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'{{short description|British fascist, writer and editor}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Use British English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = [[The Dishonourable Nazi Bitch]] |name = Lady Mosley |image = Diana Mitford Photo.jpg |image_size = |caption = Diana, Lady Mosley |birth_name = Diana Freeman-Mitford |birth_date = {{birth date|1910|6|17|df=y}} |birth_place = [[Belgravia]], [[Westminster]], London |death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|8|11|1910|6|17|df=y}} |death_place = [[Paris]], [[France]] |nationality = |citizenship = British |occupation = Author, reviewer |years_active = |known_for = [[Mitford sisters|Mitford sister]] who married [[Oswald Mosley|Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet]], leader of the [[British Union of Fascists]], association with [[Adolf Hitler]] and literary critic and author. |title = |spouse = {{marriage|The Hon. [[Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne|Bryan Guinness]]|1929|1932|end=divorced}}<br/>{{marriage|[[Oswald Mosley|Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet]]|1936|1980|end=his death}} |children = [[Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne]]<br/>The Hon. [[Desmond Guinness]]<br/>Alexander Mosley<br/>[[Max Mosley]] |father = [[David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale]] |mother = Sydney Bowles |relations = See [[Mitford family]] }} '''Diana, Lady Mosley''' (''née'' '''Freeman-Mitford'''; 17 June 1910{{spaced ndash}}11 August 2003) was one of the [[Mitford sisters]]. In 1929 she married [[Bryan Walter Guinness]], heir to the [[Baron Moyne|barony of Moyne]], with whom she was part of the [[Bright Young Things]] social group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London. Her marriage ended in divorce as she was pursuing a relationship with [[Oswald Mosley]], leader of the [[British Union of Fascists]]. In 1936, she married Mosley at the home of the propaganda minister for [[Nazi Germany]], [[Joseph Goebbels]], with [[Adolf Hitler]] as guest of honour. Her involvement with [[fascist]] political causes resulted in three years' [[internment]] during the [[Second World War]], when Britain was at war with the fascist regime of Nazi Germany. She later moved to Paris and enjoyed some success as a writer. In the 1950s, she contributed diaries to ''[[Tatler]]'' and edited the magazine ''[[The European (1953 magazine)|The European]]''.<ref name=pol>{{cite book |year=2008 |first=Diana |last=Mitford |title=The Pursuit of Laughter |publisher=Gibson Square books}}</ref> In 1977, she published her autobiography, ''[[A Life of Contrasts]]'',<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/dalley-mosley.html |title=Diana Mosley |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last=Dalley |first=Jan |access-date=6 September 2010 }}</ref> and two more biographies in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/diana-mosley-755455.html |title=Diana Mitford |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=13 August 2003 }}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Her 1989 appearance on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' was controversial. She was also a regular book reviewer for ''[[Books and Bookmen]]'' and later at ''[[The Evening Standard]]'' in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/3083076/friends-and-enemies.thtml |title=Friends and Enemies |newspaper=The Spectator |last=Hastings |first=Selina |date=20 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100508060955/http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/3083076/friends-and-enemies.thtml |archive-date=8 May 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> A family friend, [[James Lees-Milne]], wrote of her beauty, "She was the nearest thing to [[Sandro Botticelli|Botticelli]]'s [[The Birth of Venus|Venus]] that I have ever seen".<ref name=nytt>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01EED91F31F937A2575BC0A9659C8B63 |title=Lady Diana Mosley, Fascist Who Dazzled, Is Dead at 93 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=World |date=14 August 2003 |first=Sarah |last=Lyall}}</ref><ref name="express.co.uk">{{cite news |url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/126784 |title=Hitler's aristocratic admirers |last=Callan |first=Paul |newspaper=[[Daily Express]] |date=12 September 2009}}</ref> She was described as "unrepentant" about her previous political associations by obituary writers such as the historian [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]].