81-398: Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson , CH (née Sackville-West ; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West , was an English author and garden designer . Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as well as a prolific letter writer and diarist. She published more than a dozen collections of poetry and 13 novels during her life. She was twice awarded
162-400: A "bog" and a "swamp", suggesting that her personal life was naturally unappealing and unpleasant. Sackville-West stated that she wanted to explain her sexuality, which she presented as being at the core of her personality. She wrote that in the future "it will be recognized that many more people of my type do exist than under the present-day system of hypocrisy is commonly admitted". Reflecting
243-434: A "scientific" approach backed up with quotes from Ellis and Carpenter allowed her to present her bisexuality as implicitly normal. Writing in the third person, Sackville-West declared "she regrets that the person Harold married wasn't entirely and wholly what he had thought of her, and that the person who loves and owns Violet isn't a second person, because each suits each other". Sackville-West presented her sexuality as part of
324-693: A British hospital. The family lived at 182 Ebury Street , Belgravia and bought Long Barn in Kent as a country house (1915–1930). They employed the architect Edwin Lutyens to make improvements to the house. The British declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914, following Ottoman naval attacks on Russia, precluded any return to Constantinople. The couple had two children: Benedict (1914–1978), an art historian, and Nigel (1917–2004),
405-530: A German-style casino. The initial casino opened in La Condamine in 1862, but was unsuccessful. It relocated several times, before reaching its present location in the "Les Spélugues" (The Caves) area of Monte Carlo. Success came slowly, largely because Monaco was inaccessible from much of Europe. The railway, installed in 1868, brought with it an influx of people, and Monte Carlo grew in wealth. Saint-Charles Church on Monte Carlo's Avenue Sainte-Charles
486-462: A Marriage of the discovery and acceptance of her bisexuality as a teenager as the joyous "liberation of half my personality", suggesting that she did not really see herself as a woman with "deviant" sexuality, as this statement contradicted what she had written at the beginning of the book about her "perverted" sexuality. Johnson wrote that Sackville-West, in presenting the lesbian side of herself in terms that depicted Keppel as evil and Nicolson as good,
567-417: A best-seller. In 1930 the family acquired and moved to Sissinghurst Castle , near Cranbrook, Kent . It had once been owned by Vita's ancestors. This gave it a dynastic attraction as she was excluded from inheriting Knole and a title. Sissinghurst was an Elizabethan ruin and the creation of the gardens would be a joint labour of love that would last many decades, first entailing years of clearing debris from
648-636: A better writer thanks to the mentorship of Woolf. In 1947 she began a weekly column in The Observer called "In your Garden", although she was not a trained horticulturist or designer. She continued the very popular column until a year before her death, and writing helped to make Sissinghurst one of the most famous and visited gardens in England. In 1948 she became a founder member of the National Trust 's garden committee. The grounds are now run by
729-573: A certain ambivalence about her sexuality, Sackville-West presented her sexual desires for Keppel as both "deviant" and "natural", as if she herself was uncertain of whether her sexuality was normal or not, though the American scholar Georgia Johnston has argued that Sackville-West's confusion on this point was due to her wish to have this memoir published one day. In this regard, Sackville-West wrote of her deep desire and love for Keppel while at same time declaring her "shame" about this "duality with which I
810-523: A collaborative endeavour. It was published in America but banned in the UK until 1974. The male character's name, Julian, had been Sackville-West's nickname when passing as a man. Challenge (first entitled Rebellion , then Enchantment , then Vanity and at some point Foam ), is a roman à clef with the character of Julian being a male version of Sackville-West and Eve, the woman he desires so passionately
891-498: A performance by Sarah Bernhardt dressed as a nymph. The first opera performed there was Robert Planquette 's Le Chevalier Gaston on 8 February 1879, and that was followed by three more in the first season. Other famous twentieth-century singers to appear at Monte Carlo included Titta Ruffo , Geraldine Farrar , Mary Garden , Tito Schipa , Beniamino Gigli , Claudia Muzio , Georges Thill , and Lily Pons . The Hôtel de Paris, established in 1864 by Charles III of Monaco ,
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#1732790256470972-655: A sickly semi-recluse. She persuaded Woolf that her nervous ailments had been misdiagnosed, and that she should focus on her own varied intellectual projects; that she must learn to rest. To help the Woolfs, Sackville-West chose their Hogarth Press to be her publisher. Seducers in Ecuador , the first Sackville-West novel to be published by Hogarth, sold only 1,500 copies in its first year. The Edwardians , published next, sold 30,000 copies in its first six months. The boost helped Hogarth financially, though Woolf did not always value
