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Auction: 18038 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 3083

Autographs
1902 Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra
Admission card to the North Transept, Westminster Abbey. The card (7½ x 5 inches) has the embossed seal of the Earl Marshal. Numbered "127" issued in the name of "The Countess Brooke & Countess of Warwick". Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick was a renowned society hostess and mistress of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. After his death in 1910 she attempted to sell intimate letters written to her by the late King, to his successor, King George V, threatening publication.


A remarkable item with significant social history as to the recipient. Photo


Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick (1861 - 1938). A beautiful woman who married an Earl, became mistress to the Prince of Wales and astonished Society by standing as a Labour candidate for Parliament. Such a woman was Daisy, Countess of Warwick. Her words, written in two memoirs and countless other books, are still quoted by most historians of the period. In her youth, she was famous for her looks. Cartes-de-visites with her likeness were bought by those who followed the ‘Professional Beauties’, society women whose beauty was admired amongst all classes. Her friend Elinor Glyn referred to her as an ‘It girl’. The fair, curvaceous heiress hit London Society in the 1880s but, although she was painted by Sargent and sculpted by Rodin, her beauty was only part of the reason that she was famous in her lifetime. Even today, her name is widely recognized. This is largely because the life that she led followed so unconventional a path. Despite having good looks, a fortune, a lasting marriage and nine successful years as mistress to the Prince of Wales behind her, she embarked upon a radical life as a social reformer.


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Sold for
£210