JOSEPH P. KENNEDY - THE PATRIARCH : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

 JOSEPH P. KENNEDY - THE PATRIARCH : 

The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw. 

MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

first posted February 26, 2018

This is a fine work, well researched with permission of the Kennedy Family who allowed sealed documents at the Kennedy Library to be open to the author, and can be read just for the historical content.  Joseph. P. Kennedy was the self made man who fathered U.S. President John F. Kennedy and left his many children millions.  We Americans seem to know a lot about them, and this vast family still has some illustrious members. Of surprise to me (and I've read so many books about the Kennedys and Jackie and Marilyn) is that Joseph P. Kennedy had quite the relationship with Franklin Roosevelt before and after he became President of the United States and was no stranger to visits to the White House, but also that he socialized with William Randolph Hearst and his Mistress Marion Davies.  Author David Nasaw's focus is entirely on Joseph P. Kennedy so the relationships of all other's named, including his wife Rose, are not detailed, and if you've read a lot of books or seem a lot of films around the Kennedy's much of the information you read here may seem repetitive.  However, I'm reviewing this book for MISTRESS MANIFESTO because of the many characters in it that you have read about here (and can easily summon up using the Google Search feature embedded in the side bar to bring up past posts about!)

These include: 

Joseph P. Kennedy's Mistress Gloria Swanson

William Randolph Hearst and his Mistress Marion Davies

Missy Lehand, said to be the in-Whitehouse Mistress of President Franklin Roosevelt,

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, daughter of Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy.

Clare Boothe Luce (Who I owe a month to.)

And of course Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, who I think would have made a better Mistress than a Wife.

I came away with an understanding that Joseph, though frequently not home due to business, and the fact that he and Rose seemingly lived separate lives though united by their children. wrote loving letters to his children and had not abandoned his fatherhood.

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Here's where you can find posts in my archive:

November 2019

MARGUERITE "MISSY" LEHAND :OFFICE WIFE AND WARM SPRINGS MISTRESS OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

July 2013
MARION "ROSEBUD" DAVIES : MISTRESS OF NEWSPAPER MAN AND HEARST CASTLE BUILDER  WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

March

KATHLEEN “KICK” KENNEDY ; Sister of J.F.K., Widow of Billy Hartington, Mistress of Peter Wentworth Fitzwilliam When They Died in A Plane Crash

GLORA SWANSON IN JAZZ AGE PARIS : YOUNG and RICH - READY TO REMARRY - PREGNANCY and THE NIGHTMARE ABORTION

Gloria Swanson in Jazz Age Paris : She wrapped a movie called Madame Sans Gene, which was being touted as another success and galas for the opening were being planned in New York City. Starting in January 1925 she would be making $7,000 a week. She had met the man who would become her next husband, French nobleman Henry de La Falaise, reputed to be a millionaire himself. He wasn't close. Her net worth was higher. He was alarmed by her spending; A costume party in which guests danced to three bands, for instance, or that she had bought gifts for every member of the cast and crew of the film. She was mixing with the most famous and successful creative people in Paris.

Excerpt page 109: News of Gloria Swanson's sumptuous wrap party reached American gossip columns, together with rumors that the screen idol had gone totally French - indeed, that as soon as her divorce became final in January, she would marry a French Millionaire and quit the movies. ...... She discovered she was pregnant.

Gloria  had signed the morals clause in her contract. Her divorce from Herbert Somborn was not final and she dreaded being known to have had an affair by giving birth "very prematurely." She couldn't marry Henri de La Falaise asap and become a bigamist. She decided having an abortion was the only thing she could do. And she decided to do so without telling him.  It would not be her first abortion. For she had been aborted during her first marriage to Wallace Beery. She called a journalist, the only person she thought she could trust to explain her dilemma and find a doctor for her.

Excerpt page 109 : ... When she said she saw no other solution but an abortion, he agreed. "You and Henri are both young," he said. "You have all the time in the world to have another child." The words stung. When she was seventeen a nurse had told her the same thing. She had judged Wallace Beery harshly then, had never really forgiven him, and now she was ready to do the same thing.

Andre (Davin) arranged the abortion while Henri arranged a civil wedding.  As it turned out, she was given permission to legally marry Henry earlier than she had thought and as it turned out the abortion had been arranged for the day after she had the permission to marry!

She married Henry and then Andre went with her to the abortion doctor. She was given ether (put her under before the surgery) and afterwards she was "surprised she could walk." She went back to their hotel suite at the Plaza Athenee and went to bed, awakening with a serious fever. 

