Anthony and Clarissa Eden on their wedding day, 15 August 1952

Anne Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon (née Spencer-Churchill, 28 June 1920) is the widow of Sir Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (1897-1977), who was British Prime Minister 1955-7. She married Eden in 1952, becoming Lady Eden in 1954 when he was made a Knight of the Garter and Countess of Avon in 1961 on his elevation to the peerage. Image File history File links Anthony_and_Clarissa_Eden. ... Image File history File links Anthony_and_Clarissa_Eden. ... June 28 is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 186 days remaining. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (June 12, 1897– January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957. ... The Prime Minister is in practice the most important political office in the United Kingdom. ... A garter is one of the Orders most recognisable insignia. ...

Antecedents

Lady Avon (by which title she is referred to throughout this article) is the daughter of Major Jack Spencer-Churchill (1880-1947), the younger brother of Winston Churchill, and Lady Gwendoline ("Goonie") Bertie (1885-1941), daughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon. She is thus the niece of Winston Churchill, who was Prime Minister 1940-5 and 1951-5 and granddaughter of Lord Randolph Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1886-7. Her paternal great-grandfather was the 7th Duke of Marlborough and her maternal great-great-grandfather, the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry ^[1], half-brother of the 2nd Marquess, who, as Viscount Castlereagh, was Foreign Secretary during the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Major John Strange Spencer-Churchill, DSO (4 February 1880 - 23 February 1947) was the son of Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill and Jennie Jerome, and brother of Winston Churchill. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Montagu Arthur Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon (13th May 1836 - 10th March 1928) was the fifth child of Montagu Bertie, 6th Earl of Abingdon and Elizabeth Lavinia Vernon-Harcourt. ... Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. ... His Grace The Duke of Marlborough John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (2 June 1822 - 4 July 1883); English statesman. ... Charles William Stewart, later Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, KG, GCB, GCH, PC (18 May 1778 – 6 March 1854) was a British soldier, politician and nobleman, the son (by his second wife) of the 1st Marquess of Londonderry, and half-brother to Lord Castlereagh. ... Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (June 18, 1769 - August 12, 1822), known until 1821 by his courtesy title of Viscount Castlereagh, was an Anglo-Irish politician born in Dublin who represented the United Kingdom at the Congress of Vienna. ... The Congress of Vienna was a conference between ambassadors from the major powers in Europe that was chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich and held on the way to Vienna, Austria, from September 1, 1814, to June 9, 1815. ...

Lady Avon had two older brothers, Johnny (1909-1992) and Peregrine ^[2] (1913-2002). John George Spencer-Churchill (31 May 1909 – 1992), son of John Strange Spencer-Churchill and nephew of Sir Winston Churchill, was an artist. ...

Early life

Lady Avon was educated at Kensington High School and then at a boarding school, which she disliked and left early without any formal qualifications ^[3]. She felt too the need to get away from home - "I just wanted to get out from under the whole thing of being loved too much" ^[4] - and in 1937 studied art in Paris ^[5]. Her mother had asked the British Ambassador to keep a watchful eye on her, an unintended consequence of this being that she was taken under the wing of an Embassy press secretary who, with his wife, introduced her to a round of café society parties ^[6]. City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...

When Lady Avon returned to London she enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art. 1938 would have been her "coming out" year, but she declined to be part of the débutante circuit - since described by Anne de Courcy as "more or less naive seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds suddenly flung into a round of gaities" ^[7] - and was never presented at Court. In August 1939 she was in Romania, only just managing to return to England before the start of the Second World War. Part of the University College London, the Slade School of Art was founded in 1868 as the result of an endowment by Felix Slade. ... Poster from the 1958 Sandra Dee film, The Reluctant Debutante A debutante (or deb) (French word for female beginner) is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal presentation... A debutante is young lady from a representative family who has reached the age of 18, and as a new adult is introduced to society at a formal presentation known as her debut or coming out. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Second World War: Oxford and London

