Elizabeth Wyndham; GREAT obit of Society beauty whose extraordinary adventures earned her a place in the pages of Elaine Dundy's novel The Dud Avocado
Hyfler/Rosner
June 21, 2008
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4182453.ece
In 1922, according to Henry Yorke (Lord Leconfield's nephew,
the novelist Henry Green), Lady Leconfield asked her doctor
to find her a beautiful baby girl to adopt. A boy, Peter,
had already been adopted, but he had a bad squint.
So Betty Seymour was selected and was transformed into Miss
Elizabeth Geraldine Wyndham, though since she was not of the
blood no courtesy title was bestowed on her.
She and her brother therefore inhabited a sort of no man's
land, not appearing in any of the books of lineage that were
the bibles of their peers. It was only at a children's party
when another child said to her "You're not the Honourable
Elizabeth Wyndham because you're adopted" that she woke up
to the the distinction that so subtly separated her and her
brother from their relations and contemporaries, and which
would disqualify Peter from inheriting his adoptive father's
title and the right to live at Petworth House after his
death.
Elizabeth to all intents surmounted this difficulty and
found her own way in life. Indeed, she only once ruefully
reflected on how things were so different in Italy where
adoption into the aristocracy was unconditional, as with her
friends the Doria Pamphilj family in Rome.
With her beauty Elizabeth had a bonus in that she came with
a very good brain, and Lady Leconfield saw to it that she
was well educated. Violet Leconfield was more than a little
eccentric and she insisted that Elizabeth learnt to do
everything possible using her toes, lest she lose an arm.
She also had the black sheep in the park at Petworth painted
white for a party, and on another occasion entered the lift
in the Savoy during an air raid as a naked Valkyrie, having
remembered to put on only her helmet to which she had
attached horns.
Elizabeth Wyndham was a brilliant pianist, and a fearless
horsewoman, but it was her command of French and German
which qualified her to be of use at the government
decryption centre at Bletchley Park during the war, though
she never spoke of her role there. Soon after the Italian
surrender she moved to Rome where she worked for the British
Council on educational projects.
Mario Praz was a friend; the pianist Arturo Benedetti
Michelangeli would play for her, something he would do for
no others. On one occasion, according to Ann Elwell, (an MI5
officer in Rome to read captured documents, who stayed at
Elizabeth's flat in Piazza Montecitorio) he threw himself
before Elizabeth declaring: "For me you are the eternal
woman."
From Rome Elizabeth managed to get to Berlin after the end
of the war to be with the man she had fallen in love with at
Bletchley, and she worked on education projects for the
Allied Kommendatura in the city. The parties, at which she
is remembered as an awesome figure, were incredible, with
the victorious Allies striving to outdo each other in
opulence of entertainment; there were mountains of caviar,
and armed guards concealed behind curtains behind every
chair.
Ultimately, Elizabeth had to return to Petworth, leaving her
great love behind, to look after her now ailing and aging
adoptive father. She was 26 and Lord Leconfield 79.
She married briefly a charming but inappropriate man. Her
divorce she later celebrated with a silver divorce party.
Through her aunt Dolly Bruntisfield she worked doing public
relations for the Order of St John.
In 1955 she travelled in Spain with Peter Wildeblood,
Kenneth Tynan and his wife, the novelist Elaine Dundy
(obituary, May 9, 2008), joining Tennessee Williams in
Valencia where he filled his bath with mineral water and gin
as there was no running water.
Dundy was so stunned and upstaged by Wyndham, whose
voluptuous beauty - a hybrid of Ava Gardner and Anita
Eckberg - electrified bull fighters and Gypsies alike,
casting Dundy into the shade, that the novelist transposed
her almost exactly as she was into the character Angela in
her book The Dud Avocado.
Years later, on a trip to London, Dundy said to a mutual
friend: "For Christ's sake don't tell Elizabeth you've seen
me. She could still sue."
1n 1955 Wyndham was recruited into the Information Research
Department of the Foreign Office which was set up to counter
Soviet propaganda. On the Africa desk she served as women's
affairs officer and had postings to Khartoum and
Léopoldville. While driving to Mali from Congo she was
briefly kidnapped and beaten up by guerrillas, but with her
considerable courage she intimidated them to such an extent
that they eventually let her go.
In Khartoum her success in bringing forward local women was
overshadowed by her amorous successes with local men. Her
glamour was enhanced because she briefly kept a cheetah.
In later life Wyndham retired to Chalfont St Giles in
Buckinghamshire to be near her friend Ann Elwell and her
family. She was active in village life, serving on many
local committees and working at the village information
centre until shortly before her death.
Elizabeth Wyndham, socialite and civil servant, was born on
December 15, 1922. She died on May 13, 2008, aged 85