<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3595037/Diana-Mosley-unrepentantly-Nazi-and-effortlessly-charming.html Diana Mosley, unrepentantly Nazi and effortlessly charming] The Telegraph. 13 August 2003</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/aug/13/obituaries.uk Diana Mosley, Hitler's angel, dies unrepentant in Paris ] The Guardian. 13 August 2003</ref><ref name=nytt/> ==Early life== Diana Mitford was the fourth child and third daughter of [[David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale]] (1878–1958), and his wife Sydney (1880–1963).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peek |first1=Laura |title=Diana Mosley's death ends link to 1930s Fascism |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/diana-mosleys-death-ends-link-to-1930s-fascism-pd8p2lb32q9 |access-date=11 April 2022 |work=[[The Times]] |date=13 August 2003}}</ref> She was a first cousin of [[Clementine Churchill]],{{sfn|Dalley|1999|p=49}} second cousin of [[Angus Ogilvy|Sir Angus Ogilvy]], and first cousin, twice removed, of [[Bertrand Russell]].{{sfn|de Courcy|2003|p=3}} She was raised in the country estate of [[Batsford Park]], Gloucestershire, then from the age of 10 at the family home, [[Asthall Manor]] in Oxfordshire, and later at Swinbrook House, a home her father had built in the nearby village of [[Swinbrook]].<ref>{{cite news |title=From Chatsworth to Temple de la Gloire, the grandest houses that were once home to the Mitford sisters |url=https://www.tatler.com/gallery/the-grandest-homes-lived-in-by-mitford-sisters-chatsworth-asthall-manor |access-date=11 April 2022 |work=[[Tatler]] |date=6 May 2021}}</ref> She was educated at home by a series of governesses, except for a six-month period in 1926 when she was sent to a day school in Paris.<ref name="Tele-obit">{{cite news |title=Lady Mosley |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/celebrity-obituaries/1438660/Lady-Mosley.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location= London |date=13 August 2003}}</ref> In childhood, her younger sisters [[Jessica Mitford]] ("Decca") and [[Deborah Mitford|Deborah]] ("Debo", <!-- not until 1950. -->later the Duchess of Devonshire), were particularly devoted to her. At the age of 18, shortly after her [[Queen Charlotte's Ball|presentation at Court]], she became secretly engaged to [[Bryan Walter Guinness]]. ==Marriages== Guinness, an Irish aristocrat, writer and brewing heir, would inherit the [[Baron Moyne|barony of Moyne]]. Diana's parents were initially opposed to the engagement but in time were persuaded; Sydney was particularly uneasy at the thought of two such young people having possession of such a large fortune, but she was eventually convinced Bryan was a suitable husband. They married on 30 January 1929; her sisters Jessica and Deborah were too ill to attend the ceremony. The couple had an income of £20,000 a year, an estate at [[Biddesden House|Biddesden]] in Wiltshire, and houses in London and Dublin. They were well known for hosting aristocratic society events involving the [[Bright Young People]]. The writer [[Evelyn Waugh]] exclaimed that her beauty "ran through the room like a peal of bells", and he dedicated the novel ''[[Vile Bodies]]'' to her.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-hon-lady-mosley-v2dx6lqddhf|title=The Hon Lady Mosley|newspaper=[[The Times]] |date=13 August 2003 |location=London|url-access=subscription|quote=Evelyn Waugh dedicated ''Vile Bodies'' to her.}}</ref> Her portrait was painted by [[Augustus John]], [[Pavel Tchelitchew]] and [[Henry Lamb]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3148299.stm |title=Obituary: Lady Diana Mosley |work=BBC News |date=13 August 2003}}</ref> The couple had two sons, [[Jonathan Guinness|Jonathan]] (b. 1930) and [[Desmond Guinness|Desmond]] (1931–2020). In February 1932, Diana met Sir [[Oswald Mosley]] at a garden party at the home of the society hostess [[Maud Cunard|Emerald Cunard]]. He soon became leader of the newly formed [[British Union of Fascists]] and Diana became his lover; Mosley was then married to [[Lady Cynthia Mosley]], a daughter of [[George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]], a former [[Viceroy of India]], and his first wife, the American mercantile heiress [[Mary Victoria Leiter]]. Diana left her husband, "moving with a skeleton staff of nanny, cook, house-parlourmaid and lady's maid to a house at 2 [[Eaton Square]], round the corner from Mosley's flat",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3606612/Hitler-was-her-Uncle-Wolf.html|title=Hitler was her 'Uncle Wolf'|date=17 November 2003|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> but Sir Oswald would not leave his wife. Quite suddenly, Cynthia died in 1933 of [[peritonitis]]. Mosley was devastated by the death of his wife, but later started an affair with her younger sister, [[Lady Alexandra Curzon|Lady Alexandra Metcalfe]].