MAXINE ELLIOT aspired to be the Mistress of King Edward VII
and went on to own Chateau de l'Horizon.
I don't think that's her on the book cover.
The South of France. To Americans who have never been there, we're talking about a long season of warm Mediterranean climate and the blue sea, a European vacation place that also boasts some year-long residents, and a history of intrigue and mistresses. Mary Lovell's book, "The Riviera Set," focuses on those who peopled the French Riviera between 1930 and 1960 and one special white art-deco villa, owned by Maxine Elliot, an American stage actress turned society hostess. Maxine Elliot first married at 16 and then again. She and her second husband were well known stage actors and she even made a couple silent films. What she did best was invest wisely and well and rise up into English society. "Retired" from acting, Chateau de l'Horizon, which had been popular in the last decades of the 1800's with Russian and British royals, needed a rehab. She gave it one. A summer holiday secret, Maxine Elliot hosted Winston Churchill, Picasso, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and so very many more.
Maxine herself set her sights on the Honorable George Keppel, youngest son of the 7th Earl of Albemarle and friend of the new King, Edward VII (a.k.a The Prince of Wales.). She aimed for the heart of the royal set. Keppel had impeccable manners and charm but was always short on money. His wife, Alice, was the same age as Maxine and one of the foremost hostesses in England and a favorite mistress of the King. Let's note that this is the ancestor of Camilla Parker Bowles who proceeded her as a King's Mistress. Maxine as "Miss Elliot," and only separated from her actor husband, Max, called upon Alice, and had her entrée into that set.
"I don't mind what she does," Keppel famously remarked about Alice, "as long as she comes back to me in the end." It's safe to say that the Keppel marriage was an open one and each partner behaved with discretion.
Maxine knew that back in the U.S.A, if a man who belonged to "The Four Hundred" called on a beautiful actress without a chaperone, there was only one outcome. An actress who became the mistress of such a man was expected to be treated well, but this did not mean that she was included in the same social circles as his wife. This social stigma was a fate she wished to avoid.
Maxine and Max's audiences considered them a romantic pair and it was career endangering to separate, but she was about 35, and said to be at the height of her luscious beauty. Maxine became a bankable solo star, and in 1905 went to London where the King attended a performance. In 1907 Max divorced her on grounds of desertion in Reno, Nevada. The King had a posse of mistresses. Maxine noticed that she was never included in events that the King attended so she decided to go to Paris, buy a new wardrobe, and then see him around Marienbad, a spa in Germany. She set herself outside just reading a book where the King and his friends would pass by as a strategy. It worked. The King wanted Mrs. Arthur James to include Maxine at dinner and Maxine dressed and waited for the invitation, which did not come. The King insisted. Mrs. Nate Goodwin (Maxine) received her invitation when a footman went across the courtyard to get her. From then on Maxine was included in all the activities of the King's party. Was she just a charming companion or another of the King's mistresses? In 1909 the King made his move to be alone with her for the weekend with just him, his valet, and his equerry. She decided not to take the bait. She wanted others present. Some weeks went by and before anything more could happen, the King died.
The power of King's mistress Alice Keppel in society died with the King's death. The new King George didn't want her around. But Maxine remained friends with Alice and the Keppels moved to Italy and were occasional guests of Maxine and their friends. Maxine herself was not shunned by the new King George's court. Winston and Clementine Churchill were friends. The Duke of Rutland (including Lady Diana Manners) who were life long friends of Maxine's came.
Then when Maxine was 42 years old, she fell from Tony Wilding, a much younger tennis player who had became the 1920 singles champion. She owned a house called Hartsbourne and there they played tennis together. She was happy with him as a companion and lover and he lived with her in his own rooms in the house. He was proud to know her and an all around nice man. After becoming a Wimbledon champion 1912 and 1913 the couple announced their engagement. Tony would be her third, best marriage but it never happened. He lost his nerve. World War I was brewing and Tony went to New York in 1914 and after winning four Wimbledon's lost. Tony served Britain in France collecting intelligence but was eventually in the trenches on the front lines in the Royal Marines. Tony was killed by the direct hit of a shell in May of 1915, and he would be the love of her life, the last big romance for Maxine. Her friends said she was never the same. She would outlive him by 25 years. She lost her looks.
Maxine herself ran a private ambulance to take men to field hospitals in France, 1914. She'd hoped to see Tony around in France. Her war work extended to taking food, clothing, blankets, and medicine her friends contributed. She wrote letters that appeared in American newspapers about the horrors of war. At 48, the distraught Maxine had gained 30 pounds, had dyed hair and a little facelift, and was going to psychics to communicate with Tony. Continuing on as Maxine Elliot, she appeared from 1917-1920 on Broadway, toured the U.S.A., made silent films for Sam Goldwyn, met Charlie Chaplin. By 1920 she was worth a million dollars and needed a 3rd act for her life.
The new Prince of Wales, who would go on to abdicate and marry Wallis SImpson, had Freda Dudley Ward as his mistress about 1921. She sold Hartsbourne and bout another house. It was easier to climb socially after the war because so many people had been killed first by war, and then the Spanish Flu epidemic. By 1924 Paris was about Isadora Duncan, Picasso, Hemingway, Elsa Maxwell - an American who threw parties for everyone and entertained, and the designer Jean Patou. CoCo Chanel was there and Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminister, the richest man in the world fell for her. The two of them showed up after a vacation with tans at a time when women were still avoiding the sun.
I'll stop the story here, for we have the rest of this glorious month of August to go on about the chateau and the people who came to vacation or hide out.
If you're interested in learning more about some of the people who I've name dropped above, because they have been covered here in the past at MISTRESS MANIFESTO BLOGSPOT, please use the search feature embedded in the blog! CoCo Chanel, Wallis Simpson, Isadora Duncan have whole months, as does Camilla Parker Bowles! Or you may just want to scan for Great Britain or France!
Missy
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