The diametrical views of the Mitford sisters (10 photos)

Every person is unique and that makes them beautiful. But when more than one child is born in a family, parents and those around them still unwittingly try to find something in common in the character traits of their children. And they find it, because no one has canceled heredity and genetics.





But not in the case of the Mitford sisters, whose story is very significant as an exception.



Mitford family

The Mitford family is a respectable and respectable family, belonging to an ancient family and deeply rooted in Northumberland society. For many years members of the family held the office of High Sheriff of this wildest of northern English counties.

But in the 1930s, something strange happened to this family. The six members, all sisters, attracted the attention of society with their thinking, scandalous adventures and, above all, the fact that they were completely different from each other.

Top six





Shocked by the loss of an entire generation of young people and forced to grapple with the radical political ideas that were changing the face of the continent, the Mitford sisters each adapted to their own.

Thus, an upper-class British family found itself torn apart by the ideals of Europe and the struggle for the right way forward. Some saw the future in communism. Others believed the answer lay at the other end of the spectrum, with German extremism and Hitler.

And each sister independently found the answer to this question, considering it the only correct one.

Jessica was a communist; Pamela was most likely a lesbian in those days when such a thing was scandalous to the point of horror. Debo married the Duke of Devonshire; Nancy became the best-selling author of her time; Diana became engaged to British fascist Sir Oswald Mosley; and Unity, a close friend of Hitler, shot herself in the head when England and Germany went to war.



Nancy

Nancy Mitford, the eldest of them all, clearly took advantage of this growing female freedom. After divorcing her husband, she entered into a long-term relationship with a French traveling salesman. She lived most of her life in France, where she clearly felt that she did not need to be married to enjoy life. She has written numerous novels, including The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.



Pamela

The second sister, Pamela Mitford, was called "rural Mitford" by the poet John Betjeman for her strong love of nature. Betjeman was in love with her, entering the circle of men fascinated by the sisters.

She married a millionaire, but, like her older sister, found traditional life boring. Having divorced, she spent the rest of her life with the Italian Giuditta Tommasi.

Fascism and communism



Diana

Diana Mitford, the third sister, married the writer and aristocrat Brian Guinness, heir to the title and fortune, in 1929. As a result, she also divorced her husband. But, unlike her older sisters, she married again.

Her second husband was Oswald Mosley, a British aristocrat who became disillusioned with mainstream politics in the 1920s and again became a supporter of fascism.

Diana was Mosley's lover for a long time while his wife was alive. After her death, the couple finally got married in 1933. The guest of honor at the ceremony was Adolf Hitler. The couple had two sons.



Unity

Unity Mitford, the next sister, was also keen on the tenets of National Socialism. She was an ardent and devoted admirer of Hitler, whom she considered her personal friend.

Unfortunately, her story turned out to be much more tragic than that of her older relatives. A few weeks after Britain declared war on Germany, she attempted suicide by shooting herself in the head with a pistol. Although she did not die, she remained disabled for the rest of her life. Unity died in Oban in the north of Scotland in 1948.



Jessica

It is impossible to imagine a greater contrast between Diana and Unity, and the next sister, Jessica. "Decca" Mitford was a communist. After marrying the British socialist Esmond Romilly, she traveled to Spain to take part in the civil war.

They eventually moved to the United States, where she remarried after her husband's death during World War II. Until 1958, the woman remained a member of the American Communist Party.

She published memoirs and controversial works, notably the best-selling book The American Way to Die (1963), about the funeral business.



Deborah

Deborah "Debo" Mitford, the youngest, decided to ignore social upheaval and stick to tradition. She married Andrew Cavendish (later Duke of Devonshire).

Deborah was often ridiculed, perhaps for her lack of imagination. Her older sister Nancy sarcastically called her "Nine", claiming that this was her mental age. The sisters had only one brother named Thomas Mitford. He was also a fascist and at the beginning of the war he refused on principle to fight the Germans. However, he was not opposed to fighting Imperial Japan, so he was killed in action in Burma in 1945.



Half-blooded, half-uterine, raised the same way, but who turned out to be so different and lived such different lives, the sisters showed how multifaceted life is. And even they themselves could not answer why they grew up so different.