Valentine Lawford
Valentine George Nicholas Lawford (February 27, 1911 – June 18, 1991) was a British diplomat and long-term partner of German-american fashion photographer Horst P. Horst.
Early life[edit]
Valentine Lawford attended Repton School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge where he read modern and mediaeval languages. He then specialized at the Sorbonne, Strasbourg and in Vienna.[1]
Career[edit]
From 1939 to 1946 he was the private secretary of Lord Halifax, Anthony Eden and Ernest Bevin, all three of them Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.[2]
During World War II he acted as official interpreter at various conferences and war councils, and was the regular interpreter of Winston Churchill.[2]
As part of Britain's delegation, he took part at the Yalta Conference, Moscow Conference (1945) and Quebec Conference (1943).[2]
From 1946 to 1949 he was the alternate British delegate to the United Nations Security Council.[2]
From 1949 to 1950 he was Chargé d'affaires at the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran.[2]
In the 1960s and 1970s Lawford wrote the articles on the lifestyle of international high society illustrated by Horst for Vogue.[3] In 1968 Vogue's Book of Houses, Gardens, People collected most of those articles, Lawford's contribution defined as "lyrical essays". In 2016 Around That Time: Horst at Home in Vogue, featured much of the material of the original book.[4]
Alone he wrote Bound for Diplomacy, his autobiography published in 1963, and Horst, His Work & His World in 1984.[2]
He also painted watercolours which were widely exhibited.[2]
Personal life[edit]
In Paris, in the 1930s, Lawford moved in a circle that included: Gertrude Stein, Duff Cooper, Sir Charles Mendl and Elsie de Wolfe, Billy Baldwin, Douglas Fairbanks, the Rothschilds, the de Castellanes, the Windsors, and Nancy Cunard.[1]
Valentine Lawford met Horst in 1938, and they remained together until Lawford's death in 1991. They raised Horst's adopted son, Richard J. Horst.[5]
At the time of his death, Lawford was living in Oyster Bay Cove, New York.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Valentine (Nicholas) Lawford 1911 - 1991". Retrieved 22 September 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "V. G. N. Lawford, 80, Former British Envoy". The New York Times. 1991. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
- ^ "Horst and Valentine Lawford Gave Us an Intimate Look at How 1960s Society Lived". 2 August 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
- ^ Around That Time: Horst at Home in Vogue. Harry N. Abrams. 2016. ISBN 9781419722240. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
- ^ "Horst, Horst P. (1906–1999)". Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
External links[edit]
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