{{sfn|de Courcy|2003}}{{pn|date=April 2022}} Diana's parents did not approve of her decision to leave Guinness for Mosley and she was briefly estranged from most of her family. Her affair and eventual marriage to Mosley also strained relationships with her sisters. Initially, Jessica and Deborah were not permitted to see Diana as she was "living in sin" with Mosley in London. Deborah eventually came to know Mosley and ended up liking him very much. Jessica despised Mosley's beliefs and became permanently estranged from Diana after the late 1930s. Pam and her husband [[Derek Jackson (physicist)|Derek Jackson]] got along well with Mosley. Nancy never liked Mosley and, like Jessica, despised his political beliefs, but was able to learn to tolerate him for the sake of her relationship with Diana. Nancy wrote the novel ''[[Wigs on the Green]]'', which satirised Mosley and his beliefs. After it was published in 1935 relations between the sisters became strained to non-existent and it was not until the mid-1940s that they were able to get back to being close again.{{sfn|de Courcy|2003}}{{pn|date=April 2022}} The couple rented [[Wootton Lodge]], a country house in [[Staffordshire]] which Diana had intended to buy. She furnished much of her new home with much of the Swinbrook furniture that her father was selling.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/03/1072908946395.html?from=storyrhs |title=Hand in hand with Hitler |last=de Courcy |first=Anne |newspaper=[[The Age]] |date= 4 January 2004 |location=Melbourne}}</ref> The Mosleys lived at Wootton Lodge along with their children from 1936 to 1939. {{Gallery | title = | align = | footer = | style = | state = | height = | width = | captionstyle = | File:The Mitford family in 1928.jpg | alt1= | The Mitford family in 1928; Front row, from left to right, the mother Sydney Bowles, the daughters Unity, Jessica and Deborah, the father David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd baron Redesdale; second row, Diana and Pamela; back row, Nancy and Tom. | File:Diana Mitford and Bryan Guinness on their honeymoon in Taormina, Italy, 1929.png | alt2= | Diana Mitford and Bryan Guinness on their honeymoon in [[Taormina]], Italy, 1929. | File:Diana-Mitford-later-Lady-Mosley1.jpg | alt3= | Diana on 27 January 1932 | File:Nancy, Diana, Unity and Jessica Mitford. Sketch magazine cover 1932.jpg | alt4= | Nancy, Diana, Unity and Jessica Mitford. | File:Asthall Manor, Asthall, nr Burford (Nancy).JPG | alt5= | Rear view of [[Asthall Manor]], the Mitford family home in [[Oxfordshire]]. | File:Oswald mosley MP.jpg | alt6= | Oswald Mosley, Diana's second husband. | File:Nancy, Unity and Diana Mitford gravestones (Nancy).jpg | alt7= | Diana's grave at far right, next to those of her sisters, Unity and Nancy, at St Mary's Church, [[Swinbrook]] in [[Oxfordshire]] | File:Orsay Temple de la Gloire 2011 4.jpg | alt8= | Temple de la Gloire, [[Orsay]], [[Paris]]: Diana's long-term home after the war. }} == Nazi Germany == In 1934, Diana visited Germany with her then 19-year-old sister Unity. While there, they attended the first [[Nuremberg rally]] after the Nazi rise to power. A friend of Hitler's, Unity introduced Diana to him in March 1935. They returned for the second rally later that year and were entertained as his guests at the 1935 rally. In 1936, he provided a [[Mercedes-Benz]] to chauffeur Diana to the [[1936 Summer Olympics|Berlin Olympic games]]. She became well acquainted with [[Winifred Wagner]] and [[Magda Goebbels]]. Diana and Oswald secretly married on 6 October 1936 in the drawing room of Nazi propaganda chief [[Joseph Goebbels]]. Adolf Hitler, [[Robert Gordon-Canning]] and [[William Edward David Allen|Bill Allen]] were in attendance.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Charlotte |editor-last=Mosley |year=2007 |title=The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters |page=77 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-137364-0}}</ref> The marriage was kept secret until the birth of their first child in 1938. In August 1939, Hitler told Diana over lunch that war was inevitable. Mosley and Diana had two sons: (Oswald) Alexander Mosley (born 26 November 1938) and [[Max Mosley|Max Rufus Mosley]] (13 April 1940 – 23 May 2021), president of the [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]] (FIA) for 16 years. Hitler presented the couple with a silver framed picture of himself. The Mosleys were interned during much of [[World War II]], under [[Defence Regulation 18B]] along with other British fascists including [[Norah Elam]].