Pamela Harriman

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Pamela Harriman in 1938

Pamela Beryl Harriman (born March 20, 1920 in Farnborough , Hampshire as Pamela Beryl Digby, † February 5, 1997 in Paris ) was an English-born society lady and American diplomat .

Their only child, Winston Spencer Churchill , is a grandson of Winston Churchill .

Life

Pamela Digby came from a noble family. Her great-great-aunt was the adventurer Jane Digby . Pamela grew up in rural Dorset and took part in horse shows. At the age of 17 she went to boarding school in Munich for six months , where Unity Mitford introduced her to Adolf Hitler . She later studied at the Sorbonne , but without ever getting a degree.

In 1937 she returned to England. In London she worked as a translator for the Foreign Office , where she met Randolph Frederick Churchill in 1939 . He asked for her hand that evening, and they were married on October 4th.

In February 1941 Randolph was sent to Cairo for military service and there accumulated considerable gambling debts. Kathleen Harriman , the daughter of the American special envoy W. Averell Harriman , moved into her London apartment as a subtenant . He started an affair with Pamela Digby. Because of her husband's debts and relationship with Harriman, she filed for divorce from Randolph Churchill in 1945.

Pamela, divorced Churchill, moved to Paris and began an affair with Gianni Agnelli in 1948 . It was only when this princess Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto got pregnant that Pamela ended the relationship.

After a liaison with the married Baron Élie de Rothschild , she met in 1959 the also still married Broadway producer Leland Hayward . She accepted his proposal and moved to New York . She stayed with him until his death in 1971.

Immediately afterwards she contacted her former lover W. Averell Harriman, who, meanwhile 79 years old, was himself newly widowed. The two married on September 27, 1971. Through him she came into contact with the political establishment in Washington, DC

After Harriman's death, a dispute broke out over his inheritance, which the New York Times estimated at $ 30 million. The dispute over this between Harriman's daughter Kathleen and the widow Pamela kept the media busy. In 1995 the conflict was settled with a settlement.

politics

As Pamela Churchill Harriman, she took US citizenship in 1971 and began working for the Democratic Party . President Bill Clinton named her in 1993 to succeed Walter Curley as US ambassador to France .

She suffered an intracerebral haemorrhage in February 1997 and died the next day. French President Jacques Chirac placed the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on her coffin; she was the first foreign diplomat to receive this honor. President Clinton dispatched a special plane to take her body to the United States and spoke for her at the funeral service at Washington National Cathedral .

She was buried on February 14, 1997 at the Harriman family estate in Arden , New York State .

literature

  • Reflected Glory: the Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman , Sally Bedell Smith, 1996. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80950-8
  • Life of the Party: the Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman , Christopher Ogden, 1994.
  • Dorset Pioneers , Jack Dwyer, 2009. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-5346-0
  • Swimming at The Ritz Charles Leipart, premiered June 2010 at the Devonshire Park Theater, Eastbourne, UK.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tucker Carlson, "The Hall of Lame," Forbes magazine, March 8, 1999
  2. ↑ a b c Bedell Smith S: Reflected Glory. The Life of Pamela Churchill Harriman . Simon and Schuster, 1996.
  3. ↑ Kathleen Mortimer, Rich and Adventurous, Dies at 93 , in: New York Times , February 20, 2011, p. 26A.
  4. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Diva the site )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.divasthesite.com
  5. ↑ Harriman Heirs Ask for Assets To Be Frozen New York Times , September 20, 1994.
  6. ↑ Kathleen Mortimer, Rich and Adventurous, Dies at 93 , in: New York Times , February 20, 2011, p. 26A.
personal data
SURNAME Harriman, Pamela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harriman, Pamela Beryl (full name); Digby, Pamela Beryl (maiden name); Harriman, Pamela Churchill
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat of English origin
DATE OF BIRTH March 20, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Farnborough , Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH February 5, 1997
Place of death Paris