Rose: My Life in Service to Lady Astor by Rosina Harrison

Author:Rosina Harrison
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, Inc.
Published: 2011-12-26T22:00:00+00:00

7

The Astor Family

As I was afraid I would when I began, I have given the impression that we served only one person, Lady Astor. This isn’t true and I must try and explain why. In fact the standards of service and behaviour were set by his lordship, reflected on to Mr Lee and in turn from him on to us. Mr Lee had joined as a footman in 1912. A few years later he became valet to Lord Astor and was therefore very close to him. He liked and admired everything that he saw of Lord Astor and tried to emulate him either consciously or unconsciously. And not only outwardly. He caught a lot of the inner man too, so that when he came to a position of authority he was able to command us in the same way as his lordship had, through example. Everyone is the better for having known a good person. Mr Lee was in a way an intimate of Lord Astor’s and later a disciple. A good commander, a man of real worth, delegates authority. He doesn’t keep running around to see if his orders are being carried out – he doesn’t need to. He has trust and gives it; the moment that trust is abused he knows it and takes action, but he’s also aware that the more that he gives the greater will be his return. That was his lordship and that was Mr Lee. It wasn’t Lady Astor. It wasn’t her fault, nor was it true all the time, but she had to interfere; it was in her nature, and she had to test from time to time to make sure that even those to whom she had seemed to have given the most trust were not taking advantage of her, but responding to her with loyalty. She did this with me almost to the end of her life.

Lord Astor was a good man of great stature. When you read about such men they seem dull, but to be with they are not, nor are they to remember. Without his lordship I am certain that a small part of history would be changed. Her ladyship would not have been the first woman Member to take her seat in Parliament, she would not be famed as a hostess; for one thing she would never have kept the staff to do it. His presence provided the stability and the permanence that was necessary for her to dance her life around. Having said that it is almbst all there is to say. He had chosen a political life; it was cut off through no fault of his own and inherited by my lady. He continued to devote his time and money to helping the less fortunate, but in this world it seems to me it’s words not deeds that count, or at any rate it’s words that keep you in the public eye. His relationship with Lady Astor was one of a young love which had matured over the years into a lasting deep affection.

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