In 1940, encouraged by economist Roy Harrod, Lady Avon went to Oxford to study philosophy, though not as an undergraduate because of her lack of qualifications. While there she became associated with, among other leading academics, Isaiah Berlin and Maurice Bowra ^[8]. Lady Antonia Fraser, whose father, later Lord Longford, was a Fellow of Christ Church, has described her as "the don's delight" ^[9]. Sir Roy Forbes Harrod was an English economist. ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... Sir Isaiah Berlin, OM, (June 6, 1909 – November 5, 1997) was a political philosopher and historian of ideas, regarded as one of the leading liberal thinkers of the 20th century. ... Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra (April 8, 1898 – July 4, 1971) was an English classical scholar, teacher, and wit. ... Lady Antonia Fraser, née Pakenham, (born August 27, 1932) is a British author of history and novels, best known for writing biographies. ... The Right Honourable Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, KG, PC (5 December 1905–3 August 2001) was a politician, author, and social reformer. ... College name Christ Church Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister College Trinity College Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR President William Dorsey Undergraduates 426 MCR or GCR President {{{MCR President}}} Graduates 154 Home page Boat Club Christ Church (Latin: Ædes Christi, the temple or house of Christ...

When Lady Avon moved back to London she decoded ciphers in the Communications Department of the Foreign Office, where her future husband was the Secretary of State from 1940-5. For a time she lived in a roof-top room at the Dorchester Hotel, which she obtained at a cut-price rate because of its vulnerability to bombing. This article is about algorithms for encryption and decryption. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... The Dorchester is a leading luxury hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, London, overlooking Hyde Park. ...

Alexander Korda's London Films

Sir Alexander Korda (September 16, 1893 - January 23, 1956) was a film director and producer, a leading figure in the British film industry and the founder of London Films. ... London Films was a British film studio founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda. ...

Post-war

After the war Lady Avon worked at London Films for the producer Sir Alexander Korda, who she thought made "terrible mistakes without really knowing what has happened" ^[10], and as a reviewer for the fashion magazine Vogue. She met actor Orson Welles, who became a dining companion, on the set of the film, The Third Man (1949), and escorted actress Paulette Goddard on a "rather wild trip" to Brussels ^[11]. She also edited the magazine Contact, which was part of George Weidenfeld's publishing empire. London Films was a British film studio founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda. ... Alexander Korda (September 16, 1893 - January 23, 1956) was a film director and producer, a leading figure in the British film industry and the founder of London Films. ... For other meanings, see vogue. ... George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American theatre and film producer and director, and a theatre, radio and film actor. ... The Third Man (1949) is a British film noir directed by Carol Reed. ... Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an Oscar-nominated American actress. ... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 979 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989 Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area    - City 162 (Region) km²  (62. ... Sir Arthur George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld of Chelsea (born September 13, 1919 in Vienna) is a British publisher, philanthropist, and newspaper columnist. ...

As a result of this eclectic early career, Lady Avon widened her circle of friends and contacts beyond those in society and politics with whom she already had close connections. As one of Anthony Eden's biographers put it, she was "equally at home in the worlds of Hatfield and Fitzrovia" ^[12]. The great hall. ... Fitzrovia is an area of central London. ...

Friends and acquaintances

Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich by David Low (The Duff Cooper Diairies, ed. John Julius Norwich, 2006)

Glimpses of Lady Avon's life as a single woman, for example, in diaries and other reminiscences, are quite extensive. She herself has not published a memoir, having indicated to former Labour Member of Parliament Woodrow, Lord Wyatt that such a volume would appear only after her death ^[13]. However, it was reported in 2006 that the publisher Weidenfeld & Nicholson had acquired Lady Avon's memoirs, to be edited by Cate Haste (Lady Bragg) ^[14], who, with Cherie Blair, wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair, published a short biographical sketch of Lady Avon in 2004 as part of a wider study of Prime Ministerial spouses ^[15]. Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich (February 22, 1890 - January 1, 1954), known universally as Duff Cooper, was a British diplomat, Cabinet member and acclaimed author. ... Sir David Alexander Cecil Low (7 April 1891–19 September 1963) was a New Zealand-born political cartoonist. ... John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich (born 15 September 1929), known as John Julius Norwich, is a British historian, travel writer and television personality and the son of the Conservative politician and diplomat Duff Cooper, who in 1952 was created Viscount Norwich, and of Lady Diana Cooper, a celebrated beauty... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in the United Kingdom. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... Woodrow Lyle Wyatt, Baron Wyatt of Weeford (July 4, 1918 – December 7, 1997), was a British Labour politician, published author, journalist and broadcaster. ... Cherie Blair Cherie Blair (born 23 September 1954 in Bury, England), known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a prominent barrister. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the UK Labour Party, and Member of the UK Parliament...

