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Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler's Angel

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"Diana Mosley"-the person and the book-will rivet you and shock you. Not shock in a titilliating, revolving bedrooms way. Though Mosley does leave her devoted husband in her early 20's for a serial womanizer who cheats on her until his death nearly fifty years later, sex plays a minor role in this book. Mosley, after her youthful adultery, remained a one-man woman for the rest of her years. No, the shocking part lies in the lifelong devotion, actually obsession bordering on psychotic, for her lover and then husband, Oswald Mosley and his cause (British fascism). And this obsession led her to embrace both Nazism and a friendship with Adolf Hitler, both of which she defended until her death.
Diana Mosley was one of the fabled Mitford sisters, born to a minor, eccentric aristocrat and his equally well-born wife. Blessed with a perfect "face" and considered the beauty of her generation, she married early and well at the age of 18 to an heir to the Guinness fortune. She had two boys almost immediately and became a popular London society hostess of the early 1930's. At some point her path crossed Oswald Mosley's, the heir to a British baronetcy and the founder and leader of the British Fascist Movement, and that was that. Even though Mosley was married (happily too despite the infidelities) and had said he would never leave his wife, Diana left Guinness, his fortune and the good opinion of many including her family.

Soon after, Mosley's wife died and her family hated Diana for the rest of their mutually long lives (Diana died in august '03, Mosley's last sister-in-law in '95.)
Mosley then launched an affair with one of his sisters-in-law while simultaneously romancing Diana. Diana, perhaps to impress Mosley in the beginning, traveled to Germany on many occassions, attended Nuremberg rallies, and befriended Hitler. Her sister Unity Mitford, usually considered the "Mitford" sister most associated with Hitler, was obsessed with the fuhrer in a stalking, almost pathetic way. Diana, cooler, better looking, and far saner, enjoyed talking politics with him (eventually she did negotiate on behalf of the British fascists for a radio wave). Hitler reciprocated the friendship by arranging for her to marry Mosley in secret in Goebbels living room. He attended.
Well, she paid dearly for this friendship and her love for Mosley-she and MOsley were imprisoned during most of WWII, they were snubbed by many for years, they eventually lived out of the country-yet she never recanted her love for one and friendship for the other. Not after the reveleations of the Holocaust, not after her husband's numerous infidelities.
De Courcy does an excellent job of describing all aspects of Diana Mosley's life: not just her politics but her lifestyle, her intelligence, her reading, her friendships, her family. De Courcy admits in the beginning that she loved MOsley but saw her flaws...and she is critical, though at times could have been harder.

Perhaps the most damning section of the book: de Courcy inserts Diana Mosley's exchange with a Prison Advisory committee during her imprisonment. In it, she cooly responds to questions about her friendship with HItler, her dislike of Jews, her criticisms of her cousin Winston Churchill, her belief in fascism. The book ends with this chilling transcript--a fitting endnote to her life.

Anne de Courcy's biography of Diana Mitford, Lady Mosley, is an indispensable addition to the Mitford collector's bookshelf and an excellent read for anyone else interested in British and European history during the twentieth century.

Diana was probably the most enigmatic of the six Mitford sisters, daughters of Lord and Lady Redesdale and thus members of the highest British social world. In my opinion she was less talented than her older sister Nancy (talented novelist, biographer, and wit) and her next to youngest sister Jessica (one time Communist, muckraker, and wit). She was ambitious to marry well like her baby sister Deborah (Duchess of Devonshire) and managed to wed two prominent men, one a wealthy future Lord, the other a baronet with what looked like a prominent political future. Unfortunately the sister she most resembles was Unity, a Nazi enthusiast and Hitler hanger on. (The other sister, Pam, was a lover of the countryside and rural life, neither of which had much appeal to Diana.)

Diana was an intelligent woman who was largely self educated. She made her first marriage at 18 to Bryan Guiness, who loved her for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, husbandly devotion and two sons were not enough for Diana, who fell in love with Sir Oswald Mosley in her early twenties. Mosley was a rising political star, having moved from the Conservatives to Labour to his own New Party to forming the British Union of Fascists in the early 1930s. De Courcy does a good job of describing Mosley's political appeal as a strong man who could be trusted to put things right (like Mussolini). In the Depression years he must have seemed an appealing alternative to politics as usual in Britain. Diana lived with Mosley and after the death of his first wife married him in Berlin, with Hitler as a wedding guest.