Except page 110: By nightfall she was drenched in fever. Henri called a doctor, who had her hospitalized. Each time she woke up. Henri was there. She told him the truth; he told her she had tetanus. He didn't say that such infections were often fatal and characterized by violent spasms and rigidity of many or all the voluntary muscles. Nurses tried to make her stand up; her feet folded under her. Finally, she had her first meal sitting in a wheelchair. Everybody applauded when she began moving her toes.

Of course, the truth of her illness was kept a secret. 

Excerpt page 111: The return to America was a triumph. Gloria's marriage to a nobleman and her long battle with death had provided Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount with millions of dollars' worth of free publicity, and Zukor and Lasky pulled out all the stops. Adoring crowds nearly smothered the far from recovered movie star, but it was out of the question for Gloria to lay low.

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GLORIA SWANSON and HER RED CARNATIONS

Gloria Swanson was known to carry a red carnation when she was out in public or appeared on a television talk show, so that flower became an associated icon. She would give them as little gifts. In 1981 during an interview with Barbara Walters, she said she had first started doing so in order to have something to do with her hands instead of smoking a cigarette. She exercised, limited her diet to health foods, and credited taking care of her health for maintaining her beauty without cosmetic surgeries or procedures.

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WHITE ORCHIDS

photo by Alexandra Nosova on Upsplash

The Prince of Wales often sent Alice white orchids, one of her favorite flowers.

 

 

WORLD WAR TWO : AGNES KEYSER'S HOSPITAL BOMBED : SHE IS ACCEPTED FULLY BY KING GEORGE V AND QUEEN MARY ENJOYS A FRIENDSHIP WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY

 

In 192Agnes suffered the loss of her beloved sister Fanny who had been so instrumental in founding and administering the King Edward VII Hospital for officers. However, by the 1920's the hospital was not well enough funded. The location of the hospital was moved again and again as it struggled to survive. In January 1941, when the hospital was back to its original location at Grosvenor Crescent, the house was bombed in an air raid. "Agnes Keyser was never to recover from the shock of seeing her life's work so shattered. (Page 173)

However, she had not only the patronage of the King and Queen and their connections for her life's work - the hospital had provided medical care for hundreds of officers in three wars - but the respect she deserved for her unselfish efforts.

In her old age, the never married and childless Agnes, enjoyed invitations and outings with the Royals.

Excerpt page 173: "The diaries of King George V and Queen Mary confirm that Agnes Keyser was invited to stay at Abergeldie and dine at Balmoral for a few days each year between 1921 and 1935.  There she regularly joined the royal family on motor trips and picnics, cutting a rather eccentric figure striding over the heather in a bright mauve suit and an orange wig.  Their Balmoral garden walks were a special delight for Agnes at the king described his plans for a new pansy garden and alpine feature that was to evolve as ' Queen Mary's Garden'.  .... Sister Agnes could be relied upon to enliven the Balmoral conversation by repeating, not always with useful results, the talk of the town.  Agnes' gossip was said to include tidbits about the current indiscretions of the Prince of Wales; in this Agnes was deemed a part of an 'intelligence network' said to include Princess Victoria (King George's unmarried sister.)

Agnes moved to the countryside due to the bombings and declining health and passed in May of 1941. She left a personal estate of only 68,272 pounds. Her will provided that her property that had been used as the hospital and 25,000 pounds to continue as the hospital.  Small bequests such as personal items were distributed.

Excerpt pages 174-175 : ..."To Queen Mary she left two tables from her dining room at 16 Grosvenor Crescent, to Princess Mary (The Princess Royal) she left her "Elephant" cigarette lighter which King Edward VII had given her.... To Florence, Lady de la Rue, went the gold purse gifted to her by King George and Queen Mary and the gold cup given by Edward VII....

Note: Upon reading this I'm a bit surprised to learn that the King had gifted her some valuable treasures.

AGNES KEYSER DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR : THE KING EDWARD VII HOSPITAL FOR OFFICERS EXPANDED TO THE HOMES OF THE PEERAGE

 

Agnes Keyser maintained her social position and busied herself at the hospital she and her sister had founded and the King had been the patron of.  After his death, King Edward VII's son, King George V became the patron of King Edward's VII Hospital for Officers. The hospital that had treated officers injured in the war in South Africa now cared for the injured of World War I.

