The Duff Cooper Diaries

by Duff Cooper, John Julius Norwich (editor)

A witness to numerous significant events from 1914 to 1950, the life of Duff Cooper is explored in full in this collection of diaries. From life as a young soldier at the end of World War I, as a politician during the General Strike of 1926, as King Edward VIII's friend at the time of the Abdication, and to Paris after being liberated in 1944 when he became British ambassador, this reveling and insightful resource is superbly edited by Cooper’s son, John Julius Norwich, whose familial link ensures all kinds of additional information as footnotes. With additional details on Cooper’s numerous, public love affairs, this enthralling diary captures history as it was being made.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Politics, Memoir, Diary

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, GCMG, DSO, PC

Reviews

[Bill Tress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duff Cooper was an eyewitness to history. He was an English aristocrat who received a classic education at Eton and Oxford. His education put him in the Foreign Office of the British government and saved him from the early years of slaughter in the trenches of World War 1.
The first 50 pages of his journal describe endless eating breakfast, lunch and dinner and sometimes multiple settings, along with nightly parties and constant drink and this is the chaff of this book; I wondered where he found the energy and how he maintained his weight and how he avoided alcoholism!
His work life at the Foreign Office seems mediocre because he is moved around to various obscure departments and since his Country was at war, it struck me as just a bureaucratic job to keep him out of the trenches. He says that he stops by the office during the day, and this put me in mind of my bureaucratic job and how the petty supervisors focused on when you came in and when you left but put little focus on what you did. His social life prevented early morning office hours and sometimes he left early for social considerations.
Another thing that struck me early on was his access. His girlfriend and eventual wife was Lady Diane Manners who was a member of the British aristocracy. She was the youngest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland and an accomplished actress. They dined at Number 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister, and they partied with the Churchill’s and the Kings and Queens of England. Duff stood around while important and sometimes secret government business is being discussed at these social events. I believe this to be typical of the English aristocratic social scene, it is very chummy, and you are judged by the schools you attended and the people you socialize with.
While at the Foreign Office, he made an observation regarding the sinking of the Lusitania. I consider it wrong and quite naïve, and this reinforced my opinion about his status at the Foreign Office. He states, “The Lusitania sunk on which many American lives were lost. People seem very worried about it, as though it were a defeat for us, whereas of course it makes not the faintest difference to the war and only helps to stir America against Germany”.
Many books have been written on this subject; and this sinking was very important on many levels. First, you have a generation of English and German men dying in the trenches of Flounders, while fighting to a stalemate. The second point against his comment was that Churchill, as First lord of the Admiralty was glad the Lusitania was lost and later history proposes that he was involved in her sinking, overseer of the British Naval forces he made the decision to pull the British escorts from her at a critical point of her voyage. Churchill knew that the involvement of the US was critical to any allied victory in WW1 and even later in WW11 and this sinking of an unarmed vessel brought the US into the war. For Cooper to make such a stupid statement shows that while he socializes with the people running this war, he is not aware of what’s going on at the highest levels of the government. This was my early opinion of Duff.
In the first fifty pages, I began to dislike Old Duff. He seemed a very shallow person whose hedonistic instincts ruled his thoughts and actions. This first perception began to moderate when he entered military service. His descriptions of basic training were of interest to me because like most men who did not serve, I regret missing this rite of passage. He did not go into detail about how difficult it was, but he does mention what appear to him to be inconveniences. His ability to get leave while in training, I found strange and quite unusual. What I got out of his basic training experience was that he was up to the task, physically and mentally and he excelled. He passed all the tests and was selected for officer training.
A diary by its very nature is not stylized prose, but merely entries jotted down in haste. Yet, his entries regarding the experience of trench warfare and his patrols into no man’s land were compelling. He received a great deal of recognition for his service and leadership and was awarded the DSO. So, maybe, “you are a better man then I am, Gunga Din”.
His exit from the army, like his description of his basic training has numerous opportunities for leave, did everybody have this same experience? He wanders around London for weeks on leave until he is notified that the war has ended, and he is released from service, and he returns to his duties in the Foreign Office. His diary just makes it seem so easy, this reader begins to question his writing style, I sense that many steps are being left out of his entries.
