married in 1933
I didn’t enjoy the 1967 diary of Channon, so I will reblog Nigel Jones’ review of Henry Chips Channon: The Diaries 1918-38 Vol 1 (ed Simon Heffer). And Rachel Cooke’s review. Then I will add my own comments.
Henry Chips Channon (1897–1958) grew up in a wealthy Chicago family. His mother had connections in Paris, and the first Chips diary began in Paris in 1918, where he became an honorary attache at the US embassy. He had dinners with Marcel Proust and Jean Cocteau, and drove to Ypres to see the trenches. Then he moved to Oxford to study and to make useful connections; and then to London, where he shared a house with Paul of Yugoslavia and Viscount Gage, and set about attracting Lord Curzon, the foreign secretary.
Channon loved royal and aristocratic society, and had a minor political career as a Tory MP. He increased his income by marrying Honor, daughter of Lord Iveagh of the Guinness brewing dynasty. With their marriage in 1933, the gates to a lavish world were flung fully open. His father-in-law helped him to buy his house in Belgravia, with its grand dining room, decorated to resemble Amalienburg, the rococo royal hunting lodge near Munich. The couple’s son Paul inherited the Southend parliamentary seat and became a Minister in Thatcher’s government.
But Chips’ chief legacy was his voluminous diaries. Snobbish to a glaring fault, his hatreds and his loves were equally intense. An apostle of appeasement with Germany and a loather of his native land to an insane degree, Channon was a difficult man to like. Such was the vitriol of his poison pen that the only previous edition of his diaries, published in 1967 when most of his subjects were still alive, was a heavily redacted version. It was edited by Tory MP Robert James, in one slim volume that caused a sensation.
Now journalist Simon Heffer completed a huge task, assembling the surviving diaries and editing them. In 2018 Heffer was asked by Channon’s grandchildren to open grandpa’s unfashionable, racist and reactionary political views, and his indiscreet glimpses into his own private life and those of his friends. The mammoth job took Heffer 3 years! The first large volume was published in March 2021; the second and third will follow.
Read of the frequent visits to London brothels accompanied by his buddy Lord Gage, with whom he was cloyingly besotted. Channon sampled le vice anglais via a birching from a German dominatrix and by a paedophile occultist scholar. He also had a gay affair with Prince Paul, pro-Nazi regent of Yugoslavia.
Channon’ sympathy for the Nazi regime was seen when he attended the 1936 Berlin Olympics with wife Honor and their smart friends. They enjoyed lavish parties thrown by Goering & Goebbels and “visited a labour camp which looked tidy: the boys fair, healthy and sunburned. England could learn many a lesson from Nazi Germany. I cannot understand the English dislike and suspicion of the Nazi regime. O England wake up! Germany was fighting our battle.”
At home Channon was engulfed in the Abdication crisis. A friend of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, he had an insider’s view of events and mourned the king’s departure. Despite the author’s snobbery and nasty opinions, the diaries were vital for those interested in interwar Britain’s political-social history.
in Channon’s house, Belgrave Square, 1947
TLS
King George VI, Channon wrote, was a well-meaning bore and no patch at all on his brother King Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor. Edward was unintellectual, uneducated and badly bred, but would have made a brilliant King notwithstanding his Nazi leanings. How did Channon know? He and Wallis Simpson were both Americans who became friends, both working their way into high society. In 1935, the noted hostess Emerald Cunard was trying to recruit friends for Wallis; Chips was her first choice.
He was a natural journalist and had lots of highly privileged information. Heffer’s footnotes often resembled a page of Burke’s peerage eg he had a fling with actress Tallulah Bankhead and dined with HG Wells, Evelyn Waugh, Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams.
Channon never thrived in politics. The peak of his success was to be parliamentary private secretary to Rab Butler, when he was Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office. His real genius was for friendship and he was desperately keen to be liked.
But his loyalty also led him astray. He was raving about Neville Chamberlain, before Chamberlain travelled to meet Hitler in 1938 as a bulwark against Bolshevism; Channon believed his hero had saved the world. What about Channon’s attitude to the Nazis? It was appalling to see the full extent of the enthusiasm of the British ruling classes for that regime in the 1930s.
published by Hutchinson 2021
My concerns
Edited by Simon Heffer without redaction, the 2021 diary revealed more sordid detail about British high society and their sex lives. But _I_ need to know much more about what Channon thought the dynamism and organisation of Nazi Germany and what he thought their future would be. He was not an ignorant man but he expected Hitler to bring back the Kaiser and his Hohenzollern dynasty. By Nov 1935, he asked himself as an MP: “Shall I have the courage to raise my lonely voice in favour of Germany in the House?” After dinner with anti-appeasers like Duff Cooper, he told his diary: “I longed to cry out Heil Hitler! Secretly, I am pro-German and prefer even the Nazis to the French.”
Hello Hels, In the early 20th century, we see over and over, in both Britishers and Americans, such virulent hatred that these people were willing to give away England just so that those they hated (and incidentally without any valid or solid reason) could be repressed and killed. I would like to read a psychological profile of people who are willing to suffer just in order to hurt their enemies--I am sure there are several such papers. And all this hatred of innocent people leading to self destruction is rampant in the world again, the U.S. being the prime example.
ReplyDeletePhooey on that disgusting monster, Chips Channon--even his grandchildren apparently wanted him exposed.
--Jim
Parnassus
DeleteChannon started out with great promise - in the US embassy, studying at Oxford, getting a seat in Parliament and marrying into the aristocracy. I would not have assumed that what you said about hatred of innocent people would have been relevant.
Yet Simon Heffer found gross misogyny, anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, Nazi sympathies and world-class snobbery. Yet as repulsive as Chips Channon was, readers found him to be an inspired diarist.
