In Defense of the Princess by Jerramy Fine

Author:Jerramy Fine
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780762458783
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2015-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Jackie

I am a woman above all else.

– JACQUELINE KENNEDY

JACKIE ONCE SAID THAT President Kennedy was especially fond of this song lyric:

Don’t ever let it be forgot,

that once there was a spot,

for one brief shining moment, that was known

as Camelot.

And we haven’t forgotten. Even if we weren’t alive to experience the Kennedy mystique, this particular fairy tale still lives on in our hearts—without the help of Disney or a happy ending.

The analogy so often used to describe the Kennedy administration is based on the hit Broadway musical Camelot, which depicts King Arthur’s realm as nothing less than idyllic. “It alluded to a magic moment in American history,” says Theodore White of Life magazine. “Gallant men danced with beautiful women, great deeds were done, artists, writers and poets met at the White House and the barbarians beyond the walls were held back.”9

So while Grace and Diana became real princesses, it was during this era of Camelot that Jackie Kennedy became America’s first Queen.

Like all these archetypal women, Jackie was always more than just a pretty face. Shrewdly intelligent, she went to Vassar College, won a writing contest for Vogue magazine, and, at only twenty-four years old, was hired by the Washington Times-Herald as the “Inquiring Camera Girl” to travel to London and cover Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Little did Jackie know that, exactly eight years later, she would be married to the US president and dining at Buckingham Palace as the Queen’s honored guest. (Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that dinner party!)

The Kennedys brought a unique style and charisma to the White House that Washington had never seen before. Jackie and her husband radiated modernity, stability, and family unity, and, for the first time, the presidential couple seemed interesting, even appealing, to those outside of political circles.

“Holding court” is inherent to the royal archetype, and it is something Jackie did extraordinarily well. With Jackie at the helm, White House guests were no longer just boring heads of state; soon they included Nobel laureates, artists, musicians, and intellectuals. Jackie spoke fluent Spanish when visiting Harlem and fluent French when seated next to President de Gaulle.

“Jackie cast a particular spell over the White House that has never been equaled,” said Benjamin Bradlee, former editor of the Washington Post. “She had great taste, a sense of culture, and a deep understanding of art.”10

The name Jackie quickly became synonymous with high culture and contemporary elegance, and, all over the world, crowds flocked to get a glimpse of her. Jackie was an exemplary First Lady, but, like Diana, she found her greatest pleasure in her children.

A lifelong admirer, Princess Diana once wrote a letter to Jackie’s grown children, Caroline and John Jr., expressing how much their mother had served as her role model when it came to raising William and Harry in the public eye. (Diana did not live to see John Jr. and his wife die in a plane crash in 1999.)

During a brief trip to Cape Cod, I made a point

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