AN EXTENDED TOUR MEANS THAT FREDA DUDLEY WARD AND PRINCE EDWARD ALBERT MUST BE APART: HE WAS MORE IN LOVE WITH HER THAN SHE WITH HIM

In March of 1920, after the war had ended, Edward was sent on a 7 month tour of Australia and New Zealand. Parting was sweet sorrow and may have made his love for Freda stronger. He continued to depend on her letters to lift his spirits. He also hoped she might be pregnant with his child. Possibly the prince was not able to beget a child. And one does wonder if she had any desire to have another child at all, let alone with a man she could never marry. Even if she was widowed, rather than divorced, there would have been objections to her becoming his wife and eventual Queen.

Excerpt page 287/1074 e-book : Separated from the flesh-and-blood Freda, he idolized her; she became his Madonna or goddess whom he worshipped. ...

Excerpt page 289/1074 e-book:  Edward believed  that Freda was good for him. He claimed that she had set him high standards that he tried to live up to. In both his private and public life. She had made him more of a man and less of a boy. He wrote to her that if only they could live together, "I would become of some use perhaps and have a will of my own and be strong!'...

*****

Back at the palace, the King and Queen - and his brother Bertie - who would eventually take the throne after he abdicated - were concerned that Prince Edward Albert continue to be groomed for his eventual role as King and they wanted him to break with Freda. Freda knew it and believed she should let him go but he wouldn't allow it.

Excerpt page303/1074 e-book:  As with Wallis during the abdication crisis, Edward just would not let Freda go, and bit by bit he eroded her resolve. He used every form of emotional blackmail he could muster....

*****

Back from the tour he wanted to spend every moment with Freda. They tried to be 'just friends' but the passion and love was too strong.  Maybe Freda was tiring of his devotion, for she went ahead and had an intense affair, beginning in 1918, with a man named Michael Herbert, a rich banker with a high status in society, a good reputation and connections and had also fought in World War I. Throughout the 1920's she continued have both lovers. It would seem Michael Herbert was as obsessed with her as the Prince. The two men knew of each other, were jealous of each other, and Freda juggled them, prioritizing the Prince when he was not away on a tour. 

Michael wanted to marry Freda and in 1922 there was talk of the Dudley's divorcing.  But she decided against it because the law at the time was such that she might loose custody of her daughters. Divorces were rare, there was a stigma to it and consequences. 

The Prince had many affairs including with women who were in Freda's social circle. It was clear that these relationships were becoming impossible.

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WORLD WAR I EFFECTS THE RELATIONSHIP OF PRINCE EDWARD ALBERT AND FREDA DUDLEY WARD : PASSIONATE LETTERS

The Prince and Freda seemed to at once feel comfortable with each other and as if they knew each other and that they had common interests and sensibilities.  That says a lot. Soon they were meeting regularly for trysts. Apparently they were also compatible in that way.  His passion for her was considered to be "all consuming"

Excerpt page 217/1074 e-book : If they were apart he would phone her four and five times a night and he would be bereft if she was not in.

*****

Missy here!  I have to wonder if she knew that not being available all the time would keep him interested or if she was simply busy with her own life. Something about Freda gives me the impression that she knew she did need to have a life that was all her own, that didn't always include him.That she had other affairs over the years gives me that impression.

World War I was ongoing and the Prince's father didn't want him having a good time in London, and sent him to Italy, so he wasn't exactly easily available to her either. The intense bombardment of letters continued.

Excerpt page 218-220/1074 e-book:  Once in Italy at the end of March (1918) the prince bombarded Freda with dozens of letters written to "'My Angel' and signed with 'tons and tons of love from your EA. Many were written late at night as he sat in his room trying to recreate her essence by putting some drops of her scent, 'Royal Briar,' on his handkerchief.  He would look at her photograph, which was kept in a little leather frame by his bed when it was not in his picket, and kiss it  He told her that thinking of her made him feel 'fearfully naughty,.' To conjure u their time together he would smoke a cigarette and play their special tunes, 'Have a Heart' and 'The Little Cottage' on his gramophone It was as though he could only go to sleep once he had jotted down his every thought and experience and shared it with her. His letters were often in pencil and full of spelling and grammatical errors. .....

The prince told his mistress that her letters were the only joy of his dull existence, but it also seems that Freda was not so single0minded. She was working with a Voluntary Aid Detachment, nursing at a hospital in Ascot and then Windsor.

*****

It's been a long time since I had a letter writing relationship, but I believe in letters. Today I suppose the Prince might be texting with her or calling her several times a day on his cell phone.

Missy

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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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REMEMBER ME?

 

PATTON BELIEVED HE WAS REINCARNATED

Westerners who were raised in Christianity are told that there is one chance for eternal life and it's this life.  Millions of Westerners, including some who consider themselves to be Christian, have decided that reincarnation  - many lives - makes more sense. Many religions in the past and present do believe in reincarnation and also Karma - the idea that you reap what you sow.  Many people believe that when they bring special talents, skills, or an expertise into this life it's because of their past life accomplishments.  It's not easy to reconcile a special talent for war with spirituality for me, but General George Smith Patton believed he himself was reincarnated as a military strategist ... a genius at war.

A scene from the well regarded 1970 film, Patton, in which Patton reveals he remembers a battlefield and a past life...

REMEMBRANCE

 

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO SAY IT : LADY IDINA SACKVILLE'S LAST YEARS WERE TRAGIC

She had been Mrs. Euan Wallace... and Mrs. Josslyn Hay (He'd since become the 22nd Earl of Erroll) ... She had married and married and married.