Early admirers

Having lost both parents by her mid twenties, Lady Avon was comparatively independent for a young woman of her time. In later years she apparently remarked to Wyatt on "how much more restricted girls were when she was young", while conceding that she herself had had her first affair at seventeen with a "man who was quite well-known and … still alive [in 1986]" ^[16]. She had many devoted admirers, an early "ardent suitor" being Sir Colville Barclay ^[17], diplomat and painter, who was stepson of Lord Vansittart, former permanent head of the Foreign Office ^[18]. Lady Avon was quoted by Wyatt as having told him that she resisted the amorous advances of Duff Cooper, wartime Information Minister and British Ambassador in Paris 1944-7, who, thirty years her senior, had also been a friend of her mother ^[19]: "I was the only woman who he never got more than a peck on the cheek from" ^[20]. She informed Cooper in 1947, following a weekend in the country with Anthony Eden, at which the only other guest was the French Ambassador to Britain, that Eden "never stops trying to make love to her" ^[21]. Robert Gilbert Vansittart (1881 - 1957) was a significant British diplomat. ... Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich (February 22, 1890 - January 1, 1954), known universally as Duff Cooper, was a British diplomat, Cabinet member and acclaimed author. ...

Other friends

Among Lady Avon's many other friends, a number of whom were some years older than she, were novelists Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powell, painter Lucien Freud and choreographer Frederick Ashton. Gerald, Lord Berners used her as the basis of a character in his novel Far From the Madding War (1941), while photographer Cecil Beaton, 16 years her senior, treated her as a special confidante and introduced her to the reclusive Swedish actress Greta Garbo ^[22]. Lady Avon was a long-standing friend of Anne Fleming, wife of Viscount Rothermere and then of novelist Ian Fleming, who was also lover of Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party 1955-63. She and composer and playwright Noel Coward became godparents in 1952 to the Flemings’ son Caspar ^[23], who died of a drug overdose in 1975. In later years, as a widow, she was evidently close to the influential solicitor and adviser Lord Goodman ^[24]. Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Anthony Dymoke Powell, CH (December 21, 1905 - March 28, 2000) was a British novelist best known for his A Dance to the Music of Time duodecalogy published between 1951 and 1975. ... Lucian Freud OM (born December 8, 1922) is a British painter and printmaker. ... Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (September 17, 1904 - October 18, 1988) began his career as a dancer but is largely remembered as a choreographer. ... Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson (Lord Berners) (1883–1950) was an English composer and painter. ... Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (January 14, 1904 – January 18, 1980) was an English fashion and portrait photographer and a stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. ... Greta Garbo (September 17, 1905 – April 15, 1990) was a Swedish actress, by reputation one of the greatest and most inscrutable movie stars ever to be produced by MGM and the Hollywood studio system. ... Esmond Cecil Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere (May 29, 1898 – July 12, 1978) was a British Conservative politician and press magnate. ... Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was an English author and journalist, best remembered for writing the James Bond series of novels as well as the childrens story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. ... Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (April 9, 1906 – January 18, 1963) was a British politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963. ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Arnold Goodman CH QC (Hon) (1913–1995), British lawyer and political advisor. ...

Relationship with Anthony Eden

Clarissa Churchill's uncle, Winston Churchill, during the Second World War (portrait by Karsh of Ottawa for Life)

Lady Avon first met her future husband at Cranborne, Dorset (home of the future 5th Marquess of Salisbury) in 1936 when she was sixteen. Already famous at the time for his elegant attire and Homburg hat, she was struck by Eden's tweed pinstriped trousers ^[25]. Image File history File links YousufKarsh. ... Image File history File links YousufKarsh. ... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Yousuf Karsh - Self portrait Yousuf Karsh, CC (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was a Canadian photographer of Armenian birth, and one of the most famous and accomplished portrait photographers of all time. ... Cranborne is a village in east Dorset, England. ... The Right Honourable Robert Arthur James Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury, KG (August 27, 1893–February 23, 1972) was a grandson of the great 3rd Marquess. ... An “Anthony Eden hat (or simply an “Anthony Eden”) was a silk-brimmed, black felt Homburg of the kind favoured in the 1930s by Anthony Eden, later 1st Earl of Avon (1897-1977), a Cabinet Minister in the British National Government, who was Lord Privy Seal 1934-5 and Foreign...

