The Mitford Sisters

Podcast Transcript

In the early 20th century, David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife Sydney Bowles had seven children, six girls and one boy.

The sisters all achieved notoriety for entirely different reasons.

They were, how can I say, different from each other. Very different. Several of them found themselves associated with some of the most important individuals of the mid-20th century.

Learn more about the Mitford Sisters and their very different lives on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

I think you will see by the end of this episode that the Mitford Sisters were……different.

There really aren’t any heroes in this story. At best, you can say that the Mitford sisters led interesting lives. What makes them interesting and worthy of an episode is how six different sisters managed to grow up to be so different.

The story starts in England with Baron Redesdale, David Freeman-Mitford. Born in 1878, he married Sydney Bowles ?in 1904.

They preceded to have seven children. Six daughters and one son. The story of this family has been used as inspiration for many stories, and you’ll soon see why.

In a 2007 article written by the journalist Ben Macintyre in the London Times, he described them as “Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur.”

Each of the Mitford Sisters led a very different life, so the logical place to start would be with the oldest of the sisters, Nacy.

Nancy Mitford was an English novelist, biographer, and journalist known for her sharp wit, social commentary, and satirical depictions of British aristocracy. Born on November 28, 1904, she was the eldest of the infamous Mitford sisters,

Nancy was raised in a privileged yet unconventional household in England, with minimal formal education but a strong intellectual curiosity. Unlike some of her politically extreme sisters, she leaned toward liberal and socialist views.

Nancy gained fame for her comic novels satirizing upper-class British life, particularly:

The Pursuit of Love, published in 1945, was a semi-autobiographical novel that became a bestseller.
Love in a Cold Climate, published in 1949, which was another witty portrayal of aristocratic eccentricities.

Her novels, known for their humor and social critique, remain classics of 20th-century British literature.

She also wrote historical biographies, including:

Madame de Pompadour in 1954
Voltaire in Love in 1957
And The Sun King in 1966, about Louis XIV of France, reflecting her deep fascination with French history.

Nancy spent much of her later life in France, living in Paris from the 1940s onward. She never married but had a long, complicated romance with Gaston Palewski, a French diplomat. She died on June 30, 1973, from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leaving behind a legacy of literary brilliance and biting social satire.

If Nancy was an only child, then I probably wouldn’t be doing this episode.

The next oldest daughter was Pamela Mitford.

Pamela Mitford was born on November 25, 1907. Unlike her siblings, Pamela preferred a quieter life, earning her the family nickname “the rural Mitford.” She had a deep love for country living, animals, and farming, spending much of her life engaged in agricultural pursuits.

She married physicist Derek Jackson in 1936, a wealthy and eccentric scientist with a passion for horse racing. However, their marriage ended in divorce, and Pamela never remarried. Unlike her sisters, Pamela remained largely apolitical, maintaining a reserved and private existence.

Later in life, she had a long-term companionship with Italian equestrian Giuditta Tommas. Pamela lived a contented life in the English countryside, enjoying her passion for farming and rural traditions. She passed away on April 12, 1994, remaining the least controversial yet quietly intriguing of the Mitford sisters.

I’m going to skip ahead now for the purpose of building anticipation to the youngest sister, Deborah Mitford.

Deborah “Debo” Mitford, later known as Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, was born on March 31, 1920, the youngest of the Mitford sisters. Unlike some of her more politically extreme siblings, she embraced a life of duty, tradition, and quiet resilience.

In 1941, she married Andrew Cavendish, who unexpectedly became the 11th Duke of Devonshire in 1950. As Duchess, she played a crucial role in transforming Chatsworth House, the family’s grand but financially struggling estate, into a thriving cultural and commercial success. She modernized its management, opened it to the public, and developed businesses such as a farm shop and tourism initiatives that secured its future.

Deborah had a deep love for the countryside, animals, and traditional British aristocratic life. She was also a writer, publishing memoirs and books on Chatsworth, as well as collections of letters exchanged with her sisters. Though often seen as the most conventional Mitford, her sharp wit and natural charm made her a beloved public figure.

She remained active at Chatsworth well into her later years, passing away on September 24, 2014, at the age of 94.

The second youngest sister was Jessica.

Jessica Mitford was born on September 11, 1917, and became the most politically radical of the Mitford sisters. Unlike her aristocratic upbringing, she rejected privilege and embraced communism and activism, leading to a life marked by rebellion and social justice work.

As a teenager, she eloped with her cousin Esmond Romilly, a committed socialist and nephew of Winston Churchill, fleeing to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.

After Romilly’s death in World War II, she moved to the United States, where she married Robert Treuhaft, a civil rights lawyer. Together, they were active in progressive politics, including the Civil Rights Movement, and joined the American Communist Party….though they later left it.

Jessica became a renowned investigative journalist, famous for her exposé The American Way of Death in 1963, which critiqued the exploitative practices in the funeral industry. She also wrote an autobiography, Hons and Rebels, in 1960, chronicling her break from her aristocratic family, as well as other works on corporate corruption and social issues. She remained politically active until her death on July 22, 1996.

The final two sisters are the ones that have gotten most of the attention and couldn’t be more different from their siblings.

The third oldest sister was Diana.

Diana Mitford, later known as Diana Mosley, was born on June 17, 1910, and became one of the most controversial figures among the Mitford sisters due to her fascist sympathies and close ties to Nazi Germany.

A renowned beauty and socialite, she first married Bryan Guinness, heir to the Guinness brewing fortune, in 1929. However, she left him in the early 1930s for Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists.

Their relationship scandalized high society, and they married in 1936 in a private ceremony in Joseph Goebbels’ house in Berlin, with Adolf Hitler as a guest.