Idina Sackville had given birth to three children, two sons, and a daughter. True, people of her class were used to sending their children away to boarding school and having relationships with the children then was dependent on letter writing, if that. Idina had been kept from being involved in the raising of her sons though. She'd made an effort to get to know them as they neared adulthood that went not so well. World events affected her personal life as it did so many others.

World War I had affected her life when her first husband Euan Wallace, had joined up and came back uninterested in her or their marriage. He and his next wife, Barbie, had raised those sons as well as three sons of their own.  

Now World War II would further destroy lives.

In a series of tragic events, Euan Wallace and Barbie's three sons would also not live long enough to produce offspring.  

Lady Idna Sackville's daughter by Josslyn Hay would live to adulthood, did marry, have children, and continued on her matriarchal line.  When she married, the Queen and the Princesses Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister attended the wedding. And so, despite all of Idina's scandal, her daughter did not suffer for her mother's reputation. Perhaps that is because relatives had raised the girl.

Idina's sons were killed during service in World War II. As had been the case in World War I, young men of the peerage did not normally avoid military service for their country. This left Euan, who had been so possessive of them without any male heirs.

Then her first two husbands, the fathers of her children died. Josslyn Hay was murdered and her once best friend, Alice De Janze was a suspect.

These deaths put Idina Sackville into a notable depression in which she did not eat or sleep properly and also developed a nerve disease called neuritis, which was said to be made worse because she lived at her house, Clouds, at high altitudes up the mountain. These high altitudes were also said to enhance the effects of alcohol. Idina Sackville was forced to go down the mountain to live in lesser circumstances.

Of great hope to Idina was that her daughter would come to visit her in Africa.  It was not to be. She died before that could happen!

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Excerpts are from The Bolter, a book by Frances Osborne, the main reference for this month's po

My readers, we are not yet done with the Happy Valley Set. Next month we will turn our attention to another book and another woman of that set and learn again how Idina Sackville's life and hers entwined.

LADY IDINA SACKVILLE : MARRIAGE GONE WRONG

According to author Frances Osborne, who by the way is the great grand-daughter of  Lady Idina Sackville,  the 'Bolter' started out in a first marriage to one of the richest and most eligible bachelors in Britain. David Euan Wallace, with the expectations of the Edwardian era aristocracy.  Despite her family having a bit of a tainted reputation because of the unconventional doings of her mother, Muriel, Countess De La Warr, Idina was presented as a debutant at Court and married.  Soon enough Idina had two sons, fulfilling her womanly role to provide heirs. 

Marriage was for the protection of property and inheritances and, having provided these two sons, by the standards of her peers, a woman could have affairs just like her husband, as long as absolute discretion was kept. Any children conceived with other men would be raised as though they were the sons of her husband. The precedent had been set when the then Prince of Wales and his friends met at the Marlborough House and indulged themselves. They were called The Marlborough Set. What was good for them was good for the aristocracy.

Then World War I broke out and everything changed.

Although men from the upper classes were monied and educated and heading for tremendous careers if they chose to work, or like Euan Wallace, intended to serve in the Calvary which was self-financed, they did not shy away from military service. They wanted to be part of England's role in World War I. Euan went to war and was wounded with shrapnel while serving in Belgium. Perhaps it was being so close to death and violence, but when he came back a couple months after Idina had given birth to their second son, he threw himself into having a good time. There was a man shortage true and he was still one of the richest young men in the country.  He found himself surrounded by women. Euan slept around and his lovers included Idina's women friends.You could say that the young husband had been informed by death and was trying to defy it by throwing himself into entertainments.  However, reading The Bolter, I got the impression that he was uninterested in maintaining a marriage or being a father, that he was immature.

He especially went for Barbie, a younger woman who wanted a rich husband and kept herself for marriage and just out of his intimate reach. Until recently single women could not go out without chaperones and there she was, available, but not too available. She and other friends saw him off as he returned to the war. Idina was left behind.

Idina didn't want to play the possessive and demanding wife but he left her home sick to have a good time. It was clear they were leading separate lives and that he'd moved on. He thought so little of her that six weeks went by when he didn't write of her in his diary. She had been the good wife who had written to her soldier husband every day. Of course, some mutual friends were having a good time with him and were part of this problem, but he no longer even put Idina first in public as a good Edwardian husband was to do.

Idina decided to leave him rather than wait for him to leave her.  Married five years, she was only twenty-five years old in 1918.

On November 11th, Armistice Day, World War I was over, to everyone's' great relief. That day she wrote Euan and asked him for a divorce.

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The above book review-report post is the result of reading the book The Bolter from cover to cover.

SURPLUS WOMEN IN BRITAIN AFTER WORLD WAR I

WWICENTENARY - SURPLUS WOMEN AFTER WORLD WAR II 

It might help to understand what the women of Great Britain faced after World War I, which is a man shortage.  This effected marriage prospects and increased a need and desire for employment.  In this interesting article, which comes from World War I Centenary, 

It begins: More than 700,000 British men were killed during World War One.  This tragic loss of life affected the lives of young women in 1920's Britain.  Virginia Nicholson has discussed in her 2007 book, Singled Out, the difficulties of unmarried women following the gender imbalance of the population which followed World War One.  The  middle classes were especially affected with a higher proportion of officers killed than those in lower ranks.  The 700,000 deaths resulted in a particularly large gap between the male and female populations of people aged 25 -34 with 1.158,000 unmarried women and 919,000 unmarried me, according to the 1921 census.

GARBO AS MATA HARI for the 1932 MOVIE "TEMPTRESS OF THE SECRET SERVICE"