<ref name='McPherson & McPherson'>{{cite book |last=McPherson |first=Angela |last2=McPherson |first2=Susan |title=Mosley's Old Suffragette - A Biography of Norah Elam |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4466-9967-6}}</ref> [[MI5]] documents released in 2002 described Lady Mosley and her political leanings. "Diana Mosley, wife of Sir Oswald Mosley, is reported on the 'best authority', that of her family and intimate circle, to be a public danger at the present time. Is said to be far cleverer and more dangerous than her husband and will stick at nothing to achieve her ambitions. She is wildly ambitious."<ref name="BBC13Aug">{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=13 August 2003 |title=Oswald Mosley's widow dies |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3146225.stm}}</ref> On 29 June 1940, eleven weeks after the birth of her fourth son, Max, Diana was arrested (hastily stuffing Hitler's photograph under Max's cot mattress when the police came to arrest her) and taken to a cell in F Block in London's [[Holloway Prison]] for women. She and her husband were held without charge or trial under the provisions of 18B, on the advice of MI5. The couple were initially held separately but, after personal intervention by Churchill, in December 1941, Mosley and two other 18B husbands (one of them Mosley's friend Captain H.W. Luttman-Johnson) were permitted to join their wives at Holloway. After more than three years' imprisonment, they were both released in November 1943 on the grounds of Mosley's ill health; they were placed under house arrest until the end of the war and were denied [[passport]]s until 1949.<ref>de Courcy, Anne (2003). ''Diana Mosley''. London: Chatto & Windus, p. 297 {{ISBN|0-06-056532-2}}</ref> Lady Mosley's prison time failed to disturb her approach to life; she remarked in her later years that she felt better treated than earlier prisoners.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oswaldmosley.com/downloads/My%20Life.pdf|title=My Life|last=Mosley|first=Oswald|year=1968|pages=342–343|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061202043437/http://www.oswaldmosley.com/downloads/My%20Life.pdf|archive-date=2 December 2006}}</ref> According to an anecdote in her ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' obituary, [[Evelyn Waugh]] saw Lady Mosely wear a diamond [[swastika]] brooch among her jewels as she left prison.<ref name="Tele-obit" /> ==Post-war== After the war ended, the couple kept homes in [[Ireland]], with apartments in London and Paris. Their recently renovated [[Clonfert]] home, a former Bishop's palace, burned down in an accidental fire. In her memoirs, Diana blamed her cook, writing that the fire could have been extinguished had it not been for the cook who ran back to her room to retrieve her possessions and in doing so delayed efforts to control the fire. Following this, they moved to a home near [[Fermoy]], [[County Cork]], later settling permanently in France, at the Temple de la Gloire, a Palladian temple in [[Orsay]], southwest of Paris, in 1950 (built in 1801 to honour the French victory of December 1800 at Hohenlinden, near Munich). Gaston and Bettina Bergery had told the Mosleys that the property was on the market. They were neighbours of the [[Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Duke]] and [[Duchess of Windsor]], who lived in the neighbouring town [[Gif-sur-Yvette]], and soon became their close friends. Once again they became known for entertaining, but were barred from all functions at the British Embassy.<ref name=fal/> During their time in France, the Mosleys quietly went through another marriage ceremony; Hitler had safeguarded their original marriage licence, and it was never found after the war. During this period, Mosley was unfaithful to Diana, but she found for the most part that she was able to learn to keep herself from getting too upset regarding his adulterous habits. She told an interviewer: "I think if you're going to mind infidelity, you better call it a day as far as marriage goes. Because who has ever remained faithful? I mean, they don't. There's passion and that's it."