Winston Churchill and the wartime link

There was some further contact during the war by virtue of the circles in which she and Eden both moved and through her family ties with Winston Churchill, who became Prime Minister in 1940. An illustration of her occasional proximity to the centre of power was that, between meetings of the War Cabinet on 30 May 1940, when the Dunkirk evacuation was at its height, she was present when Churchill lunched with her parents and the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough ^[26]. After her mother's death in 1941, she stayed at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country home in Berkshire. A War Cabinet is committee formed by a government in time of war. ... Battle of Dunkirk Conflict World War II Date May 26, 1940 – June 4, 1940 Place Dunkirk, France Result German victory, Allied evacuation The Battle of Dunkirk (in French: Dunkerque) (in Britain normally referred to simply as Dunkirk) was a major battle during World War II which lasted from around... John Albert William Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough (18 September 1897 – 1972) the son of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough and his wife (the former Consuelo Vanderbilt). ... Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a large house to the south east of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. ... Berks redirects here. ...

R .A. Butler, then a junior Minister, recalled a dinner party in Eden’s flat above the Foreign Office, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Attempting to defuse an argument between Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook about their respective motivation during the Abdication crisis of 1936, Lady Avon, just turned twenty-one, proclaimed with patent improbability that she had three favourites, King Edward VIII, King Leopold III of the Belgians and the aviator Charles Lindbergh ^[27]. (All three men, for various reasons, would not have appealed much to Churchill at that point in the war.) Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, KG, CH, PC, DL (9 December 1902 – 8 March 1982), who invariably signed his name R. A. Butler and was familiarly known as Rab, was a British Conservative politician. ... Sir William Maxwell Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (May 25, 1879 - June 9, 1964) was a Canadian–British business tycoon and politician. ... Like King Henry VIII of England, whose wish to marry Anne Boleyn in the 1530s rocked his kingdom, King Edward VIII created a crisis for the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth in the 1930s when he wished to marry Wallis Simpson: many have argued that the problem for Edward... King Edward VIII King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, King of Ireland Emperor of India His Majesty King Edward VIII, (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David), later His Royal Highness The Duke of Windsor (23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was the second British monarch of the... Leopold III, Leopold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubertus Marie Miguel (November 3, 1901 – September 25, 1983) reigned as King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of his Heir Apparent, his son Baudouin. ... Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. ...

Marriage to Eden

A more defined relationship with Eden, who was 23 years older than Lady Avon, developed gradually after they had sat next to each other at a dinner party in about 1947. Eden had been monopolised for much of the meal by a lady on his other side and afterwards, in an undertone, invited Lady Avon out to dinner ^[28]. In 1950 Eden was divorced from his first wife, Beatrice, née Beckett (1905-57). Although she was a Roman Catholic and her church was opposed to divorce, Lady Avon married Eden, who had become Foreign Secretary again in 1951, in a civil ceremony at Caxton Hall, London on 14 August 1952. This event drew large crowds, on a level with those earlier in the year for the wedding of film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding ^[29], prompting Harold Macmillan, Minister of Housing, to note that "it's extraordinary how much 'glamour' he [Eden] still has and how popular he is" ^[30]. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Dame Elizabeth Rosamund Taylor, DBE (born February 27, 1932) is an iconic two-time Academy Award-winning British actress. ... Michael Wilding (July 23, 1912 – July 8, 1979) was a English actor. ... Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ...

Attitudes to the marriage

Eden remains the only British Prime Minister to have been divorced. There was criticism of the marriage in the Church Times and from some others in the Anglican church, including the Bishop of Sydney, Australia, who drew parallels with Edward VIII's having given up the throne to marry an American divorcée. Macmillan, among others, thought such comparisons unfair: "Miss Churchill cannot be compared with Mrs Simpson, who had had two husbands" ^[31] However, Lady Avon's decision drew also the opprobrium of Evelyn Waugh ^[32], a strident convert to Catholicism, who, a few years earlier, had repeatedly berated the poet John Betjeman for his Anglo-Catholic beliefs ^[33]. The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ... Wallis, Duchess of Windsor and the Duke of Windsor on their wedding day Bessie Wallis Warfield, more widely known as Wallis Simpson and later The Duchess of Windsor (June 19, 1896–April 24, 1986) was the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII of the... Sir John Betjeman CBE (28 August 1906–19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Whos Who as a poet and hack. He was born to a middle-class family in Edwardian London. ... ...