Oswald Mosley was a British politician and the founder of the British Union of Fascists. Initially a Conservative MP, he later joined the Labour Party before embracing fascism in the 1930s. Influenced by Benito Mussolini, he promoted authoritarian nationalism and anti-Semitic rhetoric.

During World War II, Diana and Oswald Mosley were seen as potential threats to Britain due to their political beliefs.

In 1940, they were interned without trial under wartime regulations and spent over three years in Holloway Prison before being released in 1943. After the war, they lived in France, maintaining friendships with figures like the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and continuing to express admiration for Hitler and fascist ideals, which kept Diana a divisive figure.

Despite her political notoriety, she remained a literary figure, writing autobiographies and essays on aristocracy and culture. Her books include A Life of Contrasts in 1977 and The Pursuit of Laughter in 1988.

Diana lived a long life, remaining defiant about her past, and died on August 11, 2003, at the age of 93. She remains one of the most controversial British women of the 20th century due to her political views and Nazi associations.

Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists will be the subject of a future episode.

Before I get into the last, and probably the most historically interesting daughter, Unity, I should take some time to address the one Mitford son, Thomas Mitford.

Thomas Mitford, born 1909, was the only brother of the famous Mitford sisters. Unlike his more notorious siblings, he remained relatively private and did not engage in public controversy. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he pursued a career in law before serving in World War II as a soldier in the Coldstream Guards.

Despite his aristocratic background, Thomas was known for his loyalty to his family, particularly his fascist-leaning sisters, Diana and Unity. He allegedly shared some pro-fascist sympathies, though never as openly as they did.

Because of his fascist leanings, he refused to serve in Europe and was sent to Burma to fight in the war.

He was killed in action in Burma in 1945, during the final months of World War II. Because of his death in the war, compared to his sisters, he left little legacy.

The final daughter, and perhaps the most infamous, was Unity.

If Diana was committed enough to fascism to marry Oswald Mosley, then Unity was hyper-committed.

Unity Valkyrie Mitford was born on August 8, 1914. From a young age, she exhibited an intense fascination with Germany and its rising fascist movement. Her middle name, “Valkyrie,” reflected her parents’ admiration for Germanic culture, and she later became the most extreme in her family’s political leanings, outdoing her comunist and fascist sisters.

In the early 1930s, Unity moved to Munich, where she deliberately positioned herself to meet Adolf Hitler, often frequenting his favorite cafés. Her persistence paid off, and she became a close acquaintance of the Nazi leader. According to some, she developed a romantic relationship with Hitler.

In modern parlance, she became a Hilter fangirl.

She idolized him and was seen regularly at Nazi gatherings, developing a deep admiration for Hitler and his ideology. Her family, particularly her sister Diana, who also supported fascism, encouraged her political leanings.

When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, Unity was devastated. Unable to reconcile her loyalty to both countries, she attempted suicide in Munich by shooting herself in the head. She survived but suffered severe brain damage. After months in a German hospital, she was sent back to England, where her family cared for her.

Unity lived in a semi-vegetative state, unable to fully recover from her injuries. She spent her final years in seclusion in England before dying on May 28, 1948, from complications related to her injuries.

I’ve had the Mitford Sisters on my list of episode ideas for a long time. What finally spurred me to do this episode was the January 2025 public revelation of Unity Mitfor’s diary.

These leather-bound journals, spanning from 1935 to 1939, had been lost for eight decades before their remarkable discovery.

The diaries meticulously document 139 meetings between Mitford and Hitler, starting with their initial encounter in February 1935 at Munich’s Osteria Bavaria restaurant. In her entries, Mitford describes this meeting as “the most wonderful day of my life,” highlighting her profound infatuation with Hitler. Throughout the journals, she consistently refers to him as “the Führer” and often capitalizes the pronouns “He” and “Him.”

Beyond chronicling their numerous interactions, the diaries reveal Mitford’s intense antisemitic beliefs and her unwavering support for Nazi ideology. They also shed light on the complexities of her relationship with Hitler, including the jealousy it sparked in his companion, Eva Braun. Mitford’s final diary entry coincides with Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.

The final epilogue to this story of the very different sisters is the fact that despite their very different beliefs, they corresponded with each other throughout their entire lives.

A 2007 book titled The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters published a selection of the 12,000 letters sent between the sisters over their lifetimes. Despite their obvious differences, their letters also reveal deep sisterly affection, lively gossip, and reflections on literature, politics, and aristocratic life.

The Mitford Sisters, because of their extreme spectrum of beliefs, from communist to fascist, have fascinated people for decades. There is a mini-series scheduled to be released by the BBC around June 2025 about the Mitford Sisters called Outrageous.

It appears the Mitford sisters continue to captivate historians, writers, and the public due to their extraordinary influence on 20th-century British culture and politics.

The Executive Producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The Associate Producers are Austin Oetken and Cameron Kieffer.

Today’s review comes from listener lia2978 over on Apple Podcasts in the United States They write.

Catching up on my general knowledge

I grew up in different countries having different sets of priorities in their history classes, and most of my time was spent learning their languages and not understanding a lot of it, so I have a few gaps in my general knowledge repertoire. This podcast is exactly what I needed to bridge some of those gaps in an effective and efficient way while raising a new baby. I look forward to my spouse asking me what I learned on Gary’s podcast and sharing my newly obtained knowledge of interesting things! Love the format, content, and vibe! Keep it up!

Thanks, Lia! I’m glad that you are filling in the gaps in your knowledge. If what you know are bricks in an intellectual building then let this podcast serve as the mortar.

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