1053-519: A well-known editor, politician, and writer. Another son was stillborn in 1915. Sackville-West continued to receive devoted letters from her lover Violet Keppel . She was deeply upset to read of Keppel's engagement to Major Denys Trefusis. Her response was to travel to Paris to see Keppel and persuade her to honour their commitment. Keppel, depressed and suicidal, did eventually marry her fiancé, under pressure from her mother, though Keppel made it clear that she did not love her husband. Sackville-West called
1134-648: A wide array of famous lovers, including financier J. P. Morgan and Sir John Murray Scott (from 1897 until his death in 1912). Scott, secretary to the couple who inherited and developed the Wallace Collection , was a devoted companion and Lady Sackville and he were rarely apart during their years together. During her childhood, Vita spent a great deal of time in Scott's apartments in Paris, perfecting her already fluent French. Sackville-West debuted in 1910. She
1215-479: Is Keppel. Notably, Sackville-West in Challenge defends Keppel against several of the insults Nicolson had applied to her in his letters to her; for example Nicolson often called Keppel a "swine" and a "pig", and in the book Julian goes out of his way to say that Eve is neither a swine nor a pig. In the book, Julian says that "Eve is not a 'little swine', she just has the weaknesses and faults of femininity carried to
1296-876: Is a popular tax haven for many tennis professionals and home to many active and retired athletes. Monte Carlo is host to most of the Circuit de Monaco , on which the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix takes place. It also hosts world championship boxing bouts, the European Poker Tour Grand Final and the World Backgammon Championship as well as the Monaco International Auto Show (Fr: Salon International de l'Automobile de Monaco ), fashion shows and other events. Although
1377-576: Is an official administrative area of Monaco , specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to a larger district, the Monte Carlo Quarter (corresponding to the former municipality of Monte Carlo), which besides Monte Carlo/Spélugues also includes the wards of La Rousse/Saint Roman , Larvotto/Bas Moulins and Saint Michel . The permanent population of
1458-578: Is divided into 9 wards, which are grouped into 4 quartiers. The quarter of Monte Carlo was served by tramways from 1898 to 1931. It linked all parts of Monaco ( see transportation in Monaco ). In 2003 a new cruise ship pier was completed in the harbour at Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo has an area of 28.14 hectares (or 0.28 square kilometers ) and faces the Mediterranean Sea , bordered to the west by Ravin de Sainte-Dévote and La Condamine, and to
1539-565: Is first welcomed and accepted as a woman, as the Romani in the novel make no distinctions between the sexes. Ultimately Woolf satirizes Sackville-West's Romani fetish, as Orlando, an English aristocrat, prefers not to live in poverty as part of wandering Romani caravan in the Balkans, because the call of a settled life of the aristocracy at a country house in England proves too strong for her, just as in real life Sackville-West fantasised about living
1620-783: Is located on the west side of the Place du Casino in the heart of Monte Carlo. It belongs to the Société des bains de mer de Monaco (SBM), and is part of the elite Palace Grand Hotels in Monaco with the Hotel Hermitage , the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel , Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort , the Hotel Metropole and Fairmont hotel. The hotel has 106 rooms divided into four groups based on type of view, decoration and luxury. The Exclusive City View offers 20 rooms,
1701-437: Is over. Not with a quarrel, not with a bang, but as ripe fruit falls. But her voice saying 'Virginia?' outside the tower room was as enchanting as ever. Only then nothing happened. However, the two women reconnected in 1937 and remained close until Woolf's death in 1941. Your friendship means so much to me. In fact it is one of the major things in my life One of Sackville-West's male suitors, Henry Lascelles , would later marry
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#17327902564701782-550: The Bloomsbury Group . She felt herself to be sluggish of mind and she was never at the intellectual heart of her social group. Sackville-West's apparently Roma lineage introduced a passion for "gypsy" ways, a culture she perceived to be hot-blooded, heart-led, dark, and romantic. It informed the stormy nature of many of her later love affairs and was a strong theme in her writing. Sackville-West visited Roma camps and felt herself to be at one with them. Vita's mother had
1863-631: The Hawthornden Prize for Imaginative Literature : in 1927 for her pastoral epic, The Land , and in 1933 for her Collected Poems . She was the inspiration for the protagonist of Orlando: A Biography , by her friend and lover Virginia Woolf . She wrote a column in The Observer from 1946 to 1961 and is remembered for the celebrated garden at Sissinghurst in Kent , created with her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson . Victoria Mary Sackville-West — called Vita, to distinguish her from her mother —