Anthony Eden with Lady Avon's cousin Randolph Churchill at the Hague, 1948 (Randolph Churchill, The Rise & Fall of Sir Anthony Eden, 1959)

On the eve on the wedding, John Colville, a long-time private secretary of Winston Churchill, who, in his younger days, had been part of the same social “set” as Churchill's niece, recorded in his diary that Lady Avon, who was staying at Churchill's home at Chartwell, Kent, was "very beautiful, but ... still strange and bewildering". He added that Churchill "feels avuncular to his orphaned niece, gave her a cheque for £500 and told me that he thought she had a most unusual personality" ^[34]. The marriage is said to have exacerbated the antagonism towards Eden of Churchill's often wayward son Randolph, who, having defended his cousin to Evelyn Waugh, gave her "two years to knock him [Eden] into shape" ^[35]. His subsequent attacks on Eden in the press culminated in a scathing biography, The Rise and Fall of Sir Anthony Eden (1959). Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (May 28, 1911-June 6, 1968) was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. ... Sir John Colville, CB, CVO, was born 28 January 1915. ... Chartwell For the suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, see Chartwell, South Africa Chartwell, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, was the home of Sir Winston Churchill. ... Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (May 28, 1911-June 6, 1968) was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. ...

The issues relating to the Edens' marriage resurfaced in 1955 when Eden was Prime Minister. In that year Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, announced that "mindful of the Church [of England]'s teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble", she had decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorcé ^[36]. Townsend subsequently reflected that HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret (Margaret Rose Armstrong-Jones, née Windsor; (August 21, 1930—February 9, 2002) was a member of the British Royal Family, the second eldest daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister of the... Elizabeth II in an official portrait as Queen of Canada (on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002, wearing the Sovereigns badges of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (born 21 April 1926), styled HM The... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[1] in England, and acts as the mother and senior branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as a founding member of the Porvoo Communion. ... Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend, CVO, DSO, DFC and Bar, RAF (November 22, 1914 – June 19, 1995) was Equerry to King George VI 1944–1952 and held the same position for Queen Elizabeth II 1952–1953. ...

Eden could not fail to sympathise with the Princess, all the more so that while his own second marriage had incurred no penalty, either for him or his wife, he had to warn the Princess that my second marriage - to her - would [mean] she would have to renounce her royal rights, functions and income ^[37].

Married life

Historian Hugh Thomas noted that, though "non-political", Lady Avon was interested in foreign affairs, having written a Berlin diary for the literary magazine Horizon ^[38]. The first five years of her marriage were dominated by Eden's political career and by the effects of a botched operation on his gall bladder in 1953 which caused lasting problems. However, Lady Avon maintained many of her wider acquaintances. For example, Cecil Beaton and Greta Garbo visited 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's official residence, at her invitation in October 1956. They drank vodka and ice and Beaton recorded Lady Avon's observation that her husband was kept awake by the sound of motor scooters ^[39], which were growing in popularity among young people in the 1950s. Lady Avon is said to have murmured, "he can't keep away", as Eden, in Beaton's words, "gangled in like a colt" and proclaimed to Garbo, who had a cigarette holder between her teeth, that he had always wanted to meet her ^[40]. Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton (born October 21, 1931 in Windsor), is a British historian. ... // Overview Number Ten Downing street is the official residence of the First Lord of Her Majesty’s Treasury and Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. ... A typical mid 1980s twist and go scooter. ...

The Edens' marriage, which lasted until his death in 1977, was, by all accounts, a happy one, though Lady Avon miscarried in 1954 ^[41] and there were no children. Her stepson, Nicholas, Eden's surviving son from his first marriage, who succeeded him as 2nd Earl of Avon, was was a Minister in Margaret Thatcher's Government in the 1980s, but died of AIDS in 1985. Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon (1930-1985), British politician and son of Prime Minister Anthony Eden. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990. ... Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS or Aids) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). ...

Eden's premiership

Eden succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister on 6 April 1955 and, shortly afterwards, won a general election in which his Conservative Party polled the largest percentage of the popular vote recorded between 1945 and the present day. Colville noted that, at a dinner, attended by the Queen, to mark Churchill’s retirement, the Duchess of Westminster had put her foot through Lady Avon’s train, causing the monarch's consort, the Duke of Edinburgh, to remark, "that's torn it, in more than one sense" ^[42]. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ... The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, (Philip Mountbatten; born Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark, 10 June 1921) is the husband and consort of Queen Elizabeth II. Originally a Prince of Greece and Denmark, Prince Philip abandoned those titles to serve in the Royal Navy, but did not renounce them. ...

