American princess, British aristocracy - the Kennedy tragedy

Inspired by the blog bookaddiction, I thought I better familiarise myself with the story of a relatively unknown Kennedy. The book review analysed The True Story of Kick Kennedy, JFK's Forgotten Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth, written by by Paula Byrne.

For people of my generation, who came to adulthood when JFK died and his brother Robert had been Attorney General for JFK and for President Johnson, there was little known about those Kennedy sib­lings who died earlier. I knew that Joseph Kennedy (1915–1944) died during WW2 while serving in the Navy. And I knew that rebel­lious Rose­mary Kennedy (1918-2005) had been lobotomised in 1941 at her fat­her’s demand and lived the rest of her life in a psychiatric inst­it­ution. But who was Kathleen Kennedy (1920-1948) and why was she not filmed every time the family had a get together in the 1950s and 1960s?

Kathleen was the fourth child of Joseph & Rose Kennedy. She was sent away to the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich Conn and hated it. But most historical articles about Kathleen started when her father was given the job as American ambassador to the Court of St James London in 1938. Joseph, the first ever Irish-Catholic American EVER thus honoured, arrived in a fanfare of publicity. Beside him were his wife, daughter Kathleen and the younger children

Edward, Jeanne, Robert, Patricia, Eunice, Kathleen, Rosemary and John, then Rose and Joseph Kennedy, London 1938
Photo credit: Daily Mail

Joseph and Rose thought their daughter Kathleen was very unattractive but the British aristocrats thought she was liberated and fun, unlike English girls. The parents decided to arrange for Kathleen to be presented at Court, as a debutante. The London Season consisted of a round of dinners and dances that took place each summer, as the girls from top quality families were placed on a marriage market. Clearly Kathleen made an impact; the 18-year-old was named debutante of the year as she caught the eye of every aristocratic lad.

I had heard this type of story before – when American money married British aristocracy in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. But the Kennedys did not intend to emulate these wealthy Americans who had bought British titles and palaces for their daughters. Kath­leen would go home with her family to the USA and get married there!

She did not. The opp­or­t­­unity to meet suitable men arose at a Friday evening house party at Cliveden, Lord and Lady Astor’s Italianate palace in Buckinghamshire. Note that Lady Nancy Astor, originally an Americ­an herself, was very supportive of young American girls in Britain.

But the real joy came in April 1938 when she met William Cavendish Marquis of Hart­ington, Duke of Devonshire's son. Yes the Marquis was one of the city’s richest and most eligible bachel­ors in the entire British Empire, but his family was vigorously Prot­est­ant and the Ken­n­edy family was vigorously Catholic. Since there was no wiggle room on either side, the relationship seemed doomed.

Kathleen Kennedy with the Marquis of Hartington
at Goodwood Races, Sussex
in July 1938

Once the war started in August 1939, Joe Kennedy sent his family back to the USA, despite the young couple’s desire to be together. For the next four years, Kick unhappily stayed in the USA while William was still serving in the British Army. Determined to make her way back to the UK, Kathleen joined the Red Cross and sailed to Britain.

Rose Kennedy wrote in her diary that she was horrified and heart-broken by her daughter’s decision to marry William. For Kathleen, who loved and protected her mother, it was an agonising choice. After months of meetings with both Anglican and Catholic clerics, a compromise was reached: they would marry in a registry office and any children would be brought up as Protestant. Despite her parents’ temper tantrums, wed they did in May 1944; it was a civil ceremony in Chelsea. Her brother Lieutenant Joe Jr was the only Kennedy there.

Tragedy struck almost immediately. In August of the same year, Joe Jr (aged 29) was killed when his plane exploded while he was over France on a bomb­ing mission. William returned to his unit in France and was kill­ed in action in Belgium, barely four months after he had married the new Lady Harrington.

Eventually the social whirl of dinner parties in the city and estate weekends in the countryside reduced the pain. The next time Lady Har­t­ington fell in love, her parents were totally out­rag­ed. Peter Went­worth 8th Earl Fitzwilliam was of course aristo­crat­ic, Protestant and VERY wealthy, but he was married! Fitz­william was in the pro­cess of divorcing his wife before he fell for Kathleen, but the Kennedys didn’t care. During the worst days when Kathleen didn’t know what her parents would do, she enjoyed some sort of life in a pretty Georgian house in Smith Square, Westminster. [Fitzwilliam lived nearby].

Kathleen & William's wedding photo 
with the Duke & Duchess of Devonshire, and Joe Kennedy Jr
Chelsea Registry Office,
May 1944

Joseph Kennedy demanded he speak to the young couple, but this too ended in tragedy. While flying to Cannes tog­eth­er, the plane stopped in Paris to refuel. When the pilot insisted that the turbulent weather conditions had made it unsafe to take off, the Earl demanded that the aircraft leave without delay. Storms caused the small plane to crash in the mountains, killing all pas­sengers and crew aboard. Kathleen was 28. Rose Kenn­edy did not attend her daughter's funeral and dis­couraged the eight surviving siblings from attending. So her father Joe was the only Kennedy at the funeral. 

I am not sure if I believe this next story. Because JFK's Washington political career was on the rise, and because of the "scandalous" circumstances surrounding Kathleen's affair, the Kennedy family agreed never to mention Kathleen’s name in public.  Kathleen Kennedy Cavend­ish, Marchioness of Hartington, was buried almost secretly on the Chatsworth estate. Years later JFK finally wrote to the Duchess of Devonshire, thanking her for the beautiful arrangements that she had made for his late sister Kathleen.

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Some families seem blighted. In 1984 Robert  Kennedy’s son David died of a drug overdose aged 28. In 1997 another of Robert’s sons, Michael, died in a skiing accident in Aspen Colorado, aged 39. Two years later John Kennedy Jr along with 2 other family members were killed when the plane he was flying crashed in Martha’s Vineyard Mass. He was 39.