Product Description
Irene (born 1896), Cynthia (b.1898) and Alexandria (b.1904) were the three daughters of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India 1898-1905 and probably the grandest and most self-confident imperial servant Britain ever possessed. After the death of his fabulously rich American wife in 1906, Curzon's determination to control every aspect of his daughters' lives - including the money that was rightfully theirs - led them one by one into revolt against their father.The three sisters were at the very heart of the fast and glittering world of the Twenties and Thirties. Irene, intensely musical and a passionate foxhunter, had love affairs in the glamorous Melton Mowbray hunting set. Cynthia ('Cimmie') married Oswald Mosley, joining him first in the Labour Party, where she became a popular MP herself, before following him into fascism. Alexandra ('Baba'), the youngest and most beautiful, married the Prince of Wales's best friend Fruity Metcalfe. On Cimmie's early death in 1933 Baba flung herself into a long and passionate affair with Mosley and a liaison with Mussolini's ambassador to London, Count Dino Grandi, while enjoying the romantic devotion of the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax. The sisters see British fascism from behind the scenes, and the arrival of Wallis Simpson and the early married life of the Windsors The war finds them based at 'the Dorch' (the Dorchester Hotel) doing good works. At the end of their extraordinary lives, Irene and Baba have become, rather improbably, pillars of the establishment, Irene being made one of the very first Life Peers in 1958 for her work with youth clubs.

Synopsis
Irene (born 1896), Cynthia (b.1898) and Alexandria (b.1904) were the three daughters of Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India 1898-1905 and probably the grandest and most self-confident imperial servant Britain ever possessed. After the death of his fabulously rich American wife in 1906, Curzon's determination to control every aspect of his daughters' lives - including the money that was rightfully theirs - led them one by one into revolt against their father. The three sisters were at the very heart of the fast and glittering world of the Twenties and Thirties. Irene, intensely musical and a passionate foxhunter, had love affairs in the glamorous Melton Mowbray hunting set. Cynthia ('Cimmie') married Oswald Mosley, joining him first in the Labour Party, where she became a popular MP herself, before following him into fascism. Alexandra ('Baba'), the youngest and most beautiful, married the Prince of Wales's best friend Fruity Metcalfe. On Cimmie's early death in 1933 Baba flung herself into a long and passionate affair with Mosley and a liaison with Mussolini's ambassador to London, Count Dino Grandi, while enjoying the romantic devotion of the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax.

The sisters see British fascism from behind the scenes, and the arrival of Wallis Simpson and the early married life of the Windsors The war finds them based at 'the Dorch' (the Dorchester Hotel) doing good works. At the end of their extraordinary lives, Irene and Baba have become, rather improbably, pillars of the establishment, Irene being made one of the very first Life Peers in 1958 for her work with youth clubs.

See all Product Description

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover

Search inside this book:

5 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review (5 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   22 of 22 people found the following review helpful: The sordid, selfish reality behind the glitz., 3 Sep 2001 By  denis@ddwatkins.fsnet.co.uk (Pembrokeshire, Wales. UK) - See all my reviews This review is from: The Viceroy's Daughters: The Lives of the Curzon Sisters (Women in History) (Paperback) ...This is a hugely entertaining tale of of an upper strata of society utterly convinced of its own worth and superiority. The viceroy's daughters were at its core and many the major characters of the era figure in the story. The insights into their lives are fascinating and are vividly described. Sir Oswald Mosley, the fascist leader who married one of the daughters, for example, was a serial adulterer with minmal concern or interest in his own children. The book describes the travails, adventures, virtues and vices of the daughters with a pace that never flags. An added, and major bonus, is a highly diverting early section on their fascinating father. The view behind the glitz often reveals appalling behaviour but there are also examples of self sacrifice and commitment to others. This is an enthralling and balanced account of a vanished era. Telling the tale through the lives of three women who were at its core works brilliantly.