Diana Cooper

by Philip Ziegler

Lady Diana Cooper was in her prime widely regarded as the most beautiful woman in England and the idol of her generation. She was witty, outrageous, generous and loyal. Famous as a member of the aristocratic and intellectual group 'The Cotorie', she later edited the magazine Femina before starting a career as an actress on the stage and then in films during the 1920s. Her husband, Duff Cooper, was parliament in 1924 and Diana continued as a society hostess until his retirement in 1947. Diana wrote three volumes of memoirs in the 1950s which are also published by Faber Finds, and she died in 1986 aged 93. Philip Ziegler's biography is a compulsive read, telling the story of a remarkable woman and her passionate life.'For nine decades a symbol of all that is dashing and daring, a synonym for courage and wit and inspired friendship.' Sunday Telegraph'Combines total honesty with total affection... A portrait which you can laugh over, cry over and think over as well.' Punch'No wonder Evelyn Waugh loved her.' Scotsman

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, British Literature

336 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1982

About the author

Philip Ziegler was a British biographer and historian known for his meticulously researched works on historical figures and events. After studying at Eton and New College, Oxford, he served in the British Foreign Service, with postings in Laos, South Africa, Colombia, and NATO. He later transitioned into publishing and writing, eventually becoming a distinguished biographer.
His notable works include Mountbatten: The Official Biography, Edward VIII: The Official Biography, and The Black Death. He also wrote about figures such as Lord Melbourne, Harold Wilson, and George VI. Over the years, Ziegler contributed to major publications like The Spectator, The Times, and History Today.
His personal life was marked by tragedy when his first wife was killed during a home invasion in Bogotá in 1967. He later remarried and continued his literary career until his passing in 2023 at the age of 93.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

very well written, sadly, the more I read, the more Diana becomes an unlikeable person

[Peter Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite long but she lived a long time.Enjoyable and well written,but she was really only a peripheral figure in the history of her times.Nevertheless still entertaining.Duff,her husband was a War Minister,then First Lord of the Admiralty,friendly with Churchill and later first ambassador in Paris after WW II so it's a picture of official life through her eyes.She was certainly a character,not really a snob but ignorant of ordinary lives.This biography brings her life to life in all its variety- aristocratic family,not too rich,eager for money,full of fun,actress in 1920s,political figure.You need to know some British history to appreciate her role.

[Phil Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lady Diana Cooper was the Princess Di of her age. She almost literally could have married anyone; the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, was mooted - but only by casual observers. Instead, she married the able but flawed Duff Cooper. True that all of her other likely suiters had been killed in WWI. Despite his renowned temper and numerous infidelities, their relationship was never shaken.
I read the book because having read Duff Cooper’s diaries, I wanted to understand what an earth she was thinking. It could be summarised by her when she described his lovers as the flowers, but she was the tree.
She was the darling of upper-class society. Her looks and confidence helped but she must have possessed great abilities as well. She was always the centre of attention but her true ability was giving genuine consideration to her social circle and got pleasure from that. But it was only to them with no concern for the hoi polloi. We are told she did not have a proper education and never learned to spell but all the quoted passages seem faultless. She had a ghost writer to help with her autobiography but it seemed her style surpassed that of the ghost writer who was discarded.
She could be seen as an unnecessary ornament but there was more to her than that. She did need to keep busy and useful, setting up a hospital in one of her homes for injured officers in WWI and acted as a nurse.
She had no ethical sense and would use her contacts and charm to try to get her own way however unfair. She was also incredibly mean, finding ways to avoid shelling out cash. Her career as an actress stemmed from the desire to fund Duff and she was seen as superb on both sides of the Atlantic. As her main role seemed to be pretending to be a statue in a play called ‘The Miracle’, this is a bit difficult to explain.
The extent of her addiction to morphine is not made clear, seeming to live on a continual emotional knife edge.
She of course met and knew everyone from Garbo to Dietrich, Chaliapin to Rubenstein, Kennedy to Churchill, Hemmingway to Eliot, as well as of course all the UK Royal Family.
A flavour for her and the times was her nickname for Churchill which was ‘duckling’. Whether to his face is not made clear. I would have liked to know.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Diana Cooper’s blithe racist language was jarring at best and deeply disturbing at worst. She was much, much more likable in Hugo Vickers’sMalice in Wonderland: My Adventures in the World of Cecil Beaton, but then Vickers didn’t have to delve deep (his book wasn’t about her, she’s just a grand supporting character). The casual use of racial slurs made her far more ugly in Ziegler’s book. Diana Cooper is from another time; Ziegler is also writing this in a far different time as well (it’s not a new book). But still, even back in the day, using words like that wasn’t appropriate, and obviously about as sub-appropriate as you can get today. Definitely sets Diana Cooper (and this book) into a literary netherworld. I ashamed to admit that Diana Cooper was still fascinating - this was like watching a train wreck. She was a bird of paradise flitting through history; at least in England during a certain time she knew everyone and did everything, and was the epitome of glamor and the grand life. Her husband Duff and she had what we’d call today an open relationship as well - he had girlfriends, she had boyfriends, very modern, and very privileged. She was also really funny. What a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly.

[Kathleen Finney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rarely leave a book unfinished, but I was tempted more than once to give up on this one. It is interesting and fairly informative, but the casual racism and blatant antisemitism of the subjects is cringeworthy.

[Grizel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Incredibly dull.

[Pater Edmund]

Diana Cooper is the original of Mrs. Stitch in Waugh's Scoop.

[Lesley Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and informative on a whole range of topics!