HEART BREAKING FOR UKRAINE

 

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE SAVOY by OLIVIA WILLIAMS : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

 

If you love reading MISTRESS MANIFESTO, you will love this book!  

The very private D'Oyly family were overall very good to their trusted staff but had little to say to the press. They preferred that those who stayed at The Savoy popularize it. The hotel was the stage for much drama and many affairs. The family ran their hotel from the 1880's, when it opened, until the 1980s, resisting conformity as hotels became more standardized. They liked who they liked and so they made some accommodation for the artists they enjoyed who couldn't afford what the rich could. 

The book opens with a subject of interest here, the subject of Marguarite Alibert in January 2019 when "Parisian courtesan Marguerite Fahmy, who had married Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy, a playboy a decade younger than she, shot him and went on trial for murder. The couple had made a spectacle of themselves at clubs around town because of their loud arguments and perpetrating domestic violence on each other in public. On a hot July night, wearing a white satin and beaded cocktail gown designed for her by Coco Chanel, Marguerite shot Ali three times with a Browing semi-automatic. (Pages2- 3) She shot him in the head, neck, and back.  He died. The trial revealed some sordid details to the public who followed it with great interest. Her lawyer called Marguerite's husband, Ali,'a monster of Eastern depravity and decadence, whose sexual tastes were indicative of an amoral sadism' and called her a "Helpless European wife." (Page 5) She turned up in court sparkling, wearing her finest jewelry, and was acquitted.  She lived into old age at Place Vendome, opposite the Ritz in Paris.

Apparently the publicity that the trial engendered made the Savoy more popular than ever. 

New Money and the Greek shipping tycoons  Cosas Lemos, Aristotle Onassis, and Stavros Niarchos are also mentioned in the book.  The men were competing and while the other two men stayed elsewhere when in London Onassis stayed at the Savoy.

According to the author, Olivia Williams, Onassis was often there smoking cigars with his friend Winston Churchill whose son, Randolph who often sailed with Onassis on the Christina, had introduced his father to....   

"... an incident on board in 1963, in which Randolph 'erupted like Stromboli shouting abuse at his aged father.  Randolph accused him of having connived with his first wife, Pamela, to whom Winston was very close, to conceal her affair with Averell Harriman 48th Governor of New York.'  Onassis and Churchill became so close, however, that society was stunned within Churchill invited him to become a member of The Other Club at the Savoy. (Page 253)

Stavos Niarchos was possibly able to have a say about how the hotel was run. Pamela Churchill had accepted Randolph's proposal of marriage, though he had been on a 'proposal binge' on their first date and had married him and became pregnant on her wedding night, thus producing an heir. Randolph cold not stop his drinking or womanizing and soon he and Pamela were having affairs. (Page 255)

Pamela, leaving Randolph had gone off to Claridges, another famous hotel, where she found herself attracted to William Paley, the owner of the CBS television network, and then also Edward Murrow, a popular news anchor in the United States. However, she set her signs on Niarchos, who was married. Onassis considered Niarchos an enemy and tried to befriend Randolph to side against him and Pamela. But Onassis and Niarchos had something in common and that is that they had married sisters and Onassis'' first wife, Athina, divorced from him, married Niarchos

If it interests you, check into the archives to summon up posts on the following subjects which intertwine with the people mentioned in this book.

MARGUERITE ALIBERT - SEX WORKER, COURTESAN, MISTRESS, WIFE - HER MEN and the PRINCE OF WALES  : HIS LOVE LETTERS MAY HAVE SHIELDED HER FROM THE LAW in January 2019 

MARIA CALLAS OPERA DIVA and MISTRESS OF ARI ONASSIS : MISTRESS OF THE MONTH August 2010

NICKY T. : THE OBSCURE BELGIAN ESCORT and MISTRESS WHO BROKE ATHINA ONASSIS ELEVEN YEAR MARRIAGE and "GABY" LANDHAGE the MISTRESS WHO MARRIED ATHINA'S FATHER and RAISED HER    May 2020

PAMELA CHURCHILL:

PAMELA DIGBY CHURCHILL HARRIMAN - DUMPY DEBUTANTE TO AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE:  March 2019 and April 2019

Missy

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WHERE IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU LIVE IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE?

Thinking about American and British expatriates, people who choose to live outside the country of their birth I wonder where YOU would live if it could be anywhere.  As we've seen as we learned about the alternative life-styles of the Happy Valley set, most of these people had independent means, inheritances, or successful businesses that allowed them some freedom to choose.

Please leave a comment!

Missy

YOU KNOW I'M NO GOOD : AMY WINEHOUSE

WHEN WILL THE PLANE LAND?

