PearlyBooks

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Over the centuries, the wives of British prime ministers have come from a variety of backgrounds. Much has been required of them: they need to be gracious hostesses, practical managers, sound advisers and sympathetic listeners. Nearly all have served their husbands well, toiling behind the scenes with little recognition. When the glare of publicity has swung round to them it has all too often been of the wrong sort, even when, like barrister Cherie Blair, they are high-flyers in their own right.
In this book Mark Hichens provides vivid portraits of these wives, assessing their roles and achievements and the aspects of their characters that have made some of them so memorable. Caroline Lamb, for instance, would dress up as a pageboy and had herself borne naked into the dining-room on a silver salver. Catherine Gladstone regularly had to cope with the ladies of the night brought home by her husband for redemption. Margot Asquith, who had a relationship with the poet Tennyson before her marriage, was known for her wit, once referring to a US general as 'an imitation rough diamond'; while Clementine Churchill gained respect during the Second World War by supporting bombed-out families in the East End of London. Lady Palmerston proved to be an effective diplomat, exerting considerable influence on affairs of state at receptions and other gatherings, while some spouses, such as Denis Thatcher, appear to have regarded public appearances as fraught with embarrassing possibilities and preferred to remain in the background. In recent times prime ministers' consorts have taken refuge from the stresses of Downing Street in various ways - Mary Wilson through poetry, Denis through golf and Norma Major through charitable works and biography.