1944-657: The Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament is billed as taking place in the community, its actual location is in the adjacent French commune of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin . The Monte Carlo Rally is one of the longest running and most respected car rallies ; from 1973 to 2008 and again from 2012, it marks the start of World Rally Championship season, having also served as the curtain-raiser for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge between 2009 and 2011. The rally, however, takes place outside
2025-567: The Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort . At the quarter's eastern border, one crosses into the French town of Beausoleil (sometimes referred to as Monte-Carlo-Supérieur), and 8 kilometres (5 mi) to its east is the western border of Italy . In 1856, Charles III of Monaco granted a concession to Napoleon Langlois and Albert Aubert , to establish a sea-bathing facility for the treatment of various diseases, and to build
2106-672: The Prince's Palace , all of which are in Monaco-Ville . The Opéra de Monte-Carlo or Salle Garnier was built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier , who also designed the Paris opera house now known as the Palais Garnier . Although much smaller, the Salle Garnier is very similar in style with decorations in red and gold, and frescoes and sculptures all around the auditorium. It was inaugurated on 25 January 1879 with
2187-659: The Princess Royal and become the 6th Earl of Harewood. In 1927, Sackville-West had an affair with Mary Garman , a member of the Bloomsbury Group; between 1929 and 1931, she maintained a relationship with Hilda Matheson , head of the BBC Talks Department. In 1931, Sackville-West was in a ménage à trois with journalist Evelyn Irons and Irons's lover, Olive Rinder. Irons had interviewed Sackville-West after her novel The Edwardians had become
2268-638: The Rue Laffitte in Paris, and at Sluie, Scott's shooting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, near Banchory . Their secret relationship ended in 1913 when Vita married. Sackville-West was more deeply involved with Violet Keppel , daughter of the Hon. George Keppel and his wife, Alice Keppel . The sexual relationship began when they were both in their teens and strongly influenced them for years. Both later married and became writers. Sackville-West
2349-617: The gambling center ... that has made Monte Carlo an international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth". It is also the location of the Hôtel de Paris , Café de Paris and Salle Garnier (the casino theatre which is the home of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo ). The quarter's eastern part includes the community of Larvotto with Monaco's only public beach, as well as its new convention center (the Grimaldi Forum ), and
2430-549: The 9th degree, but is also redeemed by a self-sacrifice, which is very feminine". Reflecting her obsession with the Romani people, Eve is portrayed as a seductive Romani woman with an "insinuating femininity" that Julian cannot resist, calling him away from his political mission of winning independence on a fictional Greek island during the Greek war of independence. Nicolson wrote in a letter to his wife: "Don't please dedicate it to Violet, it would kill me if you did". When Challenge
2511-660: The British Embassy in Constantinople at the time. Another of Sackville-West's suitors, Lord Granby , had an annual income of £100,000, owned vast acres of land and was heir to an old title, Duke of Rutland . The couple had an open marriage . Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships before and during their marriage, as did some of the Bloomsbury Group of writers and artists, with whom they had connections. Sackville-West saw herself as psychologically divided into two: one side of her personality
Vita Sackville-West - Misplaced Pages Continue
2592-889: The Great War, and she has nothing to occupy her apart from her son Dan (the Jarrolds' heir, who is away at Eton), social events, and visits to her dressmaker. Vane-Merrick is a farming landowner and Member of Parliament, and is writing a book on economics. He represents new, progressive values and the male world of work and economic activity, and Evelyn Jarrold represents traditional values and the female world of family ties and social engagements. The characters of Viola and Leonard Anquetil in Family History are socialists, pacifists and feminists, thinly veiled versions of Virginia and Leonard Woolf . In Orlando , Woolf allowed Vita to finally "own" Knole, and in Family History , Vita returns
2673-496: The Lighthouse , noteworthy for its theme of longing for someone absent, was partly inspired by Sackville-West's frequent absences. Sackville-West inspired Woolf to write one of her most famous novels, Orlando , featuring a protagonist who changes sex over the centuries. This work was described by Sackville-West's son Nigel Nicolson as "the longest and most charming love-letter in literature." There were, however, tensions in