Excerpt page 144: "For Agnes Keyser the First World War was to bring a great increase in the work and expansion of her hospital. Now many of Agnes' and Alice's mutual friends were opening up their homes for the hospital's overflow of sick and wounded officers.  Agnes had succeeded in negotiating the use of several houses in London's Belgravia which belonged to such as Mrs. Rupert Beckett, Sire Walpole Greenwell, Lady Maxwell, Mr. Pandelli Ralli and Mrs. Clarence Watney. An added cachet was given to all these owners by visits to their properties by King George and Queen Mary to see the patients.  A fleet of special ambulances was also organized to meet hospital trains and ships to bring the wounded officers to the hospital.

The war effort was tremendous. Many owners of estates opened their homes for the same purpose.  There was the British Red Cross and the order of St John of Jerusalem combined to form th Joint War Committee to carry out charity work.  Many society women got involved. Alice Keppel did.

A historical note from AI and Wikipedia: On July 17, 1917, King George V officially changed the British royal family's name from the German-sounding Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the British-sounding Windsor. Driven by intense anti-German sentiment during World War I, this decision was also meant to distance the monarchy from its German roots and the Kaiser. The King's cousin was Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. In 1960, Queen Elizabeth II decreed that her descendants (not in the direct line of succession) would bear the surname "Mountbatten-Windsor"

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A LITTLE BIRDIE TOLD ME

 

KING EDWARD VII DIES : AGNES KEYSER GOES INTO MOURNING : ALICE KEPPEL MUST WITHDRAWL - AGNES KEYSER'S DISCRETION MEANS AN INVITE TO THE FUNERAL

He had been smoking and coughing and falling asleep sitting up but had continued to get up each day to fulfill whatever Royal Duties he still could... He was with Alice Keppel at a hotel in Paris. His wife, Queen Alexandra, was on a cruise in the Mediterranean. They both knew he was dying. The day of his death in London, he had a cigar, saw an old friend, had a winning horse at Kempton Park, but the King also fainted twice and then fell into a coma.

Excerpt pages 129-130: ..."Before he passed into a final comatose state Queen Alexandra gave instructions that any close friends he wished to see should be allowed to visit the king. Out of this invitation Alice Keppel was to build a curious story, her version of which she was to assert for the rest of her life.

Agnes claimed she was "summoned" by the Queen to see the dying King Edward VII. Many, including courtiers, say otherwise.

Excerpt page 130: During the last days of the king's life, Alice was frantic. She knew that her lover was dying and asked to be with him. The queen had not sent for her, although, according to Sir Francis Laking, Alice had been a constant visitor to Buckingham Palace before the Queen came back from the Mediterranean.  Alice played what she thought was her trump card - she sent the Queen the letter that the King had sent her at the time of his appendix operation in 1902 which had said that if he was dying he was certain that the Queen would allow Alice to come to him.  The letter, and a further wish of the King's that Alice be invited, persuaded the Queen to allow Knollys (the King's private secretary) to contact Alice.

Alice did go to the King but she also lied that the King had asked the Queen to kiss Alice - to unite in his last hours. Alice also said that he had asked that the Royal Family look after her after his death, suggesting she expected ongoing money. Rather a witness said that the Queen shook hands with Alice and suggested that she had always been a good influence over him. Actually, she might have said that sarcastically, as reportedly Alice ran from the room and was in hysterics. In actuality the King barely recognized people at this point in his dying process.

Alice knew that she would be swamped with publicity, and so she fled to a friend's with her entourage. She was in deep grief. But she did the best thing she could to guard her position in society and went to sign a public book of condolences, as if she were just one of many people to give her regards. She found herself snubbed by the new King, Wilhelm II, who disapproved of her and would not receive her.

But Agnes Keyser and her family were acceptable.

Excerpt page 133 -134: Agnes Keyser's mourning was to be discreet, Alice Keppel's depressive and demonstrative. Leading up to the state ceremonial on 20 Ma6y there was a three-day-lying-in-state at Westminster Hall, before interment at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.  Keppels were to play a prominent part in the funeral cortege. .....  From Marlborough House, the new King's private secretary Sir Arthur Bigge wrote to the Duke of Norfolk that it was the monarch's wish that Agnes and Fanny Keyser were to be allocated seats for the funeral service at Stl George;'s Chapel, Windsor.

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HAVE YOU MET HIS WIFE? MISSY ASKS YOU!

She's THE OTHER WOMAN in your life too, and she may know about you... My question for you mistresses out there is HAVE YOU MET HER?