Here is the most enigmatic part of Diana's story. How could an intelligent, pleasant, vivacious woman fall so heavily for the Nazis? De Courcy tries to answer this in terms of Diana's attraction to strong men, but this doesn't seem to be the full story. Whatever the attraction, it was life long and survived every revelation of Hitler's true character after World War II. Diana and her husband Mosley were so committed to Hitler and Fascism that they suffered imprisonment during much of World War II as possible subversives, and were ostracized by much of polite society and the British political world for the rest of their lives.

None of this seemed to matter to Diana. She remained at Mosley's side through what must have been several of his extra-marital affairs (the word that seems to best sum up Oswald Mosley is "cad") and dominated a large family of children and step children and other descendants. She carried grudges with a vengeance, not speaking to her sister Jessica for years (Jessica had no use for her, either) and lambasting her step son for not sufficiently praising his father's memory in a biography. At the same time she was evidently charming, witty, and a delight to be around right up to her death in August 2003. She remains enigmatic but highly entertaining.

"It remains extraordinary that a woman of such high intelligence could talk such heartless nonsense" These are the words of author Anne de Courcy upon hearing the 90+year-old Diana Mosley expound on her anti-semitic views.

It is not that de Courcy did not try to discover what lay behind Diana Mosley's repellant beliefs. On the contrary, I believe that de Courcy did perhaps as well as anyone could have done to lay bare Diana Mitford-Guiness-Mosley's psyche. Many writers, when given unfettered access to a subject end up writing hagiographies. Anne de Courcy, on the other hand, has written an objective, clear-eyed account of Diana Mosley and her milieu.

The author did an admirable job of describing the early Mitford household; the parents, sisters and other people who touched their lives are described in more than sufficient detail to lay the historical and psychological ground work for an understanding of the Mitfords' ensuing years. It was apparent that Diana was destined to lead an interesting life owing to her singular beauty and vivacious personality. She attracted the intellectual and wealthy elite like a magnet. The path that she chose for herself was indeed interesting, but often very uncomfortable. One small example of her interesting life is the fact that she was the last person alive to have personally known both Hitler and Winston Churchill. Most uncomfortable would have been her imprisonment and fractured family and personal relationships owing to her political and personal beliefs.

De Courcy spends a fair amount of time describing the life and times of Diana's second husband, Oswald Mosley, and the British Fascist movement. Many early Fascists during the time of Mussolini's rise in Italy began their political lives as Labour supporters. When the Depression came and Fascism promised a better life for the average worker, many working class people joined Fascist organizations, such as the British Union. It seems incredible from a modern perspective that Leftists could suddenly do a flip to become Rightists, but that is indeed what happened to many political activists, including Mosely and to Diana Guinness, who was already under Mosley's control at the time.

It was both fascinating and appalling to read about Diana Guinness falling under the influence of the charismatic Oswald Mosley, and her life-long dedication to Mosley and Fascist ideals. Both were charismatic people whose talents could have been put to far better use. Diana Mosley could have been the predecessor to another Diana, Diana Spencer, had she followed a different path. Instead, she is probably regarded as an unfortunate historical curiosity, much like her friends, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

As someone who is frankly more interested in the history of Fascism than in biographies of British wealthy elite, I found this book fascinating. I especially recommend this book to Americans who may not have heard of the Mitfords or the Mosleys before. The photographs alone are worth the price of admission.

Diana Mosley is one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century - or she is for me, she and her 5 sisters, the Mitfords were among the most beautiful and talented women in Britain in the early years of last century. Nancy, the eldest became a novellist, Diana was an accredited beauty and good friends with many of the artists and literati of the time. Jessica was a communist, Unity a friend of Hitler, and Jessica, later became a duchess. Born into an eccentric family (later immortalised in fictional accounts by Nancy as Love in a Cold Climate and the Pursuit of Love) Diana and her sisters definitely trod their own paths, and her mother said something to the effect that whenever she opened the paper and saw "peer's Daughter" in the headline she knew it must be one of her daughters - and I think generally it was!