Now he is back to eating, drinking, and carousing, all the while associating with the who’s who of London society. This is a carefree life that everyone aspires to, how does old Duff do it! How does he have the stamina to do it or the financial resources to do it! I certainly want to be just like him when I grow up!!
His diary describes his marriage and the spectacular wedding ceremony that was fit for a King or Queen. This ceremony added to my questioning of “Old Duffs” motives; was he an opportunist? He certainly was not born into the lifestyle of lady Diane, although he took to it like a duck takes to water.
Within a month, of this marriage made in heaven, Old Duff was off in pursuit of any woman, young or old who could be a candidate of his affections. He tries to justify this proclivity with this quote, “My infidelities are entirely of the flesh”.
Then it struck me that maybe we are not speaking the same language. What does he mean when his makes use of the term, “making love”? My twenty-first century thought processes tell me one thing and he seems to be implying another. I don’t know if he is jumping from one bed to another or is he kissing and hugging when the opportunity allows.
I believe his career at the foreign office was a joke. He was hardly there and when he was there, he seemed to be like an observer, he is moved around to various back water departments. Then he decides that his true calling is politics, so he begins a search for the right district to represent or more truthfully a district that will have him. It seems that Oldham will have him, so he gives notice to the foreign office and prepares for his political career.
I am hard on Duff, I don’t like his morality, I don’t like his work ethic, yet I acknowledge his military service and his intellect, maybe I do want to be just like him. To this point in reading his diary, I am bored reading all the chaff, but it all changes to wheat in 1936 and now it has become a page turner and hard to put down.
He has become to my surprise the Sectary of State for war in Baldwins cabinet. Is he qualified for this position? I don’t think so, yet he has it and he is trying to make the best of it. In addition, he has been requested to write a biography of Field Marshal Douglas Haig. Why him? Because Haig’s mother is eccentric and has rejected more qualified biographers. Duff had writing experience that included his successful biography of the French diplomat Charles- Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord and the mother approves. Now for almost the first time in his life, he is extremely busy!
The abdication of the English king Edward the 8th has been discussed ad nauseum but never to my recollection by an insider, a protégé of the king. These pages of his diary are the best of this book!
Duff and Diane knew Edward and Simpson on an intimate basis. They had holidayed with them and attended many social functions together. When the king died and Edward was elevated to the throne problems developed regarding his mistress, Wallace Simpson, a twice divorced so-called whore from Baltimore. King Edward wanted her as his Queen and the Church of England, and the government would not allow it.
Duff described Wallace as follows: “I think she is a nice woman and a sensible woman – but she is as hard as nails, and she doesn’t love him”. She doesn’t love him! I have read other similar comments and have watched TV documentaries that make the same point. She has a good thing, namely the King of England, and she is not going to let him go! Edward is weak, he can’t live without her, he is needy and relies on her judgement in most matters and this vexes the government.
The diaries become even more compelling when the King specifically asks to meet privately with Duff, his old friend. The narrative goes on to describe this private meeting and the discussion between the two men. Duff suggests a yearlong moratorium on the relationship that will allow for contemplation and the King to engage in clear minded thinking; But Edward will not have it. The diary goes on describing the frenzy in the government about how to handle this crisis. This is insider stuff, even private discussion with the King and Winston Churchill usually does not get into history books.
Of course, we all know that Edward abdicates the throne for Simpson. They both go on to an awkward existence on the fringe of society, I last read about them having Nazi sympathies and being an embarrassment to the English government.
Life goes on for Duff, Baldwin’s government resigns, and Duff expects to be canned! But the new Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain appoints him First lord of the Admiralty and again I am astonished, how is he qualified for this important position! But Duff does his best to arm the Nation as the clouds of war appear on the horizon. He fights long and hard for increased budgets that will allow the Country to arm. How can you not like this guy!
The next 20 or 30 pages are brilliant! He records daily discussions with government leaders. These side bar conversations are treasure troves of information about the important issues facing Europe and the impact they will have on England; Hitler is rearming Germany! If we can believe Duff’s diary entries, he is deeply involved in all the meetings and he hates his governments’ misguided appeasement of Hitler and the slow rearmament of England. I doubt these intimate, yet important discussions can be found anywhere else than in Duff’s diary, like I said, Brilliant!