2754-598: The Monte Carlo quarter and is run mostly on French roads. Monte Carlo has been visited by royalty as well as the public and movie stars for decades. Monte Carlo is one of Europe's leading tourist resorts , although many of the key tourist destinations are in other parts of Monaco, including such attractions as Monaco Cathedral , the Napoleon Museum , the Oceanographic Museum and aquarium, and
2835-705: The National Trust. She was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society . In the early 1920s Sackville-West wrote a memoir of her relationships. In it she sought to explain both why she had chosen to stay with Nicolson and why she had fallen in love with Violet Keppel. The work, titled Portrait of a Marriage , was not published until 1973. In the book she uses metaphors from nature to present her account as truthful and honest, describing her life as
2916-591: The Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into a single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or precedence , those inducted into
2997-470: The Romani represented a social element both familiar and strange; a people perceived and admired as flamboyant romantics while at the same time viewed and hated as shifty, dishonest types; a rootless people who belonged nowhere yet could be found everywhere in Europe, serving as a symbol for a sort of unconventional femininity. The picture Sackville-West held of the Romani was much influenced by orientalism , as
3078-558: The Romani were believed to have originated from India. The idea of a people who belonged nowhere, existing outside of the values of "civilization", held genuine appeal to her as it offered up the possibility of gender roles different from those held in the West. Sackville-West was English, but she invented Romani ancestry for herself on the Spanish side of her family, explaining her bohemian behaviour as due to her alleged "Gypsy" descent. Woolf
3159-624: The Superior Courtyard has 29 large rooms, the Exclusive Sea View 59 and the Exclusive Casino has six. Additionally, there are 74 suites and junior suites which are grouped similarly, offering more luxury than the rooms. There are single and double suites as well as courtyard junior suites and Sea/Casino Junior suites. There is also one Presidential suite. In October 2014, a renovation project began, to create
3240-402: The allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony , former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa , a New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author Margaret Atwood was given
3321-585: The artistic peak of both women's careers, owing to the positive influence they had on one another: "neither had ever written so much so well, and neither would ever again reach this peak of accomplishment". In December 1922, Sackville-West first met Virginia Woolf at a dinner party in London. Though Sackville-West came from an aristocratic family that was far richer than Woolf's own, the women bonded over their confined childhoods and emotionally absent parents. Woolf knew about Sackville-West's relationship with Keppel and
Vita Sackville-West - Misplaced Pages Continue
3402-532: The award in 2019. Sebastian Coe , Baron Coe CH represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by a royal crown (but, until recently, surmounted by an imperial crown ), and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree, a shield with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on
3483-634: The books' romantic themes. The increased security of the Press's fortunes allowed Woolf to write more experimental novels such as The Waves . Though contemporary critics consider Woolf a better writer, critics in the 1920s viewed Sackville-West as more accomplished, with her books outselling Woolf's by a large margin. Sackville-West loved to travel, frequently going to France, Spain and to visit Nicolson in Persia. These trips were emotionally draining for Woolf, who missed Sackville-West intensely. Woolf's novel To
3564-489: The capital of the Ottoman Empire . Sackville-West loved Constantinople, but the duties of a diplomat's wife did not appeal to her. It was only during this time that she attempted to don, with good grace, the part of a "correct and adoring wife of the brilliant young diplomat", as she sarcastically wrote. When she became pregnant, in the summer of 1914, the couple returned to England to ensure that she could give birth in
3645-536: The classification of merit. It is now described as being "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The first recipients of the order were all decorated for "services in connection with the war " and were listed in The London Gazette . The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who is the Sovereign of
3726-490: The coronation of Rezā Khan and got to know the six-year old Crown Prince Mohammad Reza well. She also visited and wrote about the former capital of Isfahan to see the Safavid palaces. Sackville-West's relationship with the prominent writer Virginia Woolf began in 1925 and ended in 1935, reaching its height between 1925 and 1928. The American scholar Louise DeSalvo wrote that the ten years while they were together were