Your reflections expose not only the decadence of Britain’s elite but also the alarming ease with which some admired the discipline and power of Nazi Germany
ReplyDeleteroentare
DeleteI wondered why, whatever Channon's personal thoughts, he would at least restrain his speech in public. But even as a Parliamentarian, in 1935, he asked himself if he should raise his lonely voice in favour of Germany in Parliament House. He felt very close to King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, especially in the relationship with senior Nazis. And he wrote he longed to cry out Heil Hitler! Secretly, he wrote, he was pro-German and preferred even the Nazis to the French.
I wonder if the only difference between him and other ruling elite, is that he kept diaries and the others didn't. Same mindset, just not written down.
ReplyDeleteAndrew
DeleteDid Channon want people to read his diary entries as he wrote them? Was he happy for people to read his diary entries ONLY after his death? Were the diaries to remain his legacy to the British nation for ever? Perhaps other aristocrats thought the same way as Channon but, as you said, didn't write daily entries.
How interesting Hels. One man's view on life via diaries he kept. Sounds like aa man who had a good time and seemed to speak his mind in his writings.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
Deleteseems like the goal of many aristocrats: make money, have a good time, make friends with other influential people, raise children who would carry on the family title successfully, earn a seat in Parliament and.. oops, did I mention, make money?
It was interesting to follow the links. He was an entertaining but not great diarist, more interested in gossip, self-centred and self-serving to a great degree.
ReplyDeletejabblog
DeleteHis goals were political advancement, social connections and influence in the UK's aristocratic and political circles. So his marriage into a real, aristocratic and wealthy family was totally appropriate.
But I still don't know where his pro-Nazi views fitted into his goals.
No es ningún secreto que tengo una relación muy profunda y personal con Dios. He resistido esa relación este último año a pesar de todas las tonterías que he tenido que soportar viviendo con herpes, pero una vez más, Dios es más grande que mi terquedad y me ayudó a superar ese brote, con herpes labial incluido, que tenía herpes genital. Personalmente, escuchar una y otra vez que no soy lo suficientemente buena me ha invadido la mente de la peor manera posible. Me cerré por completo y me despertaba pensando: "¿Así va a terminar la vida, con este brote temporal de herpes?". "Que se jodan todos los que tienen herpes, si sabes a qué me refiero". Pero seamos honestos... Es cobarde decir que no a la medicina herbal. Se basa en el miedo. Y es deshonesto con lo que mi corazón desea. No te atrincheres por miedo a las hierbas o a dar un paso audaz, especialmente cuando se trata de problemas de salud y de curarte. Tantos hombres/mujeres jóvenes me dicen una y otra vez que el Dr. Jekawo me va a estafar, pero hoy lo intento. Siento que nadie me convencerá nunca sobre la medicina herbal. Acepto la medicina herbal del Dr. Jekawo porque curó mi herpes solo dos semanas después de beberla y he estado viviendo durante un año y meses y ahora no experimento más brotes. Puede contactarlo si necesita su medicina herbal para enfermedades como herpes, Parkinson, diabetes, hepatitis, síndrome, cánceres, VIH, epilepsia, infertilidad y cualquier tipo de enfermedad e infecciones. Hechizo de amor. Correo electrónico: drjekawo@gmail.com y luego www.drjekawo.com. Mi consejo para cualquier hombre/mujer enfermo es simple... Siempre sea un libro abierto. Sea desgarrador, honesto acerca de usted mismo, su situación y lo que es. No se guarde nada. Contenerse no le llevará a ninguna parte... tal vez un boleto de ida a Lonelyville, y ese NO es un lugar en el que quiera estar. Así que mi verdad final... y apenas estoy empezando a comprenderla...
ReplyDeleteCelestino
DeleteThanks for reading the post on the nasty Chips Channon. My Spanish is poor, so I need to check whether you think herbal medicine would have helped him and his equally nasty colleagues?
Being a reader, I know how I often want something from a book, and either because the book was written up in a different manner or because of how the author wrote, I didn't get what I wanted from the book. Sadly it happens. I'm sure you'll agree. Sorry you didn't discover what you wanted. But the question is, did you learn anything new or useful? Thanks for the write up. Hope you're having a super weekend.
ReplyDeleteErika
DeleteAlthough I knew all about Long Edward, Wallis Simpson and their like minded aristocratic supporters, I didn't know anything about Channon! Thus I had no expectations about the Heffer book. I just wish it had been published MUCH earlier.
Well very interesting Hels.
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough about the subject to comment , but I did wonder whether the appeal of Nazism was (1) before awareness of the final solutions and the depths of the evil became clear, and (2) because they were outwardly anti-communist (when this was a real fear) and (3) because Germany seemed to recover much quicker than most Europeans after the crash of 1929. So it looked like a strong state... Of course for reasons British were unaware.
I also find it interesting that Gore Vidal met Evelyn Waugh. I would like to listened and watched them at that table.
Liam
DeleteSince wealthy British royals and aristocrats worried about their own fame, estates and investments, their greatest fear was Bolshevism, socialism and workers' rights.
I am assuming they believed Nazism would bring peace and riches to their European supporters.
Your summary highlights the duality of his observations: valuable historical insight on interwar Britain and European politics, paired with alarming personal biases and sympathies for the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteMelody
DeleteI have seen that duality before. Religious leaders in medieval Germany _truly_ wanted to rid the nation of immorality, yet they slaughtered innocent women as witches without hesitation.
Personal biases are more powerful than clever insights into history
Never heard of the fella, did like the post, wasn't impressed by the dude though
ReplyDeleteJo-Anne
DeleteNasty he was, yes. But even in my dotage, I still find the blogging world a great source of learning.