When Lions Roar by Thomas Maier

Author:Thomas Maier [Maier, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-95681-1
Publisher: Random House Inc.
Published: 2014-10-27T16:00:00+00:00

Within ten minutes on a Saturday morning in May 1944, Kick Kennedy married Billy Hartington inside the austere Chelsea Registry Office, far from the majestic churches she once envisioned for a wedding. No vows were exchanged, and no one from the Kennedy family attended except her oldest brother, Joe Jr., who gave her away.

Billy wore his Coldstream Guards army uniform, and Kick appeared enchantingly in a light pink crepe dress, assembled with the help of wartime clothing coupons donated by friends. Kathleen Cavendish, the new Marchioness of Hartington, no longer seemed that girlish Red Cross volunteer on a bicycle darting past the bombed-out buildings of London, but rather an attractive young woman content with her difficult choices in life. Reporters and photographers, alert to the controversial wedding, hounded the newlyweds. They smiled dutifully for the cameras outside the redbrick registry building, before shuttling to a reception of champagne and cake. In the press photographs, the Duke of Devonshire stands stoically beside the beaming couple. Reporters noted their wedding “was the first time since 1694 that an heir to the dukedom of Devonshire had been married outside the family chapel.”

Lady Nancy Astor and Marie Bruce, another friend of Rose Kennedy, attended the wedding as the bride’s only guests. DEAREST ROSE, YOU WOULD REJOICE IN THEIR YOUNG HAPPINESS, they cabled. ONLY GRIEF YOUR SORROW. In America, an emotionally distraught Rose Kennedy checked herself into a hospital, partly to avoid the badgering questions about her daughter’s marriage outside the Church. “I was very worried about a newspaper report here that you were very ill,” Kick wrote to her mother three days later, while on her honeymoon. “They made out that it was because of my marriage. Goodness mother—I owe so much to you and Daddy that nothing in the world could have made me go against your will … Please don’t take any responsibility for an action, which you think bad (and I do not). You did everything in your power to stop it. You did your duty as a Roman Catholic mother. You have not failed.”

Initially, Joe Kennedy mirrored his wife’s opposition to a wedding outside the Church. His rejection slowly melted, though, as he realized the depth of his daughter’s love for Billy. As he explained to Jack’s friend Tony Rosslyn, “When Kathleen feels that strongly about anything, I go along with her.” To Sir James Calder, his associate in the British liquor business, Joe conceded, “Rose and I finally came around to your point of view—that they will get married and settle things afterward.” With Lord Beaverbrook, Joe was at his most candid: “I see now that I’ve lost one of my daughters to England,” he admitted. “She was the apple of my eye and I feel the loss because I won’t have her near me all the time, but I’m sure she’s going to be wonderfully happy and I can assure you that England is getting a great girl.” The war had claimed his daughter’s affections, but Kennedy’s main concern remained his oldest son’s safety as a combat pilot.

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