<ref name=fal/> Diana was also a lifelong supporter of the [[British Union of Fascists]] (BUF), and its postwar successor the [[Union Movement]]. At times, she was vague when discussing her loyalties to Britain, her strong belief in fascism, and her attitude to Jews. In her 1977 autobiography ''A Life of Contrasts'', she wrote, "I didn't love Hitler any more than I did Winston [Churchill]. I can't regret it, it was so interesting." In her final interviews with [[Duncan Fallowell]] in 2002, she responded that her reaction to the newsreels of death camps was "Well, of course, horror. Utter horror. Exactly the same probably as your reactions." However, when asked about having revulsion against Hitler for this, she said that "I had a complete revulsion against the people who did it but I could never efface from my memory the man I had actually experienced before the war. A very complicated feeling. I can't really relate those two things to each other. I know I'm not supposed to say that but I just have to."<ref name=fal/> At other times, however, she behaved so as to suggest intense anti-semitic attitudes; the journalist [[Paul Callan]] remembered mentioning that he was Jewish while interviewing her husband in Diana's presence. According to Callan, "I mentioned, just in the course of conversation, that I was Jewish—at which Lady Mosley went ashen, snapped a crimson nail and left the room ... No explanation was given but she would later write to a friend: 'A nice, polite reporter came to interview Tom [as Mosley was known] but he turned out to be Jewish and was sitting there at our table. They are a very clever race and come in all shapes and sizes.'"<ref name="express.co.uk"/> Diana offered to entertain her teenage half-Jewish nephew, Benjamin Treuhaft on a trip to France. The offer was refused by Benjamin's mother, [[Jessica Mitford|Jessica]], who remained estranged from Diana over the latter's political past.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-jessica-mitford-1330361.html "Obituary: Jessica Mitford".] ''The Independent''. London. 25 July 1996.</ref> In a 2000 interview with ''[[The Guardian]]'', Diana said that "Maybe instead they [European Jews] could have gone somewhere like Uganda: very empty and a lovely climate."<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/nov/23/features11.g2 "'Maybe the Jews could have gone somewhere like Uganda: empty and a lovely climate'."] ''The Guardian''. London. 23 November 2000.</ref> Her appearance on the [[BBC Radio 4]] programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' with [[Sue Lawley]] in 1989 remains controversial due to Mosley's [[Holocaust denial]] and admiration of Hitler.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sawer |first1=Patrick |title=BBC fails to put content warning on Holocaust denial Desert Island Discs episode |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/12/bbc-fails-put-offensive-content-warning-desert-island-discs/ |access-date=10 April 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=12 February 2022}}</ref> Mosley told Lawley that she had not believed [[The Holocaust|the extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany]] until "years" after the war, and that she thought the [[Holocaust victims|official death figure of six million]] Jewish victims was too high.<ref>{{cite AV media |time-caption=Event occurs between |time=16:30 and 17:25 |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/85ff774f#p009mdck |title=Desert Island Discs - Castaway: Lady Mosley |publisher=BBC |date=26 November 1989}}</ref> The broadcast of this episode had to be rescheduled several times because it kept coinciding with [[Jewish holidays]]<ref name=fal/> and prompted hundreds of complaints to the BBC.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Roberts |first1=Laura |title=Desert Island Discs' most controversial castaways |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8355867/Desert-Island-Discs-most-controversial-castaways.html |access-date=10 April 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=2 March 2011}}</ref> In 2016, a writer at the BBC described it as the most controversial of all ''Desert Island Discs'' episodes.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/968bb28c-a708-4ef2-8019-0ef2dc11ed42 Desert Island Discs: 7 of the most shocking episodes] BBC. 1 August 2016</ref> Her choices of music to be played on Desert Island Discs were: [[Symphony No. 41 (Mozart)]], "Casta Diva" from ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'' ([[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]), [[Anthem of Europe|"Ode to Joy"]] ([[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]), ''[[Die Walküre]]'' ([[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]), ''[[Liebestod]]'' ([[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]), "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" from ''[[Carmen]]'' ([[Georges Bizet|Bizet]]), "[[A Whiter Shade of Pale]]" ([[Procol Harum]]) and [[Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44 (Chopin)|Polonaise in F-sharp minor]] ([[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]).