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THE LIFE OF JAMES LEES-MILNE
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1945-51: His diaries again give a detailed picture of
JLM's life from 1946 to 1949. These were grim years for the country but
important ones in the history of the N.T., for which JLM now did his greatest
work, organising the acquisition and opening of many famous houses. He also
wrote the first of his architectural books - The Age of Adam (1947) and
Tudor Renaissance (1951). These are now recognised as pioneering works,
among the first to bring the subject to a wide audience; while not pretending
to academic scholarship, he made it his policy to write about no building until
he had seen it.
| In 1949 he fell in love with the beautiful Alvilde
Chaplin (née Bridges), whom he had met during the war with her
patroness Princess 'Winnie' de Polignac. One year his junior, she was
a gifted but astringent character, a lesbian whose friends included many
homosexual men; her marriage (1933) to the handsome but philandering Anthony
(later 3rd Viscount) Chaplin had only briefly been consummated, resulting in a
daughter, Clarissa. The diaries describe the progress of the affair, at one
moment of which JLM, Alvilde, Chaplin and Chaplin's young mistress (and future
wife) Rosemary Lyttelton were all living together. Though infatuated with her,
JLM had some doubts about marriage; but he proposed at the end of the |
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year, Chaplin being happy to be divorced in order
to wed Rosemary. Before committing himself, JLM had made enquiries in Catholic
circles as to whether Alvilde was likely to receive a papal annulment of her
marriage, so he could marry her in the eyes of the Church of which he remained
a practising member; he received positive assurances, but in the end no
annulment was granted. This was a blow to his faith; but they nevertheless
married at a London registry office in November 1951, Harold and Vita acting as
witnesses.
1951-58: JLM's marriage brought about a change in his
pattern of life. He had never fully recovered from his wartime illness, and by
the late 1940s was suffering from overwork and exhaustion. At the end of 1950
he relinquished his post as the N.T's Historic Buildings Secretary to take up a
half-time position as its Architectural Consultant. Alvilde was living as a tax
exile in France; in 1950 she bought a house at
Roquebrune, in the mountains between Monaco and Menton. For
the rest of the decade, they wintered together at Roquebrune; JLM spent six
months of each year in England working for the N.T., for three of which she
would join him; and they travelled on the continent, he doing research for his
architectural books.
JLM took his marriage seriously, and derived many
advantages from having a rich and accomplished wife who shared his cultural and
social interests. She made the little house at Roquebrune delightful, cosetted
him, entertained superbly and created an exquisite garden. His more leisured
life enabled him to write two excellent books, The Age of Inigo Jones
(1953) and Roman Mornings (1956), which won him critical acclaim.
Yet he was not happy. As he had feared, she could be moody and
possessive. He got bored with life in the South of France and the society
there. Although they had enjoyed a physical relationship before marriage,
Alvilde was afterwards less willing to satisfy him in this regard; this caused
frustration, as he struggled to put his homosexual life behind him. Then, in
1955, she embarked on a tempestuous lesbian affair with Vita Sackville-West,
with whom she shared a passion for gardening. This was conducted with
discretion, and JLM affected not to notice it; but the situation was widely
known among their circle and did not lessen his unhappiness.
1958-67: JLM turned fifty in August 1958. The next decade was to be the
most troubled of his life. He became disillusioned with the two institutions he
loved most, the Roman Catholic Church and the National Trust, eventually
drifting away from the first and resigning from the staff of the second; and
his passionate love affair with a younger man led to difficulties in his
marriage and much trauma. In 1961, Alvilde gave up her French domicile and
bought a house in the
Cotswolds, Alderley Grange, where she created a famous
garden. JLM loved this house - their 'Sissinghurst' - and it was undoubtedly a factor in keeping
them together during several rocky years of marriage.
Despite the
trauma, JLM wrote two of his best books during these years -
Earls of Creation (1962) and St
Peter's (1967). Although the latter, lavishly illustrated and written
with papal approval, did not achieve the commercial success predicted for it,
the deaths of his mother and his eccentric Aunt Dorothy (the pipe-smoking
lesbian widow of his father's childless brother) brought him some capital for
the first time, lessening his financial dependence on his wife. |
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This site has been created by Michael
Bloch, James Lees-Milne's literary executor, who is currently editing his later
diaries and writing his biography (to be published by John Murray). He may be
contacted at MAB@jamesleesmilne.com.
Many
of James Lees-Milne's papers are in the Beinecke Library at Yale. Their
catalogue can be accessed
here
James Lees-Milne's copyrights are managed by
Bruce Hunter of David Higham Associates, London. Enquiries may be addressed to
him at brucehunter@davidhigham.co.uk. |
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