Duff can’t take any more of the appeasement policies of Chamberlain and he resigns as First Lord of the Admiralty. He is still a member of the House of Common, so he is still connected. Churchill obviously likes Duff, because in private conversation he tells Duff that if he heads a new government, he will find a place for him. At the outbreak of the war, Duff and Diane go to the US on a lecture tour and he receives some criticism for this abandonment of England during its time of greatest need. They return to England in early 1940 when Churchill becomes Prime Minister, Churchill, true to his word, makes Duff, Minister of Information.
In July 1941, he was sent on a special mission to the Far East, little is written in the diary concerning this mission probably some kind of spying mission. In September 1943, Churchill sent him to Algiers as British representative to the newly formed French Committee of National Liberation (CFNL) with the prospect that he will be made Ambassador to France when the time is appropriate.
His diary jumps to 1944 in Algiers, where he and Diane fight for their own government housing that has hot water, while he develops a relationship with De Gaulle. His biggest job is maybe to keep peace between Churchill and De Gaulle.
On September 13, 1944, Duff arrived in Paris as the British Ambassador to France. I see this appointment as quite a complement to him because it illustrates the confidence that the Prime Minister Churchill, had in him. This assignment is critical to the allied war effort on one hand and difficult to the extreme on the other hand.
De Gaulle is extremely difficult to work with and is disliked by the Americans and even Churchill. Duff describes De Gaulle in his diary as “obstinate, tactless, lacking political experience and quick to take bad advice. These issues have always been his drawbacks and will end by being his undoing.” Duff finds himself as the peace maker and the man always in the middle. I think Churchill knew this when he appointed Duff to this difficult assignment.
Duff makes a comment that surprises me, he made a similar comment earlier in the book and I ignored it. He says, “I do not find Eisenhower either interesting or impressive” My understanding of Eisenhower is that one of the many qualities he exhibited and the one that was essential to the allied cause, was his ability to mollify all the various personalities and testosterone laden male egos who participated in this war. Eisenhower is beloved in America and considered one of our better Presidents. In addition, as I stated previously Duff seems to exhibit those same qualities, so why didn’t Duff like him?
The exiled King occasionally raises his head in these pages, and on December 4, 1945, we hear of him again. The quote reads as follows: “The Duke of Windsor came in at 6 in order to talk to his brother the King on a secret telephone line. I gather he is having trouble because he insists that if he goes to America, he shall have some official position there.” Since his abdication of the throne, the English government wished he would just go away. During the war there was the fear that the Nazi’s would get their hands on him and use him as a weapon against England. The government solved this problem by naming him governor of the island of Bermuda, and there he stayed hidden away on an island for the duration of the war. As far as I can tell, this was his last official title and the expressed wish about going to America with a title was never granted.
Duff died at sea on January 1, 1954, and so his diary must end. But, oh, what a delight to have had the opportunity to read it. There was chaff along with the wheat, but a little speed reading did the trick.
A reader of a diary must acknowledge that the writing is biased, and if one searched, one could find someone who would call Duff, a stinker! The next thing one does is make a comparison between oneself and the writer and when I did this, I came up way short of this man; his accomplishments speak for themselves. He was poised, a gentleman, an intellect, he had energy and style, and yes, he was a hedonist in the best sense of this word.
My reading of this diary and the biographies of people mentioned in his diaries, leave me baffled and perplexed. How is it done? How are parties arranged? They seem to be spontaneous, yet everyone gets the message. Who pays for these extravagant events that seem to happen daily and sometimes go on for days? The best of food and wine in great quantities, this means to me great cost, so who is paying for it?
To have friends and homes in the Capitals of Europe, to just pickup and go to the South of France and stay with Coco Chanel for a few weeks, partying every night is incomprehensible to me.
I laugh to myself when I think about the self-indulgence of Winston Churchill. He could be very entertaining, and he could be obnoxious, it did not matter to him. There are stories about him showing up uninvited and unwelcome, yet he was always oblivious to his behavior – he was entitled! In one biography of Chanel, it is mentioned that during the season, he would go to her home on the Rivera and stay for weeks, as “Freddy the freeloader” eating and drinking, all on his hostess. I cite this issue because quite in contrast to Winston, Duff seems welcomed everywhere even Buckingham Palace.
Beyond his membership in the society of Europe, he witnesses as an Ambassador to France all the great events that occurred in the years 1943 thru 1947, he even influenced some of these events. As he states in his diary one of the purposes of the diary was to be a footnote to history. Anyone writing about this period of western history would be foolish not to reference this diary.