<ref>{{cite AV media |time-caption=Event occurs between |time=01:00 and 05:20 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/85ff774f#p009mdck |title=Desert Island Discs - Castaway: Lady Mosley |publisher=BBC |date=26 November 1989}}</ref> Since their early twenties, Diana and her sister, Jessica only saw each other once, when they met for half an hour as their elder sister, Nancy, lay dying in [[Versailles]]. Diana was asked about her sister in 1996, "I quite honestly don't mind what Decca [Jessica] says or thinks," adding that "She means absolutely nothing to me at all. Not because she's a Communist but simply because she's a rather boring person, really."<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/no-unity-for-the-mitfords-even-beyond-the-grave-1279119.html "No unity for the Mitfords - even beyond the grave."] ''The Independent''. London. 17 February 1997.</ref> In 1998, due to her advancing age, she moved out of the Temple de la Gloire and into an apartment in the [[7th arrondissement of Paris]].<ref name=fal>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/focus-diana-mosley-the-last-bright-young-thing-100639.html "Focus: Diana Mosley - The last bright young thing"]. ''The Independent''. London. 17 August 2003.</ref> Temple de la Gloire was sold in 2000 for £1 million. Throughout much of her life, particularly after her years in prison, she was afflicted by regular bouts of migraines. In 1981, she underwent successful surgery to remove a [[brain tumour]]. She convalesced at [[Chatsworth House]], the residence of her sister Deborah. In the early 1990s, she was also successfully treated for [[skin cancer]]. In later life, she also suffered from deafness.<ref name="Tele13Aug">{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=A.N. |title=A lifetime staying loyal to her mistakes |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1438694/A-lifetime-staying-loyal-to-her-mistakes.html |access-date=11 December 2019 |work=The Telegraph |location= London |date=13 August 2003}}</ref> Mosley attended the funeral of [[René de Chambrun]], the son-in-law of Vichy France Prime Minister [[Pierre Laval]], in 2002.<ref name="pourcherlavalmuseum">{{cite journal|last1=Pourcher|first1=Yves|title=Laval Museum|journal=Historical Reflections|date=Spring 2012|volume=38|issue=1|page=122|doi=10.3167/hrrh.2012.380108}}</ref> ==Writer== Mosley was shunned in the British media for a period after the war and the couple established their own publishing company, Euphorion Books, named after a character in [[Goethe]]'s ''[[Goethe's Faust|Faust]]''. This allowed Mosley to publish and Diana was free to commission a cultural list. After his release from jail, Mosley declared the death of fascism. Diana initially translated [[Goethe]]'s ''Faust''. Other notable books published by Euphorion under her aegis included ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]'' (translated by Nancy, 1950), [[Niki Lauda]]'s memoirs (1985), and [[Hans-Ulrich Rudel]]'s memoirs, ''Stuka Pilot''. She also edited several of her husband's books. While in France, Mosley edited the fascist cultural magazine ''[[The European (1953 magazine)|The European]]'' for six years, and to this magazine she herself sometimes contributed material. She provided articles, book reviews, and regular diary entries. Many of her contributions were republished in 2008 in ''[[The Pursuit of Laughter]]''. In 1965, she was commissioned to write the regular column "Letters from Paris" for ''[[Tatler (1901)|Tatler]]''. She reviewed autobiographical and biographical accounts as well as the occasional novel. Characteristically she would provide commentary of her own experiences and personal information of the subject of the book under discussion. She wrote regularly for ''Books and Bookmen'', her 1980 review of a biography on [[Magda Goebbels]] attracted attention from [[Christopher Hitchens]].<ref>[https://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/12/friends-and-enemies/ Friends and enemies] The Spectator. 