 

From 1927 Peck and Peck Coats - New York Public Library digital collection

JOSSYLN HAY IS FOUND MURDERED and THE SUICIDE OF ALICE DE JANZE

Well, my readers, if you've come this far into my retelling the story of American heiress and expatriate Alice de Janze, you may realize that the murder of Jossyln Hay is the dramatic conclusion of the story and the book The Temptress. In fact, there have been several books written about the Happy Valley Set that include or are focused on this murder because it remains an unsolved mystery. Author Paul Spicer believes Alice e Janze did murder Jossyln Hay, quite deliberately, and believes that with her suicide she left a letter that admitted it, which was confiscated by the police and never seen or spoken of.  As well, Spicer visited a woman who was the daughter of the doctor who attended Alice when her servants heard the shot she inflicted upon herself, and rallied to save her life. He says this daughter was only eleven years old at the time, but her mother did tell her about Alice's confessional letter.

What if Alice Silverhorne, who married Frederick de Janze, and then Raymond de Trafford, had been born today?  Certainly, there would have been much more psychological and psychiatric help for her. If you recognize yourself in Alice, perhaps you have a mood disorder or you fight depression, or maybe the one you love is an unhealthy obsession.  Know that this is true. Reach out for help!

Josslyn Hay, had created enemies, even if he was a likeable character who, despite his reputation ,had been welcomed into the homes of many of the Happy Valley settlers.  He was likely a sex addict and he had gotten himself involved with many women.  Any number of jilted lovers or husbands could have been to blame. 

In 1941, when he was about 40, he was found in a fetal position on the floor of his car which was slightly off road. The author comes up with a credible scenario on how this murder could have happened, as he was shot at close range.  He proposes that Alice is the one who knew when he would be on the road mid-morning and where and drove to that point. Then, seeing that he knew her, Josslyn might have stopped to talk to her.

But who in Kenya was accused?  Despite the notion that the people who came to Kenya and indulged in sex parties, swinging, changing partners, Open marriages, and so on, did so to escape the restrictions in their lives and experience the freedom to do as they like, many of them suffered from too much drama and chaos that was unlivable without the use of alcohol and other drugs. Many of them, when it comes right down to it, sought the perfect partner.

Someone had decided to repress the evidence and let a likely innocent man go to trial.

A man named Jock Delves Broughton was blamed and went on trial. Jock had reason to believe his wife, Diana, was cheating on him. After the murder Alice visited this man as he awaited his fate in prison, assuring him she knew he was innocent, but  thought she was a suspect, she was never suspected enough to be arrested or brought to trial herself. Jock was an older man and becoming a social outcast  because of this accusation was more than he could deal with. Though he was not convicted, he took a fatal dose of morphine in 1942. Then Diana went on to marry one of the wealthiest men in Kenya, Gilbert Coville, in 1943, a month after her husband's suicide. (Diana went on to marry again in 1955. Despite this, Gilbert still left her his entire estate when he died!)

On Page 195 of Paul Spicer's The Temptress we find an accounting of Alice's very intentional suicide:

Alice killed her dog with sleeping pills, she visited Josslyn's grave, and amended her will,

On September 27, 1941, Alice told her African staff not to disturb her, which wasn't unusual since she normally slept in until 11:00. Then she collected flowers from her garden and decorated her bedroom with the blooms. She put notes on her furniture, friend's names, to alert the staff as to who was to get what.  She wrote letters to her children, to her then boyfriend, Dickie, who was in Egypt, to the police, and then a suicide note.  It was clear she had planned her actions.  She locked her bedroom door, wrapped her chest with a large bandage, which must have been in order to keep the bloody mess she would make to a minimum.  Then she took a huge dose of a sleep medication and before it hit took a revolver and aimed at her heart. The attempt to kill herself didn't work automatically.  Servants forced the door open and found her near death.  A doctor was called and raced to the house but it was still a long trip and by then she had died. 

Her grave was left unmarked so it wouldn't be dug up by fortune hunters.

Dickie Pembroke, the new boyfriend, was devastated as he might have married Aice after the war. (World War II)

Raymond de Trafford survived being a prisoner and the war but because of his notoriety was turned down to rejoin the Coldstream Guards. Eventually he was accepted with the Pioneer Corps posted in Morocco, was discharged at the rank of Captain in 1945 and awarded two medals.  True to form, he went back to gambling, womanizing, and hunting.

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WHICH ONE OF US WILL MARRY HER?

 

JERRY HALL BLINDSIGHTED BY RUPERT MURDOCK : CHEEZY MEDIA BILLIONARE USES E-MAIL TO BREAK A MARRIAGE

UPDATE August 2022  News is that the divorce was quickly agreed to and settled and Jerry and Rupert claim they will remain friends....  As it's said, VERY INTERESTING!  Missy

2011 APRIL  was ? MISTRESS ? OF THE MONTH JERRY HALL

The news came from Daily Mail -UK in the last few weeks that Australian media baron and billionaire Rupert Murdock sent "Tall Tales" author, Jerry Hall, his wife since 2016, an e-mail to inform her that the marriage was over and that she should only contact him through his lawyer. (I read that report on July 1, 2020, as well as other earlier reports.) 