Eden’s premiership lasted less than two years. For much of this period Eden was the subject of hostilty from elements of the Conservative press, notably the Daily Telegraph ^[43], the wife of whose Chairman, Lady Pamela Berry, daughter of Lord Birkenhead and a noted society hostess, was said by some to have had a "blood row" (Macmillan's phrase) with Lady Avon. The latter's attempts to make this up this puzzling rift were apparently shunned ^[44]. Time magazine, August 20, 1923 Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, commonly known as F.E. Smith (July 12, 1872 - September 30, 1930) was a British Conservative statesman and lawyer of the early Twentieth Century. ...

Chateleine at Downing Street and Chequers

As hostess at 10 Downing Street, Lady Avon oversaw the organisation of official receptions. She brought in new caterers, causing US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to lose a bet with a fellow dinner guest that he knew "exactly what every course is going to be" ^[45]. Because the Edens' tenure was so short, Lady Avon's plans to return the fabric and furniture of the house to the styles of the 1730s, when it was built, were never realised ^[46]. The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. ... John Foster Dulles (February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American statesman who served as Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. ...

Lady Avon was not very fond of Chequers, though she did take a keen interest in the garden and grounds, introducing old fashioned roses and increasing the range of fruit trees. However, her successor, Lady Dorothy Macmillan, so keen a horticulturalist that she sometimes gardened at night, removed yellow and white flowers planted by Lady Avon and replaced them with roses of "normal colour" ^[47]. Chequers, or Chequers Court, is a large house to the south east of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, that sits at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. ...

One episode at Chequers attracted considerable publicity. In January 1956 Lady Avon politely requested the occupant of a farm worker's cottage on the estate to hang her washing where it could not be seen by visitors ^[48]. Although it seems that the washing may have been hung across a lime walk, beyond the boundary of the cottage garden itself ^[49], the story was taken up by the Daily Mirror as an alleged example of Lady Avon's high-handedness. Coming shortly after attacks in the press on Eden's leadership, the timing was unfortunate.

The Suez Crisis

Opposition leader Hugh Gaitskell broadcasting during the Suez Crisis, November 1956

As the Suez Crisis reached its climax in 1956, the Labour Party opposed Anglo-French attacks on Egypt. On 1 November Lady Avon found herself sitting next to Dora Gaitskell, wife of the Labour leader, in the gallery of the House of Commons, whose sitting was suspended, due to uproar, for the first time since 1924. "Can you stand it?" she asked, to which, according to one version, the seasoned Mrs Gaitskell replied, "the boys must have their fun" ^[50]. (An alternative version is that Mrs Gaitskell responded, "What I can't stand is the mounted police charging the crowds outside" ^[51].) Three days later Lady Avon attended, out of curiosity, an anti-Goverment "Law not War" demonstration in Trafalgar Square, but thought it politic to withdraw when she was recognised with friendly cheers ^[52]. Image File history File links Hugh_Gaitskell. ... Image File history File links Hugh_Gaitskell. ... Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (April 9, 1906 – January 18, 1963) was a British politician, leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in 1963. ... Combatants Israel United Kingdom France Egypt Commanders Moshe Dayan Charles Keightley Pierre Barjot Gamal Abdel Nasser Strength 175,000 Israeli 45,000 British 34,000 French 300,000 Casualties 197 Israeli KIA 56 British KIA 91 British WIA 10 French KIA 43 French WIA 650 KIA 2,900 WIA 2... Combatants Israel United Kingdom France Egypt Commanders Moshe Dayan Charles Keightley Pierre Barjot Gamal Abdel Nasser Strength 175,000 Israeli 45,000 British 34,000 French 300,000 Casualties 197 Israeli KIA 56 British KIA 91 British WIA 10 French KIA 43 French WIA 650 KIA 2,900 WIA 2... Anna Dora Gaitskell, Baroness Gaitskell, née Creditor, (25 April 1901 – 1 July 1989), was a British politician for Labour. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Trafalgar Square viewed from the northeast corner. ...

"The Suez Canal flowing through my drawing room"

In the humiliating aftermath of Suez in 1956, Lady Avon's most famous public remark to a group of Conservative woman that, "in the past few weeks I have really felt as if the Suez Canal was flowing through my drawing room", was widely reported ^[53]. Lady Avon has since described this observation as "silly, really idiotic" ^[54], though it remains probably the most quoted utterance of the whole crisis.