12 December 2008</ref> Hitchens objected to a passage where Mosley wrote: "Everyone knows the tragic end. As the Russians surrounded Berlin, the Goebbels painlessly killed their children and then themselves. The dead children were described by people who saw them as looking 'peacefully asleep'. Those who condemn this appalling, [[Siege of Masada|Masada]]-like deed must consider the alternative facing the distraught Magda." Hitchens insisted that the ''[[New Statesman]]'' issue an editorial condemning the Masada trope.<ref>[https://www.lrb.co.uk/v21/n19/christopher-hitchens/what-a-lot-of-parties What a lot of parties] London Review of Books. 30 September 1999</ref> In her eighties, Mosley became the lead reviewer for the ''[[London Evening Standard]]'' during [[A. N. Wilson]]'s seven-year tenure as literary editor.<ref name=Stan>[https://www.standard.co.uk/standard-home/the-pursuit-of-laughter-by-diana-mosley-6918651.html The Pursuit of Laughter by Diana Mosley] London Evening Standard. 5 January 2009</ref> In 1996, following Wilson's departure, his successor was asked by the new editor of the newspaper, [[Max Hastings]] to stop running Diana's reviews. Hastings is reported to have said that he did not want any more "bloody Lady Hitler" in the newspaper.<ref name=Stan/> Mosley wrote the foreword and introduction of ''Nancy Mitford: A Memoir'' by [[Harold Acton]]. She produced her own two books of memoirs: ''[[A Life of Contrasts]]'' (1977, [[Hamish Hamilton]]), and ''[[Loved Ones (book)|Loved Ones]]'' (1985). The latter is a collection of pen portraits of close relatives and friends such as the writer [[Evelyn Waugh]] among others. In 1980, she released ''[[The Duchess of Windsor (Mosley biography)|The Duchess of Windsor]]'', a biography. In 2007, letters between the Mitford sisters, including communications to and from Diana, were published in the compilation ''[[The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters]]'', edited by Charlotte Mosley. ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' journalist [[India Knight]] described her (and Unity) as "both chilling and gruesomely fascinating".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article2348736.ece |title=The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=2 September 2007 |location=London |first=India |last=Knight |url-access=subscription |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616111915/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article2348736.ece |archive-date=16 June 2011 }}</ref> A following collection consisting of her letters, articles, diaries and reviews was released as ''[[The Pursuit of Laughter]]'' in December 2008. ==Death== Diana died in Paris in August 2003, aged 93. Her cause of death was given as complications related to a stroke she had suffered a week earlier, but reports later surfaced that she had been one of the many elderly fatalities of the [[2003 European heat wave|heat wave of 2003]] in mostly non-air-conditioned Paris.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/13/1060588457054.html |title=Mitford sister who befriended Hitler dies, aged 93 |newspaper=[[The Age]] |date=14 August 2003 |location=Melbourne}}</ref> She was buried at St Mary's Churchyard, [[Swinbrook]], Oxfordshire,<ref name="BBC13Aug" /> alongside her sisters.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 32826). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref> She was survived by her four sons: [[Desmond Guinness]]; [[Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne]]; Alexander and [[Max Mosley]]. Her stepson [[Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale|Nicholas Mosley]] was a novelist who also wrote a critical memoir of his father for which Diana reportedly never forgave him, despite their previously close relationship. A great-granddaughter, [[Jasmine Guinness]], a great-niece, [[Stella Tennant]], a granddaughter, [[Daphne Guinness]], and a grandson, Tom Guinness, are models.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lovell |first=Mary S. |title=The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family |location=New York |publisher=Norton |year=2002 |isbn=0-393-01043-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/sisterssagaofmit00love }}</ref> "I'm sure he [Hitler] was to blame for the extermination of the Jews," she told British journalist [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]]. "He was to blame for everything, and I say that as someone who approved of him."