3807-913: The death of her father; this was a source of life-long bitterness for her. The house followed the title, and was bequeathed instead by her father to his brother Charles, who became the 4th Baron . Sackville-West was initially taught at home by governesses and later attended Helen Wolff's school for girls, an exclusive day school in Mayfair, where she met first loves Violet Keppel and Rosamund Grosvenor. She did not befriend local children and found it hard to make friends at school. Her biographers characterise her childhood as one filled by loneliness and isolation. She wrote prolifically at Knole, penning eight full-length (unpublished) novels between 1906 and 1910, ballads and many plays, some in French. Her lack of formal education led to later shyness with her peers, such as those in
3888-654: The ears of a new generation, one so infinitely more compassionate than her own?" Sackville-West was fascinated with and often wrote about the Roma people. As the British scholar Kirstie Blair noted, for her: "Gypsies represent liberation, excitement, danger and the free expression of sexuality". In particular, the Roma women, especially Spanish Romani women, served as a symbol for female homosexuality in her writings. As with many other female writers in this period, for Sackville-West,
3969-439: The east by La Rousse and Larvotto. Monte Carlo has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa), which is influenced by oceanic climate and humid subtropical climate . As a result, it has warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Monte Carlo is home to an ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament during the clay court season usually played during the end of March through mid to late April. Monte Carlo
4050-522: The gesture, as the Anquetils have children who turned out to be intelligent and decent people. Woolf had never had children and was afraid that she would have been a bad mother. In casting her fictional alter-ego as an excellent mother she was offering a "gift" to Woolf. Order of the Companions of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms . It
4131-542: The land. Nicolson provided the architectural structure, with strong classical lines, which would frame his wife's innovative informal planting schemes. She created a new and experimental system of enclosures or rooms, such as the White Garden, Rose Garden, Orchard, Cottage Garden and Nuttery. She also innovated single colour-themed gardens and design principles orientating the visitors' experience to discovery and exploration. Her first garden at Long Barn (Kent, 1915–1930)
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#17327902564704212-420: The left shoulder. Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( / ˌ m ɒ n t i ˈ k ɑːr l oʊ / MON -tee KAR -loh , Italian: [ˈmonte ˈkarlo] ; French : Monte-Carlo , French: [mɔ̃te kaʁlo] ; or colloquially Monte-Carl , French: [mɔ̃te kaʁl] ; Monégasque : Munte Carlu , Ligurian: [ˈmuŋte ˈkaɾlu] ; lit. ' Mount Charles ' )
4293-527: The left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR , Alexander Pope 's description (in iambic pentameter ) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs the Younger , later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey . Men wear the badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at
4374-610: The lovers ran off again to France together and their husbands chased after them in a small two-seater aeroplane . Sackville-West heard allegations that Keppel and her husband Trefusis had been involved sexually, and she broke off the relationship as the lesbian oath of fidelity had been broken. Despite the rift, the two women stayed devoted to one another. From 1925 to 1927, Nicolson lived in Tehran where Sackville-West often visited him. Sackville-West's book A Passenger to Tehran recounts her time there. The couple were involved in planning
4455-492: The marriage her own greatest failure. Sackville-West and Keppel disappeared together several times from 1918 on, mostly to France. One day in 1918 Vita writes that she experienced a radical 'liberation', where her male aspect was unexpectedly freed. She writes: "I went into wild spirits; I ran, I shouted, I jumped, I climbed, I vaulted over gates, I felt like a schoolboy let out on a holiday ... that wild irresponsible day". The mothers of both women joined forces to sabotage
4536-455: The marriage of Sackville-West's parents was initially happy, the couple drifted apart shortly after her birth. Lionel took a mistress, an opera singer who came to live with them at Knole. Knole had been given to Thomas Sackville by Elizabeth I, in the sixteenth century. The Sackville-West family followed the English aristocracy's inheritance customs, preventing Vita from inheriting Knole upon
4617-455: The nomadic life of a Romani, but in reality preferred the settled life in the English countryside. Orlando , which was intended as a fantasy where the character of Orlando (a stand-in for Sackville-West) inherits an estate, not unlike Knole (which Sackville-West would have inherited as the eldest child if she had been a man), ironically marked the beginning of a tension between the two women. Sackville-West often complained in her letters that Woolf
4698-567: The order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH . Appointments to the order are generally made on the advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom , seven for Australia , two each for New Zealand and South Africa , and nine for India , Burma , and