During this period there were some who thought they detected undue influence by Lady Avon over her husband. For example, Lady Jebb, wife of the British Ambassador in Paris, alluded in her diary to Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth and referred to "Clarissa's war" ^[55]. Less dramatically, there were suggestions that Eden’s touchiness and over-sensitivity to criticism, characteristics frequently remarked upon by colleagues ^[56], were exacerbated by Lady Avon (described by historian Barry Turner, without explanation, as "equally touchy" ^[57]). One of Eden's private secretaries claimed that "she had a habit of stirring up Anthony when he didn't need it" ^[58]. However, Eden's biographer D. R. Thorpe concluded that such imputations arose from a misreading of the Edens' relationship, noting also that, during Suez, the only two people in whom Eden could confide without inhibition were his wife and the Queen ^[59]. Lady Avon herself recalled that, though she sought to "bolster up" her husband and scanned the newspapers for anything that she thought he ought to know, she did not feel she "knew enough about what was going on to try and interfere in any way" ^[60]. Sir Hubert Miles Gladwyn Jebb, First Lord and Baron Gladwyn (April 25, 1900 - October 24, 1996) was a prominent British politician. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole Lady Macbeth is a character in Shakespeares play Macbeth. ... D. R. Thorpe (born 1943) is an historian and biographer who has written biographies of two British Prime Ministers of the mid 20th century, Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Sir Anthony Eden. ...

The aftermath of Suez

Goldeneye

The damage caused by the Suez Crisis to the Prime Minister's already frail health persuaded the Edens to seek a month’s rest cure at "Goldeneye", Ian Fleming’s home in Jamaica. Lady Avon's concern for her husband's health appears to have been decisive in the choice of destination, although it was regarded by many, including Macmillan and the Government's Chief Whip, Edward Heath, as politically unwise ^[61]. Even Anne Fleming, who also warned Lady Avon about some of the primitive aspects of Goldeneye, suggested that Torquay (a seaside resort in the south west of England) and a sun-lamp might have been preferable ^[62]. However, Lady Avon has insisted that "Berkshire [i.e. Chequers] or somewhere instead" would not have been suitable: "I thought if we didn't go to Jamaica, he was going to drop down dead, literally" ^[63]. Operation Goldeneye was an Allied plan during World War II, that monitored Spain after the Spanish Civil War. ... Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG, MBE (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005), soldier and politician, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. ... Statistics Population: 62,963 [1] Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SX9165 Administration District: Torbay Region: South West England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Devon Historic county: Devon Services Police force: Devon and Cornwall Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: South Western Post office and telephone Post...

Once installed in Jamaica, the Edens were temporary neighbours of Noel Coward, who presented them - "poor dears" - with a basket of caviare, pâté de fois gras and champagne ^[64]. The publicity that this sojourn attracted is credited by some with boosting Fleming's literary career, including sales of his early novels about James Bond, the first of which, Casino Royale, he had written at Goldeneye in 1953. The James Bond 007 gun logo James Bond 007 is a fictional British agent[1] created by writer Ian Fleming in 1952. ...

Lady Eden and Sir Anthony fly to Jamaica: London Airport, 23 November 1956

Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG (June 12, 1897 - January 14, 1977), British politician, was Foreign Secretary during World War II and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1950s. ...

Eden's resignation

The Edens returned to England just before Christmas 1956 and Sir Anthony resigned as Prime Minister on 9 January 1957. When Harold Macmillan, with whom Eden had had a difficult relationship ^[65], was appointed as his successor in preference to R. A. Butler, Lady Avon wrote to Butler that she thought politics "a beastly profession ... and how greatly I admire your dignity and good humour" ^[66]. Macmillan's biographer Alistair Horne noted of the various animosities that arose before and during Macmilan's premiership that it was the "loyal wives", among whom he counted Lady Avon and Lady Butler, who "tended most to keep [them] alive". Whereas Eden himself maintained "a friendly (if not conspicuously warm) relationship" with Macmillan, Lady Avon was said to have been consistently vitriolic about him ^[67]. Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ... Sir Alistair Allan Horne (November 9, 1925-) is a British historian of modern France. ...

Shortly after Eden's resignation, he and Lady Avon sailed to New Zealand for a further break. Their cabin steward, on what she described as "the hellship Rangitata" ^[68], was the future Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott ^[69]. John Leslie Prescott MP (born May 31, 1938) is a British Labour Party politician, Deputy Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Member of Parliament for the north east constituency of Hull East. ...

