Having not married Gianni Agnelli, in 1954 Pamela Churchill was the lover and kept companion of Jewish Banking fortune's Eli de Rothschild. He thought of her as a "European Geisha" (Page 168) rather than a Courtesan. As she had with other men, she catered to him, did everything his way, and learned about the things that interested him. You could say that Pamela reflected the men she was involved with. The married Eli had many mistresses but overall he was rather cheap with her. She had her own money and he thought it was great that Gianni Agnelli had provided so much for Pamela that he didn't have to!
She was not entirely dependent on the men who kept her.
"Her technique was straightforward. "Darling, I saw the most beautiful bracelet today," She would tell Elie. "Would you go by and take a look and see if you like it?" (Her might not.) Still, Pamela made Eli feel honored to provide for her. (Page 170)
Mistresses were OK with Eli's wife Liliane but since Pamela wanted to marry Eli she felt it was her duty to make this mistress's life difficult. Let go from the job of being a muse of sorts to a man once again, Pamela played as if she were carefree rather than hurt. Maybe she wasn't. Maybe she didn't love him. She now worked to maintain her skin and figure and bought couture clothing. She kept herself and waited for her next conquest.
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Sally Bedell Smith's book Reflected Glory is the primary reference for this post.
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