4779-542: The other British colonies . The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven. Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped
4860-572: The personality she had been born with, portraying herself as an accursed woman who should be the object of sympathy, not condemnation. In 1973, when her son Nigel Nicolson published Portrait of a Marriage , he was uncertain if he was going to be charged with obscenity, going to considerable lengths to stress the legitimacy of a love for a person of the same sex in his introduction. Despite portraying herself as in some way "deviant" because of her feelings for women, Sackville-West also wrote in Portrait of
4941-422: The portrayal obvious enough to refuse to allow publication of the novel in England; but Vita's son Nigel Nicolson praises his mother: "She fought for the right to love, men and women, rejecting the conventions that marriage demands exclusive love, and that women should love only men, and men only women. For this she was prepared to give up everything ... How could she regret that the knowledge of it should now reach
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#17327902564705022-620: The relationship and force their daughters back to their husbands. But they were unsuccessful. Sackville-West often dressed as a man, styled as Keppel's husband. The two women made a bond to remain faithful to one another, pledging that neither would engage in sexual relations with their husbands. Keppel continued to pursue her lover to great lengths, until Sackville-West's affairs with other women finally took their toll. In November 1919, while staying at Monte Carlo, Sackville-West wrote that she felt very low, entertaining thoughts of suicide, believing that Nicolson would be better off without her. In 1920
5103-460: The relationship. Woolf was often bothered by what she viewed as Sackville-West's promiscuity, charging that Sackville-West's great need for sex led her to take up with anyone who struck her fancy. In A Room of One's Own (1929), Woolf attacks patriarchal inheritance laws. This was an implicit criticism of Sackville-West, who never questioned the leading social and political position of the aristocracy to which she belonged. She felt that Sackville-West
5184-497: The two grew close, Woolf disclosed that as a child she had been abused by her step-brother. It was largely due to Sackville-West's support that Woolf began to heal from the trauma, allowing her for the first time to have a satisfying erotic relationship. Woolf purchased a mirror during a trip to France with Sackville-West, saying she felt she could look in a mirror for the first time in her life. Sackville-West's support gave Woolf greater confidence and helped her cast off her self-image of
5265-424: The ward of Monte Carlo is about 3,500, while that of the quarter is about 15,000. Monaco has four traditional quarters. From west to east they are: Fontvieille (the newest), Monaco-Ville (the oldest), La Condamine , and Monte Carlo. Monte Carlo is situated on a prominent escarpment at the base of the Maritime Alps along the French Riviera . Near the quarter's western end is the "world-famous Place du Casino,
5346-416: Was born on 9 March 1892 at Knole , the Kent home of Sackville-West's aristocratic ancestors. She was the only child of cousins Victoria Sackville-West and Lionel Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville . Vita's mother, the illegitimate daughter of Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville and the Spanish dancer Pepita (Josefa de Oliva, née Durán y Ortega), had been raised in a Parisian convent. Although
5427-558: Was born with, portraying heterosexuality as the norm that she wanted, but failed to live up to. Several times, Sackville-West stated that she wrote Portrait of a Marriage for scientific purposes so people would be able to understand bisexual people, which would thus allow her, despite her self-condemnation, to present her sexuality as in some way normal. Several of the sexologists Sackville-West cited, most notably Carpenter and Ellis, had argued that homosexuality and bisexuality were in fact normal, and despite her condemning herself, her use of
5508-475: Was completed in 1883. It was restored in its centenary year. The municipality of Monte Carlo was created in 1911, when the constitution divided the principality of Monaco into three municipalities. Monte Carlo encompassed the existing neighborhoods of La Rousse/Saint Roman, Larvotto/Bas Moulins, and Saint Michel. The municipalities merged in 1917, after accusations that the government used them to "divide and conquer". Since then, they became wards . Today, Monaco
5589-417: Was courted for 18 months by young diplomat Harold Nicolson , whom she found to be a secretive character. She writes that the wooing was entirely chaste and throughout they did not so much as kiss. In 1913, at age 21, Vita married him in the private chapel at Knole. Vita's parents were opposed to the marriage on the grounds that "penniless" Nicolson had an annual income of only £250. He was the third secretary at
5670-501: Was experimental, a place of learning by trial and error and she carried over her ideas and projects to Sissinghurst, using her hard won experience. Sissinghurst was first opened to the public in 1938. Sackville-West took up writing again in 1930 after a six-year break as she needed money to pay for Sissinghurst. Nicolson, having left the Foreign Office, no longer had a diplomat's salary to draw upon. She also had to pay tuition for her two sons to attend Eton College . She felt she had become
