DAISY GREVILLE COUNTESS OF WARWICK'S LAVISH BALL LEADS TO HER CONVERSION TO SOCIALISM

The Palace of Versailles party was highly criticized in a small newspaper called Clarion would lead to a sort of conversion for Daisy Greville.

Excerpt page 205: "Daisy's fancy dress all was hailed as a triumph. "The throng of splendidly gowned and costumed men and women in the setting of the noble rooms of the castle seemed at the time to make the gathering worthwhile.  Daisy recalled, arguing that not only had the ball been great fun, but she had provided employment for dozens of servants, dressmakers, musicians, caterers, and florists.  "I felt happy in the belief that our ball was giving work to so many people who would otherwise have been idle. The festivities of the Lords and Ladies Bountiful were being translated into terms of meat and bread for the workers....

But then she saw the article in Clarion in which she was accused of sham benevolence."  Today we would say she needed a wake up call or that she was clueless. She went to see the editor, Robert Blatchford.

Excerpt page 205 -206 : ... "Daisy was so infuriated by this article that she jumped out of bed and took the next train to London."

"And then Robert Blanchford told Daisy, as a socialist and democrat, what he thought of charity bazaars and ladies bountiful.  Blatchford made plain the difference between productive and unproductive labor, and said that labor used to produce finery was as much wasted as if it were used to dig holes i the ground and fill them up again.

By this new standard, Daisy came to understand that nine-tenths of the money spent on the Warwick ball had been wasted.  Such elementary economics as that the only useful labor was labor that produced useful articles, which in turn helped labor produce again was all new to her...."

When Daisy got back to Warwick Castle, the party was still going on.  But Blanchford had made his point. She ordered dozens of books on socialism and read them. She was converted to new notions about social justice. Financing a school for local children and a needlework business for local women were just some of her efforts.

Her private life still included the Prince. In 1897 she wrote to him that she was pregnant again but the affair had ended. The son she gave birth to was perhaps not the Prince's but that of her latest lover, Captain Joe Laycock of the Blues, who was one of the riches men in England and a war hero. Pregnant, she decided this time to have an abortion. It was a horror and she almost died of infection, but she recovered, only to become pregnant again at the age of forty-two. She gave birth to Laycock's child in 1904.

The Prince, of course, had other mistresses, notable were Agnes Keyser, and his last, Alice Keppel.  The Prince became King Edward VII at age 59, after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria. in 1901.

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Note: I personally think Banchford's thinking was extreme. I do see value in all labor including the expensive fashion and entertainments. Today many thousands of people are employed in those industries. It is mindful not to be wasteful but I dread to think what would happen if so very many were put out of work.