<ref name="All for love">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Megan |last2=Gressor |first2=Kerry |title=All for Love |year=2005 |publisher=Murdoch Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/allforlovegreatl0000gres/page/n185 184] |isbn=978-1-74045-596-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/allforlovegreatl0000gres |url-access=registration }}</ref> Roberts criticised Lady Mosley following her death on the pages of ''The Daily Telegraph'' (16 August 2003), declaring that she was an "unrepentant Nazi and effortlessly charming." He, in turn, was assailed three days later, in the same newspaper, by her son and granddaughter.<ref name="All for love"/> [[A. N. Wilson]] wrote for the same newspaper and said that her public loyalty for Mosley and Hitler were disastrous mistakes. Wilson claimed that privately, Diana admitted that the Nazis were "really rather awful".<ref name="Tele13Aug" /> == Portrayals == She was portrayed by [[Emma Davies (actress)|Emma Davies]] in the 1997 Channel Four TV miniseries, ''[[Mosley (TV serial)|Mosley]]''. Mosley inspired the protagonist of the 2018 novel ''After the Party'' by [[Cressida Connolly]].<ref>Mundow, Anna: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-the-party-review-the-wrong-sort-of-people-11558100753 ‘After the Party’ Review: The Wrong Sort of People] ''Wall Street Journal''. 17 May 2019</ref> She is portrayed by [[Amber Anderson]] in the sixth season of ''[[Peaky Blinders (TV series)|Peaky Blinders]]''. ==Bibliography== *''[[A Life of Contrasts]]'' (1977) *''[[Loved Ones (book)|Loved Ones]]'' (1985) *''[[The Duchess of Windsor (Mosley biography)|The Duchess of Windsor]]'' (1980) *''[[The Pursuit of Laughter]]'' (2008) * Provided introduction and foreword to ''Nancy Mitford: A Memoir'' by [[Harold Acton]] (1975) * Collection of letters between the six Mitford sisters: ''[[The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters]]'' (2007) ==Sources== * {{cite book |last=Dalley |first=Jan |title=Diana Mosley: a life |publisher=Faber & Faber |location=London |year=1999 |isbn=0-571-14448-9 }} * {{cite book |last=de Courcy |first=Anne |author-link=Anne de Courcy |title=Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler's Angel |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2003 |isbn=9780062381675 }} * {{cite book |last=de Courcy |first=Anne |author-link=Anne de Courcy |title=Diana Mosley née Mitford |publisher=Le Rocher }} (French edition) * {{cite book |last1=Guinness |first1=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne |first2=Catherine |last2=Guinness |title=The House of Mitford |publisher=Hutchinson |location=London |year=1984 |isbn=0-09-155560-4 }} * {{cite book |last=Lovell |first=Mary S |title=The Mitford Girls |edition=paperback |location=London |year=2001|isbn=978-0-349-11505-4 }} * {{cite book |last=Mosley |first=Charlotte |title=The Mitfords: letters between six sisters |publisher=Fourth Estate |location=London |year=2007 |isbn=1-84115-790-2 }} * {{cite book |last=Mosley |first=Diana |title=[[A Life of Contrasts]] |orig-year=1977 |edition=paperback |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=1-903933-20-X }} * {{cite book |last=Mosley |first=Diana |title=Loved Ones |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |location=London |year=1985 |isbn=0-283-99155-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/lovedonespenport0000mosl }} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{commons category-inline}} * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/misc/mosley_20031114.shtml Diana Mosley: The MI5 View] - new files released from the National Archives shed new light on M15 surveillance of Mosley. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20020305204517/http://nancymitford.com/ The Official Nancy Mitford Website ] {{Diana Mitford}} {{UK far right}} {{Fascism}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitford, Diana}} [[Category:1910 births]] [[Category:2003 deaths]] [[Category:Antisemitism in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:British debutantes]] [[Category:English fascists]] [[Category:English expatriates in France]] [[Category:Daughters of barons]] [[Category:English biographers]] [[Category:English diarists]] [[Category:English memoirists]] [[Category:English non-fiction writers]] [[Category:English publishers (people)]] [[Category:English women writers]] [[Category:People detained under Defence Regulation 18B]] [[Category:People from Belgravia]] [[Category:English magazine editors]] [[Category:Mitford family|Diana]] [[Category:Guinness family]] [[Category:English socialites]] [[Category:British Union of Fascists politicians]] [[Category:Mosley family]] [[Category:Union Movement politicians]] [[Category:Women diarists]] [[Category:Wives of baronets]] [[Category:Women magazine editors]] [[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]] [[Category:20th-century diarists]]'