No gentleman would ever break with a woman he is married to, engaged to, going steady with, or having sex with using e-mail, texting, or any electronic resource.  

IF YOU CAN'T BE BRAVE ENOUGH TO FACE SOMEONE YOU'VE BEEN THAT CLOSE WITH, then I have no respect for you. 

Jerry is a favorite here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot because of her rise from a little Texas town, where she was raised in a working class family and, believe it or not, has a twin sister. She went to Europe and was discovered on a beach, wearing clothes she and her mom sewed at home, went into modeling, attracted the attention of more than one rock star, and lived for years as the Rolling Stone's lead singer, Mick Jagger's mistress. She is a naturally beautiful woman but she spread her wings into acting and has not completely shut down her career for men, even with four children to raise.  

The question marks in the title were because he married her - sort of - eventually - but then when they split he declared the marriage invalid, as if he had fooled her into thinking they were married. While Jerry may have wanted marriage sooner, Jagger was incapable of being faithful. He had women and children before and after Jerry,  and during their relationship.  She hung in there and had four children with him. The same publication, Daily Mail Online, reported he was not so happy that she had married Murdock.

So, I, and well, lots of people were really rooting for Jerry that she had found a man who would give her what she wanted and needed and deserved.  Reportedly Jerry has dealt with Jagger and his children from other relationships in such an adult and mature way, we have to be impressed. It would seem she is capable of that, yet reports are that Murdock's children may have been the problem.

I'm going to link to the article from July 1 : DAILY MAIL : HEARTBROKEN JERRY HALL : RUPERT MURDOCK CHILDREN TO BLAME

If you use the search feature embedded in this blog and put in her name, you'll see that Jerry was an honorary Mistress of the Month back in April of 2011 and has been mentioned since.

Here is a recent modeling assignment Jerry Hall, who is in her 60's, did.

THE MARRIAGE COLLAPSES AND ALICE RETURNS TO IDINA SACKVILLE and JOSSLYN HAY IN KENYA

 After the long wait and all the campaigning, in 1931 Alice de Janze finally got Raymond de Trafford to marry her. She may have been addicted to him but he was addicted to gambling.  Rather than go to Kenya, they settled in Monte Carlo at the Hotel de Paris where he continued to loose her money.  Then they went to Cannes where they stayed at the Carlton, and blame the house, he won back half the money.  They were fighting all the time.  Having won him, now Alice saw her error and wanted a separation.  Had she really thought that marriage would change him?  Or - my question - was it that she had no other prospects? Let's face it that she had a reputation for instability because she had committed a crime of passion that made her infamous, even if no one had ever known that she had been suicidal as a teen. She was a rich and pretty woman and not very old and if she had not shot him perhaps suitors would be lined up for her.

She and Rayond did separate.  He went far away to Australia while she used her British passport (and marital status) to return to Kenya alone.

Alice went on safari with the Vanderbilts in 1933 and soon appealed to the governor of Kenya to stay there. No doubt her elite status and wealth were a consideration, just as it had been when the Pope had granted her an annulment, though she was the mother of two children. Adina and Joss had sold their house, Slains, as part of their divorce, and now Adina had a new house, called Clouds, that she had with a new husband. While Alice awaited her house, which had been rented out for the five years she had been outside the country, to be vacated by renters, she rejoined the Happy Valley set.  Idina was married to the American Donald Haldeman, her fourth husband, who expected her to be faithful to him while he was away on safari's, leading hunters into the wilderness to shoot wildlife was a business for him as well as an adventure.  Of course, there was no way that Idina was going to be sexually faithful. (Would we consider her to be a sex addict today?) Eventually Haldeman returned from a safari to catch one of Idina's lovers making an escape and went ballistic. That marriage would also fail.

Joss had married his conquest, Molly, and they had the grand estate she received as part of her divorce settlement, just as he wanted all along. That did not stop him from once again picking back up with Alice. Mary was not in great shape.  She was drinking and using heroin and not up to tolerating her new husband Joss's affairs. 

The British and American pioneers to Kenya had aged and matured and the sun was starting to set on the Happy Valley Set.

Alice's ex-husband Frederick died in 1933, only 37 years old, of meningitis and sepsis, while working on a journalism assignment. As ex-husbands go, he had been good. She had no relationship with her two daughters, who were raised by relatives. Just as Idina had no relationship with her two sons who were also being raised by relatives. In 1939 when War was declared in Europe (World War II) the children were taken to the United States for their safety and in with Aunt Tatty. Alice had lived her life as an ex-patriot.

Who or what was left for Alice? 

Her mood disorder, cyclothymia, worsened as she got older and now in her 40's she was sleeping in till noon.

Adina's health was starting to fail as well.

Jossyln Hay, Lord Erroll had made some enemies.

Perhaps not everyone who had encountered the Happy Valley Set accepted the affairs that went on.

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