveliest Woman in America is about our mothers, about our grandmothers, about tragedy and glamour and life and death. About letting go, about the men we love, about beauty, about diets, about buttermilk and lettuce! About making every moment count and living life to the fullest. Yes, all those thing. But mostly it is about me and you and how we make the most of our brief but beautiful lives."
(read more in an interview with the Author (NYSD here) , and the Bibi Gaston site here.)

Intersections in the Life of Rosamond Pinchot

Model Nadia Vodianova bears an obvious striking resemblance to beautiful Rosamond.

model Nadia Vodianova- Rosamond Pinchot

Rosamond Pinchot

Vodianova

HER FRIENDS

mentor Elizabeth Marbury

Elizabeth Arden
1938, from the archives of LIFE magazine

Cousin to Edie Sedgwick

photographs from here

ACTRESS

The Miracle

On an Atlantic crossing returning from France , 19 year old Rosamond was discovered by Max Reinhardt and he cast her as the Nun in"The Miracle." A religious pageant for Broadway, "The Miracle" Rosamond acted by running up and down aisles a lot and looking astonished. Rosamond became an overnight sensation and called "the loveliest woman in America."

R.P.

The Miracle also starred Lady Diana( Manners) Cooper as The Madonna.

D.M.

the cast

center RP, to right DM

On the opening night of Thornton Wilder's Our Town directed by Jed Harris, Rosamond took her life at the age of 34 years. She was known to have had a volital affair with the director. So ending her fascinating but short story.



All photographs of Rosamond are part of the"The Rosamond Pinchot Collection."

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