Social Figure, Wife of Ambassador
In 1924, Duff Cooper gained election to Parliament, while his wife continued as a society celebrity. Her reputation became even more celebrated in France as the centerpoint of immediate post second world war French literary culture when her husband served from 1944 to 1948 as Britain's ambassador to France. During this period, Lady Diana's popularity as a hostess remained undimmed, even after allegations that the embassy guest list included "pederasts and collaborators".
Following Duff Cooper's retirement in 1947, they continued to live in France at Chantilly, until his death in 1954. He was created Viscount Norwich in 1952, for services to the nation, but Lady Diana refused to be called Viscountess Norwich, claiming that it sounded like "porridge". She made an official announcement in The Times to this effect, stating that she wished to be known as Lady Diana Cooper.
Read more about this topic: Lady Diana Cooper
Famous quotes containing the words social, wife and/or ambassador:
“Nobody can write the life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“When he has loved me,
goes but a step away
and returns
to love me again,
I’m like a wife whose husband’s away,
as if for that instant
he’s been exiled.”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)
“An Ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.”
—Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639)