[Rex Brampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duff Cooper's diaries (especially the inter-war years) read like Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse, both personalities who crossed his path later in his life. You realise what a different world he inhabits when he complains that on his first day in the Army he can't find anybody to black his boots or polish the brass buttons on his uniform. But it's his affairs that are most outrageous. Especially as his mistresses appear to be made more indignant by his philandering than his wife. He does appear to settle down during the second world war, but then he reveals he had dictated those entries, so he hasn't toned down his extra-marital activities at all, but is only being a bit more discreet in his dictation. Once he is handwriting again he is falling in love on a regular basis again.
The diplomatic years become a bit turgid, but it's still fascinating to read that he could go home and find Rubinstein playing piano in his parlour, (something he couldn't appreciate as he was tone deaf).

[Esdaile · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this book among my mother's collection after her death. I think it must have been a present and I had the impression that she hadn't opened it. Lucky her.

This is the definitely the most poorly written, uninspired, pompous, smug and limp collection of unintersting snippets calling itself a diary which I have ever had the misfortune to attempt to read in my life. I only managed a hundred pages or so but so far as I could see by occasionally checking later entries, this entire book is from beginning to end uninformative and pedestrian to an extreme I have never before experienced in a published (or unpublished!) diary or autobiography.

I suppose it can almost be described as a perverse achievement to participate in dramatic events in world history and to know major players on the world stage (Duff calls Winston Churchill affectionately "Whinny") and yet present one's life as meaningless, one protracted yawn. There is no insight here, no imagination, no intelligence, no style, no strong emotion accept professions fo love and of friendship and sorrow which don't ring very true, in fact this is so bereft of anything worthwhile, that there is not very much which can be said about it. It is depressing and bland and miserable. Trying to read it is like chewing through lumps of half stale low quality bread. But that the Diaries are so is bizarre. After all, Duff Cooper was not a person with a nine to five job who lived what one might expect to have been a boring life and never did anything one would want to call interesting. This was a man involved in government, a Member of Parliament. It beggers belief that he could present his own life as being utterly tedious, the events which took place during his life as bereft of interest and his own personaloity the most gloomy thing of all. But he does, he really does.

The Duff Cooper Diaries are a dreary insightless account of encounters with politicians (who are never interstingly depicted) and with women who are not described in any way, of adulturous affairs in a manner which retains the sense of sin but offers no fun-(and what on earth did women see in this bore anyway? I suppose it was his money), when he does dare comment with his obviously modest level of intelligence on political developments, he is usually either obvious or fatuous: how about this on the entry of the USA on the Allied side "it would hamper the Allied war effort!" Yes Duff thought that America's joining the war would help the German war effort
Oh and there are a lot of champagne diners and consumption of plovers' eggs also during the First World War. He was decadent, but he was decadent without the saving virtue of making decadence sound entertaining. Nasty but never naughty. No Baudelaire or Oscar Wilde our Duff. These diary entries could be described as the "banality of decadence"

Unfair?
Take any entry at random and lets see how tedious this is and I swear Im not making this up and I am choosing at random Bear in mind that this is written while Russia is in turmoil, the Austro Hungarian Empire just collapsed, Germany just declared a Republic. Duff is not interested in public affairs except in so far as they determine where he might be posted or what work he might be doing. He is unwilling or unable to comment on much going on, possibly because he is dimly aware that he is so unintellgient, that anything he put down in black and white might sound fatuous and come back tohaunt him.. Or maybe he is just too busy chasing women and enjoying champagne diners. So here is the full entry:


December2 1918
"I went to the War Office. They gave me a furhter week's extension of leave pending the arrival of definite instructions".