Missy

SING TO ME

 

AGNES KEYSER'S ROYAL ADMIRER INSISTS THE HOSPITAL REMAIN OPEN : BUT HE IS ALSO OPENLY IN RELATIONSHIP WITH ALICE KEPPEL : QUEEN ALEXANDRA APPRECIATES AGNES

The hospital was renamed to King Edward's VII Hospital  for Officers: Sister Agnes Founder but the King became its first patron and the Prince of Wales became its first President.  Edward VII was a regular visitor to the hospital and the officers who were treated there. But it was also likely the scene of their dalliances. When Agnes appealed to the King, he got donors to keep the hospital open, though Agnes had used her own funds to endowing the foundation trust. Many of the donors were Anglo-Jews.

Excerpt pages 112:  "Like Alice Keppel, Agnes Keyser was becoming an indispensable part of the king's life. He enjoyed being bullied by Agnes concerning his heath I paying no practical attention the while) and her disapproval of his heavy smoking provoked his guttural laughter. Yet no one could sooth him half so well as Agnes, as he recovered from his Corona y Coronas cigar-induced coughing fits in which he went a deep shade of purple.

It can't be stated enough, the King continued his very open relationship with Alice Keppel. They went together to the resorts - Biarritz - Paris. It is said that sometimes she embarrassed the King's wife, Queen Alexandra. Alice Keppel also noticed the King's declining health and worried and his doctor was distressed. The Queen was angry that he was still going off with his mistress. But Queen Alexandra had a different relationship with Agnes. She appreciated her.

Excerpt page 125 : At 17 Grosvenor Crescent (Agnes' home), Agnes Keyser anxiously noted that the king's health was deteriorating; he had more frequent bouts of coughing as they talked, and a bad kink left him gasping for breath for a quarter of an hour. Agnes could see he was becoming increasingly depressed about the future, and he was talking more and more about bad omens. And an event at Sandringham at New Year 1910 did not improve his state of mind.

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AGNES AND FANNY KEYSER SET UP KING EDWARD VII's FAVORITE CHARITY THEME : A HOSPITAL FOR BOAR WAR SOLDIER GENERALS IN LONDON

Yes the hospital was only for the elite of the military who had been wounded. Was Agnes a snob? She and her sister were unified in establishing a hospital.

Excerpt page 77:  "From the early days of his public duties, the Prince of Wales had shown great interest in promoting and supporting hospitals. In the year of his marriage (1863) he became patron of eight hospitals alone, including the London Fever Hospital. In the Keyser sisters he saw worthy (and wealthy) promoters of his favorite charity theme and suggested that they set up a hospital for sick and wounded in the current war So in 1899 a hospital was founded at the sisters home at 17 Grosvenor Crescent...."

... Funded by the two sisters the hospital was to nurse 275 officers during the period of the war and Agnes showed herself to be an able administrator, although she had no medical training  The hospital was not to take the whole of Fanny Keysers efforts. She decided to go to South Africa. Before 1899 there were few female nurses in the British Medical Corps, and at first there was an official reluctance to send women as nurses to South Africa. Fanny Keyser joined a civilian hospital at Johannesburg from 5 November 1900 to 28 February 1901, whereupon she rejoined her sister. Meanwhile brother Charles Edward Founded a Home for the Convalescent Soldiers at Aldermaston.

While the Keyser sisters busied themselves with war work, Alice Keppel was establishing herself in royal circles and began to appear regularly at the Prince of Wales's main haunts....

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AGNES KEYSER'S PARENTS WERE NEW MONEY PEOPLE ACCEPTED INTO THE PEERAGE : SHE DIDN'T WANT HIS MONEY BUT THE KING NEEDED HER

In Queen Victoria's time, there were about 1500 families who dominated London Society based on their pedigree rather than their money. But room was being made for the likes of the Keyser's. Excerpt page 55 : ... "By the 1890's stocks, shares, and money-making skills pushed into the social limelight a whole range of families backed by purchased land and money which had not been inherited... 

Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, finally became King in 1901 when his mother, Queen Victoria, died.  There was much anticipation because the people wanted change. It was well known that he was involved with Alice Keppel, but well, it was always said that the King had "democratic tastes" in women.  And he was involved with both Alice Keppel and Agnes Keyser

Excerpt page 75:  "The Prince of Wales association with Agnes Keyser developed at a much slower pace than his with Alice Keppel, and was not to increase in intensity until after he became King and his health entered its steady decline.  Alice would never lose her lace as maltress du roi (mistress of the King), but the monarch's need for Agnes evolved as a loving friendship.  It is likely too, that Edward was a regular visitor to the London house of the Keyser sisters at 17 Grosvenor Crescent, which the family leased from the Duke of West minister.

