A Life Well Lived

I have no idea why I still have a copy of the Times of London obituary from 2003 of Nadine, Countess of Shrewsbury.

One of the treats of traveling to the UK on our antique jaunts was the variety of newspapers that are still available in Britain.  I certainly have lost count--but there must be at least 6-7 daily papers still published in London and  the Grande Dame is the Times of London.

The Times is know for its incredible, entertaining obituaries.  These are not your typical brief outline of a person's life.  The Times obit writers create an often entertaining mini biography of the deceased, and usually pull no punches.  If you were a lifelong drunk, they might describe you as "frequently in her cups" --that type of thing.

In 2003, this obituary caught my eye and made me chuckle that I had to clip it and keep it.  But now--in my cleaning mode--I will immortalize it here--and toss the clipping.  It does not list an writer.

"Nadine Countess of Shrewsbury, Singer whose ambitions for a country opera house were thwarted by a sensational but unsuccessful divorce case".

The lead paragraph, " She will be remembered for two reasons, as the defendant in one of the most sensational aristocratic divorce suits and as the guiding spirit in the short lived Opera at Ingestre, one of the earliest attempts to reproduce the Gyndebourne experience, into the now rather commonplace country house opera. The two were not unconnected.  The invasion by theatrical folk and their hangers-on of a staid, slightly dowdy country environment could not but make waves."

Paraphrasing now--She married into a wealthy aristocratic family and moved to the "much restored" Jacobean manor house near Stafford.  She had six children. "There was much opposition to the marriage in the Earl's family, as previous Earls had married in the aristocracy."

Nadine worked very hard to set up her opera company, and the paper reports that the two seasons of 1957-58 it got pretty good reviews.

Now the obit gets juicy. "Anthony Lowther,  tutor to the children and later manager to the operatic venture, was named as co-respondent in the divorce case..  The hearing lasted more than a fortnight and was widely reported in the press.  Much trivial, demeaning tittle tattle was aired;  hostile, scarcely believable evidence given by servants and local worthies....By this time, the countess had tended to surround herself with fawning, sycophantic young men and many in the bemused Staffordshire squirearchy doubted whether the earl had lighted upon the right or even plausible co-respondent."

"Lady Shrewsbury was somewhat theatrical herself and very much a performer.  Many felt she was acting the role of wife of the earl and she certainly had an eye for publicity, taking care to be seen scrubbing the floor in preparation for the first night of the opera season or selling garden produce from the estate in a van outside the gate."

"Her manner was often flamboyant--and much was made of the fact that she called Lowther 'Darling' but she called more or less everyone darling, including the butler, whose surname it happened to be........  She was a most attractive woman, an attentive mother, a lively and spikey conversationalist, referring to her husband's mistress never by name, simply as "The Kiss of Death) and a most entertaining hostess.

Whew.  Don't you get a really vivid picture of the nature of this woman?  Only in The Times.