Rivetting stuff, Duff.

Unfair? Lets try another entry:
From a long entry for February 13 1938

"The past week has been a busy one, full of events. The full significance of Hitler's summons to Schuschnigg appeared gradually. It was nothing less than the end of Austria's independence. A portentous development in European history about which nobody in England seems to give a damn. At the Cabinet on Wednesday full information was not yet to hand and comparatively little time was spent on Foreign Affairs."

One more quotation before I go rigid with boredom just quoting out of this monotonous mountain of tedium.l. BUt I promise I am finding quotations at random. The entire book is as boring and pedestrian as this:

November 12 1944
"I went round to the Quai d'Orsay for a meeting at half past ten." (A long list of ministers follows with no indication from Duff as to their roles, their positions, their appearance, or their character. Presumably the reader is expected to know and have his/her own opinion about each one)..."The principal subject for discussion was, first, the future of Europe(of Germany espeically of the Rhineland etc). On this there was practically complete agreement, and all went well. We then got on to the Levant and things did not go so well. In fact, after a lot of conversation, no progress was made at all."

No progress was made at all sums up how I felt after slogging and yawning my way through the first hundred pages of The Duff Cooper Diaries

At one point Duff Cooper provoked a certain emotion in me other than boredom, namely anger, when he declares that wars are caused not by politicians but by the people. That is what smug parasites such as Duff Cooper believed, is it? Put the blame on the people your propaganda and your press has whipped up? . The peoples of Europe did not want war in 1939. It was their leaders that wanted it. Even in 1914 when popular enthusiasm wa sgreat, that enthusiasm was created by the likes of Duff Cooper all over Europe especially inthe Press, albeit by indivduals who possessed somewhat more imagination and talent for mendacity than monumental bore Duff Cooper! With hugely overrated parasites like Duff Cooper at the helm, it becomes clearer what is a major cause of war: smug priviledged self entitled nonentities with far too much power determining events.
Duff Cooper belonged to a complacent clique of overrated second raters with third rate brains with more power and money and influence than was good for them or anyone else.
It is saddening to think that mediocrities like Duff Cooper were in a position to wield the influence they did; the fact they were goes I think a long way to explaining how nations stumble into such terrible catastrophes as a world war.

I would like to think he was an exception in terms of stupidity and ignorance among people in high places, but in view of recent events around the world, I am not so sure.

It is very rare that I take a book to the wheely bin but this collection definitely belongs there. This miserable collection should never have ben published.

I have wasted several hours of my life trying to read this (it meanders on for 500 pages, I gave up after 100).
I thought Nicholas Ridely's diary was pretty poor stuff but it's brilliant compared to this.

Now The Duff Cooper Diaries off to the wheely bin with you! I hope most copies have found their way there already.

[Caryatid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I read it, it fills out the era that I'm reading about. As JJ says in his intro, one may not like the man after reading it all and he's right. Plus the credit JJ gives to his wife about transferring the hand written to computer and cutting into shape one wonders why she wasn't given credit as the editor. In fact she appears to have done so much of the work that the son might have stepped aside but of course the publishers want a more famous name attached. Isn't it often the way with wifely endeavours?

The overwhelming impression of that era and the information in the footnotes of who was married to whom that that section of society was on a continuous round of musical beds/marriages which makes a mockery of the banning of divorced people from royal circles and interfering with a royal daughter wanting to marry a divorced man. What hypocrisy...