5751-407: Was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire . The order was originally intended to be conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seemed to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour dissociated from either the acceptance of title or
5832-483: Was four years her senior. In her journal, Vita wrote "Oh, I dare say I realized vaguely that I had no business to sleep with Rosamund, and I should certainly never have allowed anyone to find it out," but she saw no real conflict. Lady Sackville, Vita's mother, invited Rosamund to visit the family at their villa in Monte Carlo (1910). Rosamund also stayed with Vita at Knole House , at Murray Scott's pied-à-terre on
5913-408: Was impressed by her free spirit. Sackville-West greatly admired Woolf's writings, considering her to be the better author. She told Woolf in one letter: "I contrast my illiterate writing with your scholarly one, and I am ashamed". Though Woolf envied Sackville-West's ability to write quickly, she was inclined to believe that the volumes were written too much in haste: "Vita's prose is too fluent". As
5994-482: Was inspired by Sackville-West to write her novel Orlando (1928), featuring a protagonist who changes sex over the centuries. Reflecting Sackville-West's interest in the Romani, when Orlando goes to bed as a man and mysteriously wakes up as a woman in Constantinople (which is implied might have been the result of a spell cast by a Romani witch whom he married), it is at a Romani camp in the Balkans that Orlando
6075-472: Was more feminine, soft, submissive, and attracted to men while the other side was more masculine, hard, aggressive, and attracted to women. Following the pattern of his father's career, Harold Nicolson was at various times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament, and author of biographies and novels. After the wedding the couple lived in Cihangir , a suburb of Constantinople (now Istanbul),
6156-461: Was more interested in writing a fantasy about her than in returning her gestures of affection in the real world. Sackville-West's 1932 novel Family History tells the story of Evelyn Jarrold, a rich widow who married into a family which owes its recent wealth and social position to the ownership of coal mines, and her ill-fated love affair with Miles Vane-Merrick, a much younger man with progressive social ideas. Evelyn Jarrold's husband, Tommy, died in
6237-561: Was published in 1924, the dedication was written in Romani reading: "This book is yours, honoured witch. If you read it, you will find your tormented soul changed and free". Throughout their relationship, Keppel was given to threatening suicide if Sackville-West left her, a character trait shared by Eve, who finally drowns herself by walking in the sea when Julian is aboard a boat and too far off to hear her calling for him. The book's ending reflected Sackville-West's guilt about breaking her relationship with Keppel. Her mother, Lady Sackville, found
6318-621: Was the only way possible at the time to express this side of her personality, writing "even if annihilating herself seemed the only way she could present any type of acceptable self." The memoir was dramatised by the BBC (and PBS in North America) in 1990, starring Janet McTeer as Vita, and Cathryn Harrison as Violet. The series won four BAFTAs . Sackville-West's novel Challenge (1923) also bears witness to her affair with Keppel: Sackville-West and Keppel had started writing this book as
6399-634: Was too weak and too self-indulgent to struggle". At various times, Sackville-West called herself a "pariah" with a "perverted nature" and "unnatural" feelings for Keppel, who was portrayed as a tempting, if degrading, object of her desire. Sackville-West called for a "spirit of candor" in society that would allow for tolerance of gay and bisexual people. Much influenced by the theories promoted by sexologists like Magnus Hirschfeld , Edward Carpenter , Richard von Krafft-Ebing , Havelock Ellis and Sigmund Freud , Sackville-West sometimes wrote of her sexuality as abnormal and wrong and due to some psychological flaw she
6480-586: Was unable to critique the system she was both a part of and, to a certain extent, a victim of. In the 1930s they clashed over Nicolson's "unfortunate" involvement with Oswald Mosley and the New Party (later renamed the British Union of Fascists ), and they were at odds over the imminent war. Sackville-West supported rearmament while Woolf remained loyal to her pacifism; this contributed to the distancing of their relationship in 1935. My friendship to Vita
6561-496: Was wooed by Orazio Pucci, son of a distinguished Florentine family; by Lord Granby (later 9th Duke of Rutland) ; and by Lord Lascelles (later 6th Earl of Harewood) , among others. In 1924 she had a passionate affair with historian Geoffrey Scott . Scott's marriage collapsed shortly thereafter, as was often the fallout with Sackville-West's affairs, all with women after this point (as most of them had been beforehand). Sackville-West fell in love with Rosamund Grosvenor (1888–1944), who
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