This was the time of the Bright Young Things, of Evelyn Waugh, and the glittering inter-war years, and of a talented, beautiful woman, and yet I have to say I was not really terribly convinced by the fundamental issue in this - which is Diana's relationship with Hitler and her understanding of his role in the World War II.

After all Diana was an anti-semite herself, her second marriage to Mosely (founder and leader of the British Fascist movement) cemented this. She visited him several times, her sister Unity was one of Hitler's confidants and certainly there is evidence that Unity was aware of and had been present at some hideous humiliations of Jews (although admittedly not deaths). It seems conveniently naive that Diana should not be aware of the extent the Nazi's were going to.

Luckily Diana was more than the sum of her Fascist beliefs, she spent 3 and a half years in jail for that during the second world war - a time in which she was also removed from her new born baby and other children. She was charming, and fascinating, and her life in the prior to this and in the 60 years after these events is wonderfullly readable

De Courcy has written another very readable biography on the Curzon sisters, one of whom (Cimmie) was Mosley's first wife. I preferred that book to this, but this is still very readable and a must for Mitfordites who want to know more of the family. De Courcy was given almost unrestricted access to Diana's diarys and papers, and made hundreds of hours of taped interviews, I just can't help thinking at times Diana did have a convenient memory - and no apology.

Diana Mosley is one of the most controversial women of the 20th century: this outstanding biography is written with her full cooperation and also includes hundreds of hours of taped interviews, access to her private diaries and letters, and unparalleled ability to achieve intimate revelations. The story of the society darling's notorious departure from an established marriage in favor of the leader of the British Union of Fascists and a notorious womanizer makes for an account which explains much about not only her actions, but the history and politics of the times.

arrived promptly and as promised. was in excellent condition and well packaged. a thoroughly satisfactory transaction. five stars to the vendor and my thanks!

Diana was of the fabled Mitford sisters, and with the exception of her suicidal sister, Unity, the most bizarre. Both were completely infatuated with the Fuhrer, and his Germany. Now, in 2004, anyone can state the obvious about Nazi Germany. In the 1930's, this was definitely not as clear as now. Many forget the incredible attraction of the 1930's Germany to many at the time, not all Germans. And there was a deperate need not to have another terrible war between Germany & Birtain. Through her husband, the British Fascist Oswald Mosley, Diana, and Unity, met and befriended many top Nazi leaders. In sum, a really fine book in every way, not least for its insights into the times. A minor complaint is that the author could have written more about Diana's two author sisters, Jessica and Nancy, the 2 real brains in the family, both definitely more "normal" than Diana and Unity.

Diana Mosley, wife and co-conspirator of the head of the British Fascist party in the 30s lived to a ripe old age and never gave up her fascist ideas. This book uses previousloy unpublished diaries and letters to examine the life of this controversial woman. Yet the books main failing is not in its wirting but in its seeking to compromise with a terrible fascist.

Mosley was born in 1910, married the son of the Guiness fortune, divorced him and then married the head of the British Union of Fascists. These were the type of Nazis that the author tries to convey were not scary but simply foolish and wealthy. ALmost like these people became fascists for fun, like all the aristocrats that became communists(Mr. Philby etc...). But the problem here is that Mrs. Mosley and her husband were Nazis every bit died in the wool as Hitler himself. THis book tries to dazzle us with their trips to Germany, their meetings with Goebbells without ever batting an eye to the fact that this woman was complicit in the murder of 6 million Jews and the destruction of Europe.

We learn how painful it was for the Mosleys to be imprisoned during the war. Well they were traitor! We also learn how Mrs. Mosley tried to rehabilitate herself after the war. How she tried to rejoin the aristocracy and how boo-hoo it was hard on her because she was never 'truly' accepted back into English high society. Well why should she have been accepted. THis is a person who loved Mr. Hitler and though the Nazi program would have been great for England!!!

This book tries far to hard to paint a rosie picture of its subject. THe biographer seems to have been taken in by the 'times gone by' mentality of the old and dying British fascists who romance 'what it was like with Hitler in the old days'. Well the fact is their isnt anything special about being rich and hateful, theirs nothing romantic about 'aristocratic' anti-semitism, as if some how having blue blood makes it ok to hate others.

Not a very fair treatment. Probably of interest if you too miss 'the times gone by' when the rich could all be anti-semetic and laugh about it and no one saw anything distateful about it.