The book leaves a jaundiced impression of not only the upper class society but politicians too, all seemed to breeze through the war with bountiful supplies of food and drink while the populace suffered.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book! As a fan of the Abdication crisis, I had run across Duff Cooper again and again, as he was a major player before, during, and after the crisis, so it was wonderful to get this substantial book and dip into it randomly; this is a technique I use with long-awaited books...I open it and read until I'm done, and then the next time I look at it, I do the same. Eventually, all of the book gets read, and this book was so gossipy that it enhanced my enjoyment. The only downside: very little involving the Abdication crisis! I was shocked. This was a minor drawback, ultimately, although I was initially very disappointed to find so little. If you're a fan of England society between The Wars, and would like an absorbing, but not demanding, read, this is perfect.

[Avis Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

The diaries begin with the author getting drunk quite often, chasing women-even after he marries, and making an occasional statement about politics. The writing has a strangely childlike air and is frankly unsophisticated. I read some of the latter part of the diary to see if it improved, and it did--slightly. Cooper does a lot of stating of facts, but gives few impressions, and those that he does offer tend to be uninteresting. Unfortunately, his personality shows the lack of extra dimensions that is characteristic of those who are self-centered and narcissistic. He's something of a colorless bore.

[Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh dear. If you are already interested in 20th century British history, and know the cast of characters and general sequence of events, this book is fascinating. If not, not.
One difficulty for the modern reader is that Duff Cooper’s romantic life outside of his marriage is naturally a recurring topic in his diaries and said life is conducted in a mode that is so different from what we now consider reasonable that it’s hard to enjoy. Maybe it’s healthy to try to live in another person’s values for a few hours, but it’s certainly an effort not to be censorious.

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up on this before the end. He does not come across well, in fact comes across as a pompous old fart. Quite why legions of beautiful women were prepared to be shagged by him on a regular basis is beyond me. I can only conclude that he bored them into bed.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too long and too much about the inner workings of the British War Machine during WW2 for my liking.

[Peter S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book mainly by Duff's personal life: he and his wife, née Diana Manners (who, in her youth, was considered the most beautiful woman in England), were intensely in love with each other, but Duff, and to a lesser extent Diana, had many affairs. For the most part, Diana was aware of and even loved Duff's mistresses. One scene is described in which Diana is consoling a distraught Louise "Loulou" de Vilmorin, Duff's mistress, reassuring her that Duff really does love her. Much earlier in the book, having just returned home from a tryst, Duff wrote, "and so I returned from my beloved to my belovedest."

When their son, John Julius, having seen the diary after Duff's death, asked his mother, "How did you avoid jealousy," she replied, "They were all flowers, but I knew I was the tree."

While Loulou was Duff's mistress, Diana was the mistress of André Malraux. One day André asked her, "Are you for me or for him?" Diana replied "Him." He then broke it off. Late in life, after several marriages, Malraux and that same Loulou became partners for the rest of their lives. And so on. Reminds me of Schnitzler's play, "La Ronde".

I might add that Duff and Diana continued to like and to interact as friends with their (and each others') former lovers even long after their sexual relationships with them had ended.

This seems to me to be practically the definition of polyamory. The both seemed to have sincerely loved all of their partners.

Having said all this, the book is quite rich in Duff's contribution to British statesmanship and policy. He was one of those who resigned from the Parliament because he could not support Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy. Duff was very close to Churchill from way before WW-II and became the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (the #2 post in the British cabinet) when Churchill became prime minister. As the war wound down, Duff was appointed British ambassador to France; he was fluent in French and a Francophile. One of his most important roles was calming the waters that raged between Churchill and de Gaulle. In every government effort he made, he strikes me as the most capable and reasonable diplomat in the field, certainly including those two.

You might not know all the names he bandies about, but if you're interested in the early 20th century, this book is a great entrée to the history, as seen from the side of the Allies. Read it with Wikipedia near to hand. I by no means know all the characters he mentions, but I now know far more of them than I did when I started, and "Ya gotta start somewhere!"

