SECRECY, PRIVACY, DISCRETION

SECRECY, PRIVACY, and DISCRETION : these are three words that almost seem extinct at times because of social networking. People are putting themselves out there inviting the world to know them, their relationships, everything. So it may surprise you to know that there are many people who still think their lives are nobody's business but their own. They don't invite commentary or speculation and tend not to respond to being outed. You won't find them revealing their personal life on the Internet. If they are famous due to their wealth or position they understand that there is curiosity about them but tend to have as friends, lovers, and family, others who agree to keep their privacy. It is for everyone's benefit because too much can be made of the smallest slip up.***

Such was the case with Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice Cavendish.  She refused to speak of her relationship with John Betjeman, who became famous as Poet Laurate and Sir John Betjeman. As a Lady In Waiting to Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth's sister, she was privileged to serve and never commented on the Princess's life, which was a rather dramatic life while the Princess was alive.

After Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowden, died in 2002 at the relatively young age of seventy-one, Lady Elizabeth asked permission of the Queen to speak to the press about Margaret. And then her commentary was simple and repeated by numerous news services. She said Margaret had been in a great deal of pain towards the end. Margaret, like her father who died of lung cancer, was a heavy smoker who had a lung removed years earlier and reportedly had been declining in health for the previous 20 years. It was as if Lady Elizabeth said what was apparent.

For all her access to the elite circles and nobility in Great Britain, Lady Elizabeth was barely photographed for the purposes of the media, and especially not with Sir John. Further, she refused to cooperate with those who wished to write a biography of him - not even his daughter.  According to Sebastian Shakespeare, the author of a Daily Mail UK article previously linked to, all her correspondence with the poet was given as she wanted it to The Chatsworth House Trust, this being a house she grew up in. According to The Telegraph. co.uk in an article that appeared in September of 2018, it was also her will that these letters remain private and not be given over for use until the year 2034!

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*** As a note, there are situations that we should NOT keep secret, such as when there is abuse taking place. Use your wisdom.