Daughters of Britannia: The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives - Hardcover

Hickman, Katie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002557142 ISBN 13: 9780002557146

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

Synopsis

An authoritative and entertaining account by one of our most talented writers of the courageous and unusual women who have been the backbone of the British Empire and foreign service.

‘English ambassadresses are usually on the dotty side and leaving their embassies drives them completely off their rockers’ – Nancy Mitford

From the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through the heyday of the British Empire and still today, the foreign service has been shaped and run behind the scenes by the wives of ambassadors and minor civil servants. Accompanying their spouses in the most extraordinary, tough, sometimes terrifying circumstances, they have struggled to bring their civilization with them. Their stories – from ambassadresses downwards – never before told, are a feast of eccentricity, genuine hardship and genuine heroism, and make for a hilarious, compelling and fascinating book.

About this title

About the Author

Katie Hickman was brought up in Europe, the Far East and South America, and educated at Oxford University. She has been travelling and writing ever since.

From the Back Cover

A mixture of poignant biography and marvellously entertaining socialm history, 'Daughters of Britannia' is the story of diplomatic life as it has never been told before.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Vita Sackville – West and Lady Diana Cooper are among the well-known wives of diplomats who represented Britain in the far-flung corners of the globe. Yet, despite serving such crucial roles, the vast majority of these women are entirely unknown to history. Who was Mrs Vigor, gossiping fromfrom St Petersburg in the 1730s about the intrigues of the imperial court, or Miss Tully, incarcerated in the British Consulate in famine -torn Tripoli on the eve of the French Revolution?

Drawing on letters, private journals and memoirs, as well as contemporary oral history, Katie Hickman explores not only the public pomp and glamour of diplomatic life, but also the most intimate, private face of this most fascinating and mysterious world. Far from leading lives of luxury and privilege, many women endured harsh, isolated circumstances which they met with remarkable resourcefulness and strength. Journeys could take many months to complete, medical facilities were often primitive or nonexistent and young children frequently died. There were wars, kidnappings, assassination attempts.

Katie Hickman counterpoints stories of high drama with detailed recollections of domestic life where women faced such daily challenges as getting their husbands’ shirt fronts suitably boiled and starched in the wilds of Xinkiang; or finding the right size bullet-proof vest in which to do the gardening in Beirut.

Touching on the lives of nearly a hundred diplomatic wives (as well as sisters and daughters). 'Daughters of Britannia' is a brilliant and compelling account of more than three centuries of British diplomacy as seen through the eyes of some of its most intrepid but least-known participants.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0002557142
• ISBN 13: 9780002557146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352