Dame Barbara Cartland interviewed by Michael Thornton

[Michael Rhodes]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1080454/A-drunken-husband-secret-lovers-The-novel-Barbara-Cartland-wanted-read.html


.....The most astonishing revelation of all concerned the paternity of
her daughter, Raine, now Countess Spencer, who is officially the child
of Cartland's first husband.

According to Cartland, Raine was not biologically his offspring.

So who alegedly was her father? As we shall see, there are three
possible contenders from Cartland's list of lovers, but the likeliest
gives rise to the amazing possibility that 'Acid Raine', as her
Spencer stepchildren liked to call her, had royal blood in her veins,
and was a member of the British Royal Family long before Diana
appeared on the scene.

[Shinjinee]

On Nov 4, 1:39 am, Michael Rhodes <mig73allenford2...@yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1080454/A-drunken-husband-s...

>
> .....The most astonishing revelation of all concerned the paternity of
> her daughter, Raine, now Countess Spencer, who is officially the child
> ofCartland'sfirst husband.

According to the article, there are at least three contenders,
although two others are implied. Cartland (9 July 1901 - 21 May 2000)
married on 23 April 1927 St Margaret's Westminster (divorced Nov 1932)
Alexander McCorquodale: Their daughter Raine was born 9 September
1929. The article implies but doesn't state that Cartland (then Mrs
Alexander McCorquodale) was sleeping with at least three men beside
her husband, and thus was doubtful of her daughter's paternity.

1. [her first lover after marriage] The 5th Duke of Sutherland
(1888-1963) who apparently never had a child by anyone else, therefore
is an unlikely contender, 2nd but eldest surviving child of the 4th
Duke by his beautiful wife Lady Millicent St.Clair-Erskine. He was
twice married - 1stly in 1912 to Lady Eileen Butler (d 1943), a
Mistress of the Robes, and 2ndly 1944 to Clare Josephine O'Brien

[begin quote]

"The first was Geordie, the fifth Duke of Sutherland, who was very
much married but had admired me for a long while. He was Under
Secretary of State for War at the time.'

Some years after my visit to Camfield Place, Cartland told one of her
biographers that the Duke of Sutherland 'used to come into my bedroom
and lie on the bed and kiss me - but I wouldn't let him get into bed
with me'.

When I read this, I telephoned Cartland. 'Why did you say that?' I
asked.

'Darling,' she cried, 'you've got to think of the repercussions. The
Duke was married to a peer's daughter who had been Mistress of the
Robes to Queen Mary. He was my lover, of course, but I could never
admit to it publicly.'

Shortly before the Duke of Sutherland's death in 1963, he and his
second Duchess met Cartland at a lunch party in London. Clearly aware
of her husband's amorous exploits, Clare Sutherland turned to Cartland
and said: 'Of course, Raine is Geordie's daughter.'

Cartland said nothing - but, in truth, remained doubtful. 'The Duke
was supposed not to be able to have children, and never had a child by
anyone else, so I think it's rather unlikely,' she concluded. "

[end quote]

Interesting photo here - Mrs Gerald Legge, later Raine Ctss Spencer,
in 1955 with the Duke of Sutherland (her putative father)
http://www.jamd.com/image/g/51246658

Portrait of Millicent Duchess of Sutherland and her Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millicent_Sutherland-Leveson-Gower,_Duchess_of_Sutherland

On the 5th Duke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sutherland-Leveson-Gower,_5th_Duke_of_Sutherland


2. Lt-Commander Glen Kidston (d 1930 Drakensberg Mountain)

[begin quote]

Mayfair neighbour Lieutenant-Commander Glen Kidston, was also married.
The former submarine officer in the Royal Navy was rich, handsome and
ruggedly masculine.

One of the legendary Bentley Boys of the late Twenties, he won the Le
Mans 24-hour race in 1930, and then broke Amy Johnson's speed record
by flying from Croydon to Cape Town in six-and-a-half days.