I read this on Kindle, and it was especially nice to bring up a footnote (usually a very brief bio of someone newly mentioned) right there where I was reading the passage instead of having to flip pages. Not all Kindle books are well done, but this one certainly is.

[Mr N P Leversuch · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would be easy to write a long review of this book, however, I will keep it short!
The book is a slow burn with initially endless descriptions of his meals, but it does become more interesting.
His career and behaviour is definitely a reflection of his times and particularly if you were part of a particular set of British society - IE wealthy, privileged and friends with other influential members of British aristocracy and royalty.
Although he worked in the Civil Service during the first world war, the diary gives the impression that working, or at least working hours were flexible and did not get in the way of a busy social life.
I could carry on in a similar vein, suffice it to say the diary gives the impression of an amoral individual who maximises his own beneficial activities.
It is however, quite an important book that shines a light on the lifestyle of people of his generation in his privileged position.

[Eric Grounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an absorbing read. He was immensely well networked and clearly both able and brave (he earned a good DSO in the First World War). But I am not sure that I would have liked him much. He spent a great deal of time bedding other men's wives and I really cannot understand how his wife, Diana, coped with that. The last third of the book was the most interesting, covering his time as ambassador in Paris.

[Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly historically interesting. A view into how the other half, or probably more realistically how the other 1% lived from WWI to after WWII.

I can't say that I liked Duff Cooper as a person much, but the diaries were interesting, although I would have preferred it if there were more entries from basically 1939 to 1944.

[J Grimsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book fascinating. The distance between the outside rules and what the people actually did was very different. The word entitlement came to mind. Of course our own government now behaves in a completely different manner.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb, could not put the down.

[Harry Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sums up the loathesome values of the elite. Entertaining though.
A drunken philanderer with zero moral standards representing the power brokers who still operate the same way ie B. Johnson

[Kexx · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dipper of a book: there is only so much upper class nonsense I can take at a time. Fascinating titbits amongst a lot of stereotypical behaviour which makes me want to throw the book out!

[Gabriele Wills · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very candid look at the life of a charming bon vivant who always seized the moment, and through whose eyes we glimpse the politics and society of Britain spanning both world wars. He knew and often worked with all the important people of his era and had legions of friends, so reading these diaries is like reading a who's who of the times - Churchill, Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, etc.. Son John Julius Norwich, who edited the diaries, wondered if people would actually like his father after reading them. I found Duff Cooper (later Viscount Norwich) too much of a hedonist, whose insatiable appetite for women already had him having affairs only a few months after marrying Lady Diana Manners, the famously most beautiful woman of the day, whose aristocratic parents had hoped would marry the Prince of Wales. Perhaps more startling is that Diana never really seemed to mind his affairs, often befriending his mistresses. Through this type of honest chronicling of his life, Duff Cooper has left a fascinating historical record.

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful insight into a life well lived and one far, far removed from most of us. It was incredible to read about the backroom work that went on during and immediately after WWII. As I was reading this, I was watching 'The Diplomat' on Netflix and one particular overlap struck me - that diplomacy is mostly about making sure that fragile egos are catered too. It's also a brief insight into a long marriage between two celebrities that was oiled with lots of affairs, on his side anyway. Cooper had an incredible privileged life for the most part. I would make one complaint, Cooper's demise could have been expanded upon, a few more details provided, for example was he alone? Apart from that, these diaries were a fascinating read.

[Eric]

An entertaining set of diary entries from a witness to several signal events in British and European history - WWI, the abdication, WWII and the liberation of Paris and it's formation into the new Republic.

Not always fair to his beloved, but genuinely curious about his world and place in it, he provides many small portraits of individuals well and not well known (and the latter are nicely footnoted).

[Thomas Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Likes Chips Channon interesting about pre-WW1 London society, the war itself, then inter-war and WW2 government and liberated Paris. Dislikable character who couldn't keep his trousers buttoned. God knows what all those women saw in him.

[Streator Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun history by a guy who was there.

[Kelly]

Yes please.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book in parts, sometimes too long winded. It goes from quite light entries in the early days to more heavy stuff later on. Overall ok