Eden's retirement and death

Eden had been told by doctors that his life might be in danger if he remained in office. In the event he was to live for another twenty years. The Edens' home was at Alvediston, Wiltshire, where he died on 14 January 1977 and is buried. Alvediston is a village and civil parish in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England, with a population of 91 (2001 census). ...

The last entry in Eden's dairy, dated 11 September 1976, had read; "exquisite small vase of crimson glory buds & mignorette from beloved C[larissa]" ^[70]. When he was taken mortally ill with liver cancer, he and Lady Avon had just spent their final Christmas together at Hobe Sound, Florida as guests of Averell Harriman, elder statesman of the Democratic Party, and his English-born wife Pamela, Lady Avon's exact contemporary, whose first marriage to Randolph Churchill had led to her becoming a wartime confidante of Winston Churchill ^[71]. The Edens were flown back to Britain in a Royal Air Force VC-10 that was diverted to Miami after Prime Minister James Callaghan had been alerted to the situation by Pamela Harriman's son, Winston ^[72]. Hobe Sound is a census-designated place located in Martin County, Florida. ... William Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986) was a Governor of New York. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Republican Party. ... Pamela Harriman (20 March 1920 – 5 February 1997) was a Washington, D.C. socialite, and diplomat married to Randolph Churchill (son of Sir Winston Churchill) on 4 October 1939. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The VC-10 airliner was designed and built by Vickers (part of the British Aircraft Corporation) in the 1960s. ... This article is about the city in Florida. ... Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005), was Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. ... This article is about the living politician. ...

Widowhood

The Goldfish Bowl (2004), basis of Cherie Blair's TV documentary of 2005

After her husband's death, Lady Avon received many tributes to her devoted care in the later stages of his life. She moved to an apartment in London in the 1980s. She invited firstly Robert Rhodes James and later D. R. Thorpe to write official biographies of her husband. Published in 1986 and 2003 respectively, both offered a broadly sympathic view of Eden’s career and were generally well received by critics. Between them they did much to help restore Eden’s reputation, which had taken such a battering during the final months of his premiership. Cherie Blair Cherie Blair (born 23 September 1954 in Bury, England), known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a prominent barrister. ... Sir Robert Rhodes James (10 April 1933–1999) was a British historian and Conservative member of parliament. ...

In 1994 Lady Avon unveiled a bust of Eden at the Foreign Office.

Lady Avon's longevity

Lady Avon was the youngest wife of an incumbent Prime Minister in the twentieth century. She was only 36 when her husband resigned and a widow by her mid fifties. As such she has enjoyed unusual longevity for a Prime Ministerial spouse, contributing, for example, to a television documentary by Cherie Blair in 2005 about Prime Ministers’ wives ^[73] and to a three-part series the following year marking the fiftieth anniversary of Suez. In the latter, she recalled, among other things, Eden's disillusion with the lack of American support for British policy in 1956 ^[74]. The critic A A Gill was among those who praised Lady Avon's erudite performance in the Blair documentary ("bright as a button"), while sensing that she appeared not entirely to approve of Mrs Blair ^[75]. Cherie Blair Cherie Blair (born 23 September 1954 in Bury, England), known professionally as Cherie Booth QC, is a prominent barrister. ... A. A. (Adrian Anthony) Gill (born June 28, 1954) is a British newspaper columnist and writer. ...

Lady Avon has outlived four of the seven spouses (Lady Dorothy Macmillan, Lady Home, Lady Callaghan and Sir Denis Thatcher) who succeeded her and is two years younger than Lady Wilson of Rievaulx. The husbands of Dame Norma Major and Cherie Blair became Prime Minister 35 and 42 years respectively after Eden had done so. Norma Major (in 1990) was the first of Lady Avon's successors who born after her. Audrey Callaghan (née Audrey Elizabeth Moulton), Lady Callaghan (July 28, 1915 - March 15, 2005), was the wife of British prime minister James Callaghan and was herself a campaigner and fundraiser for childrens health and welfare. ... Arms of Sir Denis Thatcher Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet (May 10, 1915 - June 26, 2003) was a businessman, and husband of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher. ... Mary Wilson (born 1918) is a British poet, best known as the wife of former British prime minister, Harold Wilson. ... Dame Norma Major DBE (born 1942), née Norma Wagstaff, (sometimes referred to as Lady Major) is the wife of Sir John Major, the former British Prime Minister. ...

Notes