But on the return journey, his borrowed de Havilland Tiger Moth bi-
plane broke up in mid-air while flying through a dust storm in South
Africa, and crashed on the Drakensberg Mountains.

When locals located the wreckage, they found Kidston's body with six
photographs of Cartland in Nile blue leather frames. 'These were
returned to me by his sister,' she said. 'It was heart-breaking.'

[end quote]


3. HRH Prince George, later Duke of Kent (1902-1944)

[begin quote]

Handsome, debonair and bisexual, His Royal Highness Prince George,
later the Duke of Kent, was the youngest surviving son of King George
V and Queen Mary, the uncle of the present Queen, and the lover of
NoÎl Coward.

'PG, as I called him, was 25 at that time and absolutely adorable,'
said Cartland, 'as well as being the most amazing lover. In my heart,
I have always believed that he was Raine's father. I was shattered
when he, too, died in a plane crash, while on active service during
the war.'

[end quote]


4. Hugh Lygon, styled Viscount Elmley, later 8th and last Earl
Beauchamp (3 July 1903 - dsp 3 Jan 1979) who had no known issue. He
was married 16 June 1936 to the older Elsa Schiewe, who already had a
daughter. Madresfield Court is now owned by his niece Rosalind
Morrison, ex-wife of Gerald Ward (who died recently), of the earls of
Dudley. Their yr daughter is supposed to inherit the house and estate.

According to Cartland, she lost her virginity to Elmley when she was
18 (and he was apparently 16)

In 1910 with sister Lady Lettice Lygon: http://www.jamd.com/image/in-search/Viscount+Elmley/#2g3167390
At his marriage 16 June 1936 to Elsa, Fru Dornonville de la Cour St
Clement Danes in London's Strand.: http://www.jamd.com/image/g/3347991
In later life: http://thepeerage.com/009696_001.jpg
His bride in 1936 http://www.jamd.com/image/in-search/Viscount+Elmley/#0g3348199

[begin quote]

I lost my virginity at 18 to Viscount Elmley, the son of the seventh
Earl Beauchamp, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, whose glorious home,
Madresfield Court, was the model for the house in Evelyn Waugh's
Brideshead Revisited.

'My mother wanted me to marry Elmley, but I didn't find him
attractive, which is just as well because, my dear, there was the most
ghastly scandal.

'Lord Beauchamp was caught b****ring the footmen and had to leave
England in the dead of night to go into exile. I mean, you can't have
people b****ring the servants, darling, now can you?'

[end quote]


5. Lord Mountbatten of Burma (d 1979)
Highly unlikely, since the relationship is described as entirely
platonic.

[begin quote]

Nevertheless, the murder by the IRA in 1979 of Lord Mountbatten, a
friend for more than 50 years, was a devastating shock. But not least
of the faults in tomorrow's TV film is the suggestion that Cartland
was expecting him to propose marriage.

In her role as wily self-publicist, she once wrote (of Mountbatten's
kiss on her cheek): 'A streak of fire ran through me as if I had been
struck by lightning. It was a definitely painful but ecstatic
sensation. From a woman's point of view, the power was devastating.'

From the moment Dickie fixed his eyes on her, spoke to her in that
deep, amazingly attractive voice - she was his.

But their relationship was entirely platonic. She was sharply aware
that Mountbatten, emasculated by the infidelities of his promiscuous
and nymphomaniac wife, Edwina, had scant interest in sex in his later
years, particularly with women.

[end quote]

So, who does Raine Ctss Spencer resemble the most?

Shinjinee

[Turenne]

There seems to be quite a similarity between Raine Spencer and Lord
Beauchamp.

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/assets/library/071213people_raine--119753585337954400.jpg

This one is as per Shinjinee's earlier post:

Beauchamp: http://thepeerage.com/009696_001.jpg

and...

Beauchamp again: http://www.rhdr.org.uk/rhdr/history_art/first_train.jpg

Richard Lichten