Bettie's Books

bookshelves: net-galley, e-book, biography, history, lifestyles-deathstyles, edwardian, nonfiction

From the description: Margaret Greville of Polesden Lacey, who styled herself 'Mrs Ronnie', rose from obscure and humble origins to become a fabulously wealthy and ambitious society hostess, traveling the world and acquiring a portfolio of movie stars, monarchs, maharajahs and millionaires.

That desciption is not entirely truthful, as being born into a family where daddy is a multi-millionare brewing magnate

[Think McEwans ]

and MP doesn't exactly qualify as materially humble in my world view. However there is the fact that she was born out of wedlock which may account for the euphemism.

Heading off into London Society she met up with Hon. Ronald Henry Fulke Greville who was an close intimate of Edward VII through a shared passion for expensive horses. It was through this connection that Mrs Ronnie became quite the celebrity hostess after the early death of her husband who died at the age of 43 from pnuemonia following a surgical operation.

This really is a beautiful, lavishly illustrated biography revealing that Margaret was born in circumstances that would ordinarily have excluded her from respectable middle-class let alone Royal society.

This is certainly one for those who enjoy the era of Downton Abbey and need a between-series fix.

5* Fully recommended.




Polesdon Lacey, Gt. Bookham