Violet Keppel Trefusis

Violet Trefusis (née Keppel; 6 June 1894 – 29 February 1972) was an English socialite and author. She is chiefly remembered for her lengthy affair with the writer Vita Sackville-West that both women continued after their respective marriages. It was featured in novels by both parties; in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography; and in many letters and memoirs of the period roughly from 1912 to 1922. She may have been the inspiration for aspects of the character Lady Montdore in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate and of Muriel in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium.

Trefusis herself wrote many novels, as well as non-fiction works, both in English and in French. Although some of her books sold well, others went unpublished, and her overall critical heritage remains lukewarm.

Early life

Born Violet Keppel, she was the daughter of Alice Keppel, who was married to George Keppel, a son of the 7th Earl of Albemarle. Members of the Keppel family thought her biological father was William Beckett, subsequently 2nd Baron Grimthorpe, a banker and MP for Whitby.

Violet lived her early youth in London, where her family had a house in Portman Square. When she was four years old, her mother became the favourite mistress of Albert Edward ("Bertie"), the Prince of Wales, who succeeded to the throne as King Edward VII on 22 January 1901. He paid visits to the Keppel household in the afternoon around tea-time on a regular basis until the end of his life in 1910. (George Keppel, who was aware of the affair, was conveniently absent at these times.)

In 1900, Violet's only sibling, Sonia Rosemary, was born. Sonia was the maternal grandmother (and Violet therefore the great-aunt) of Queen Camilla, consort of King Charles III.

Career During the Second World War in London, Trefusis participated in the broadcasting of "La France Libre", which earned her a Legion d'Honneur after the war; she was also made a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Trefusis received mixed reviews on her books. Some critics credited Trefusis with an "excellent gift of observation" and a "talent for mimicry and flair for decor in most of her books". These qualities were said to be evident in her novels written in English and in French. Other critics stated that her books were not great literature, although they sold well and her readers enjoyed them.

She made many appearances as a pivotal character in other writers' fiction. Nancy Mitford based Lady Montdore, a character in her novel Love in a Cold Climate, on Trefusis. She featured in Cyril Connolly's The Rock Pool, in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium as Muriel, in several novels by Vita Sackville-West, and in Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography as the ravishing "Princess Sasha".

Although her writings spanned much of the twentieth century, many were unpublished. Virago, a publishing house devoted to recovering the forgotten work of women writers, set about compensating for this. They brought out two of her novels with introductions by Lorna Sage and Lisa St Aubin de Teran, but were eventually defeated by copyright difficulties. In addition, Lorna Sage, Trefusis' great champion among British critics, died before she could assist in the publication of further works by Trefusis, as she planned.

Later life in France

From 1923 on, Trefusis was one of the many lovers of the Singer sewing machine heiress Winnaretta Singer, daughter of Isaac Singer and wife of the homosexual Prince Edmond de Polignac, who introduced her to the artistic beau-monde in Paris. Trefusis conceded more and more to her mother's model of being "socially acceptable" but, at the same time, not wavering in her sexuality.

Nancy Mitford said that Trefusis's autobiography should be titled Here Lies Violet Trefusis, and partly based the character of Lady Montdore in Love in a Cold Climate on her.

François Mitterrand, who later became President of the French Republic in 1981, in his chronicle La Paille & le Grain, mentions his friendship with Violet Trefusis under 2 March 1972, when he received "the telegram" informing of her death. He goes on to discuss how, before Christmas 1971, he went to Florence to visit her as he knew she was in her last months of life: he had dinner with her and Frank Ashton-Gwatkin, who was a senior Foreign Office official at the beginning of the Second World War, at her house in Florence.

Personal life Trefusis is best remembered for her love affair with the wealthy Vita Sackville-West. Virginia Woolf described this by analogy in her 1928 novel Orlando. In this romanticized biography of Sackville-West, Trefusis is represented by the Russian princess Sasha.

The two women both wrote fictional accounts that referred to this love affair (Challenge by Sackville-West, and Broderie Anglaise, a roman à clef in French by Trefusis). Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson wrote the non-fiction Portrait of a Marriage (1973), based on material from his mother's letters, and adding extensive "clarifications", including some of his father's point of view. Such works explored other aspects of the affair. Aspects of Trefusis' character also featured in other novels, including Lady Montdore in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate (1949), and Muriel in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium.

Each of the participants left extensive written accounts in surviving letters and diaries. Alice Keppel, Victoria Sackville-West, Harold Nicolson, Denys Trefusis and Pat Dansey also left documents that referred to the affair.

Diana Souhami's Mrs Keppel and her Daughter (1997) provides an overview of the affair and of the main actors in the drama.

Death and legacy

Trefusis died at L'Ombrellino on the Bellosguardo on 29 February 1972. She died of starvation, the effect of a malabsorption disease. and in Saint-Loup-de-Naud in the monks' refectory near her tower.

In the 1990 BBC mini-series Portrait of a Marriage, Violet Trefusis is portrayed by Cathryn Harrison.

Writings

Novels Prelude to Misadventure (1941) Don't look Round (1952)

Last works Memoirs of an armchair (1960) From Dusk to Dawn (last work, 1972)

Unpublished / other The Hook in the Heart (n.d.) Instants de mémoire (Gestes) La chèvre et le chou (n.d.) The Shortcut Les sœurs ennemies (c. 1940s?) The End Justifies the Means (c. 1947) All Glorious Within (n.d.) Alas, A Lady! (n.d.) Father and Daughter. The Seducer Irène et Pénélope The Sleeper (n.d.) A Tooth for a Tooth (n.d.)