About book The Viceroy's Daughters: The Lives Of The Curzon Sisters (2001)
Goodreads suggested that I might like this book based on my interest in the Mitfords and, as Irene, Cynthia and Alexandra Curzon, the Viceroy’s daughters, were brought up in England in great wealth and privilege, I expected a fluffy gossipy history full of house parties, swish balls and scandalous liaisons. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that in addition to parties and scandal (and there was certainly enough scandal to satisfy me, and then some), deCourcy gives us an intimate look of some of the most interesting political personalities of their day; in particular, Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) and Oswald (Tom) Mosley. The book is anything but fluffy. The youngest daughter Alexandra (Baba) was married to Edward (Fruity) Metcalf, who was the Duke’s best friend. I have read a biography of Wallis Simpson but excerpts from Metcalf’s letters and diaries filled out the picture of a selfish little man. My impression that the English owe a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Simpson for removing Edward from his role as monarch was reinforced. He was childishly self-absorbed and his lack of leadership would have been a disaster during the war. But to me, the most interesting person in this book was Tom Mosley, head of the British Union of Fascists. I had previously read of Mosley in book about the Mitfords, where he is generally presented as a passionate, benign, somewhat naïve ideologue who was a devoted husband to Diana. But through the lens of the Curzon sisters’ biographer, he was quite different. Cynthia Curzon (Cimmie) was Mosley’s first wife and he was involved in various ways with all the sisters for many years. He was quite charismatic and a leading intellectual, but certainly neither benign nor devoted. I couldn’t help thinking that Tom Mosley was the Newt Gingrich of his day. And it isn’t only the men in their lives that make this biography so interesting, for the girls themselves were radically independent for that era. Irene, single all her life, supported various civic causes tirelessly and was one of the first 3 women admitted to the House of Lords. Cimmie, deeply involved in Tom’s political life, was herself elected to the House of Commons and Baba, a femme fatale, maintained relationships with several leading politicians. This book exceeded my expectations and was a fascinating slice English history.
What a group of inward looking women of privilege ,Baba who never thought about anything but herself ,Her children and husband left to wander around picking up crumbs of affection if any.Irene bouncing from one man to another only her strength in her love for her niece and nephews prevented her from becoming another Idina.Cimmie the only one to remain steadfast in the face of her husband Toms infidelities......giving up on life due to exhaustion of trying to be all he wanted and still failing.This was a time the aristocracy felt their foundations being shifted by the masses and realised that their dream lives were on the slippery slope.Having read Anne de Courcy's book on Diana Mosely first my sympathies were with her .Not only was she single minded she didn"t prevaricate divorcing her husband to make way for Tom.Like the women of her generation children came a low second to their own needs.If not for a father from hell and loosing their mother at such a early stage in their lives the Curzon girls may have been different and lived lives that were less frought but somehow I think not.
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For most of this I was fascinated. The three women lived through some of the most interesting events of the 20thC and were close enough to the centre of power and influence to see it all first hand.But, as I read on I became more and more irritated with them. They had vast wealth and influence and time, but they spent most of it in frivolity and self-destructive love affairs. They could, with very little effort have made a huge difference to the lives of others, but by and large didn't. Or at least didn't until all other sources of amusement had dried up.An interesting book which gives an insight into such things as the Abdication and the rise of Mosley's blackshirts, well written and well researched, but in the end lacking any feeling of satisfaction, not because of the book, but because the three women it concerns were essentially lacking in depth themselves
—Bev
The Viceroy was George Curzon, who ruled India during the last years of Victoria's reign. He also ruled his three daughters lives (one could say micro-managed now.) Anyway, he was a remarkable man in many ways and the daughters--Irene (Nina), Cynthia (Cimmie), and Alexandria (Baba)--grew up during the 20s and 30s leading very full lives. Friends of the Royal Princes-David, George, Henry (Think The King's Speech--they met, talked, and slept with a number of Britian's Society's darlings.This was especially interesting to me, because I had recently read a bio of the Mitford sisters, and here I met up with them again. Small world.
—Donna Jo Atwood
This book is a trip.If you want to know how the other half on the other side of the pond lived at the turn of the century, this is the book for you -- especially if that other half happens to be beautiful, rich, titled gentry, with the world's most powerful and influential men in their midst and yep, in their beds. This was a time when aristocratic life in the UK (and the rest of Europe, for that matter) was a thing of wonder. The opulence! The splendor! The money! These sisters embodied all of this to the hilt and more: they were self-indulgent, narcissistic, narrow-minded hedonists that molded their beliefs to conform to those of whatever man mattered to them the most at the moment. Everybody was shagging everybody with such abandon that there were moments that were pretty freaking shocking, even from today's free-wheeling permissive age. Case in point? Oswald Mosley (a complete and utter fascist if there ever was one) married Cimmie and a month after her sudden death, her youngest sister Baba started shagging him. He'd already nailed their mother and continued a prolonged affair with them both simultaneously. And yes, he'd had a fling with the other sister, too. Before Cimmie died, he casually admitted to her in passing that he'd slept with most (if not all) of her friends. (Ew.)Now wouldn't that make a fascinating movie of the week?Simply put, this book is a terrific little history lesson -- you really get a feel for the zeitgeist of the times by wallowing in their lives. And of course, I couldn't help but wonder how these ladies could have changed the world if they had way more backbone and vision, and used these men for more than sex and status.
—queen esther