Exactly when and where the Prince of Eales and Agnes Keyser met for the first time in 1898 is difficult to tell. The prince - with Alice Keppel - was to visit the former Keyser home of Warren House on a number of occasions and knew the Keysers well, but it is likely that they first met in London through mutual friends, within the network of Anglo-Jewry which vacillated at the edge of Edward's court.  In particular the Bishcoffsheims and their relatives the Goldschmidts, the Sassoons, the Cassels, and the Wernhers, were all members of the princes' court circle. Many of their friends were to be further linked with Agnes and her new royal admirer through the advent of the South African War.

Agnes and her sister, Fanny, were volunteers in nursing service and relief organizations.

Here is how AI (using Wikipedia) defines the South African War:

The Second Boer War (1899–1902) was a major conflict where the British Empire fought two independent Boer republics—the Transvaal and the Orange Free State—for control of South Africa. Driven by imperial expansion and the desire to control gold resources, Britain utilized a massive army to overcome early Boer guerrilla tactics, concluding with the Treaty of Vereeniging, which annexed the republics.

Causes: The conflict arose from disputes over British "Uitlanders" (foreigners) in the gold-rich Transvaal, political friction between imperial expansionists (e.g., Lord Milner) and Boer leaders (e.g., Paul Kruger), and the aftermath of the 1895 Jameson Raid.

British Tactics & Consequences: To counter guerrilla tactics, the British implemented a "scorched earth" policy and established concentration camps for Boer civilians, causing over 26,000 deaths from disease and malnutrition. This sparked significant controversy in Britain.

Outcome: The war was the longest, most expensive (200 million pounds)
and bloodiest war for Britain between 1815 and 1914, costing over 20,000 British lives.

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OTHER BOOKS AUTHORED BY LADY ANNABEL GOLDSMITH (SHE LOVED DOGS!)

 

In this book Lady Annabel Goldsmith wrote about her childhood and growing up in a rich family, and her parents ; her father a liberal Member of Parliament who raised her after her mother died young of cancer. She married Mark Birley at the age of twenty, and had three children by him. She writes about her children, her affair with Sir James Goldsmith, but most of all some of the fascinating people who were part of her social life. You can see by the title that these people were welcomed into her home and friendship. Pelham cottage was the place she lived until she and Sir James Goldsmith finally got married and she moved.

I remember reading Annabel's memoir and she clearly loved dogs. She wrote this book about one of them.

This book is a lot of fun, as Annabel recounts Copper's adventures on the aristocratic social scene as well as the London buses, and well, you know that, like most dog owners, there had to be some premonitions about what this particular dog was up to ...

She contributed to this book, all about the life and death of best friends. Dogs were important to Annabel and her family and her garden at Ormeley Lodge has memorials to some of them. 

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QUEEN VICTORIA's MYSTERIOUS DAUGHTER (PRINCESS LOUISE) by LUCINDA HAWKSELY : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

 A Biography of Princess Louise by Lucinda Hawksley

This book held some surprises. Not familiar with Queen Victoria, other than to hear she had married her many children into so many noble households that she was called the Grandmother of Royal Europe, I had no idea that she had a daughter who unconventionally married a commoner, Princess Louise. Louise was Queen Victoria's sixth child and fourth daughter. This Princess was an artist and sculptor who created many excellently designed and executed statues to honor her mother which are still on public display. Much of this book is devoted to Louise's artistic achievement. 

There's a possibility, certainly the author suggests this as an explanation, that Louise was so unconventional that she actually had a child without marriage that was put up for adoption. (Who might that have been, we wonder, but there is no hint.) Officially, she had no children.

She was encouraged to marry but was hesitant to marry at all, as one man after another was dismissed as a possible husband. What Royal Princess could remain unmarried? She accepted the future 9th Duke of Argyll, Lorne, in 1870. Her siblings and her father, Bertie, were against the match but Queen Victoria prevailed. The marriage was no love match. On her honeymoon Princess Louise took along her dogs. It's possible that while the Duke accepted that she was barren, what might have happened is a sterilization by the doctor who delivered her illegitimate child or simply the birth of that child was too traumatic. It may be that the couple lived separate lives from the start. So why?

While I read the book, I considered another possibility, which the author did not, and that was that perhaps Louise, illegitimate child or not, simply wasn't heterosexual. She would not have been the only person who found themselves uninterested in marriage, or men, or who was married to another person who was not heterosexual, in order to be socially acceptable. 

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MARTIN ALLWOOD QUOTATION

"If you do not let love reside in the body it is homeless." - Martin Allwood