The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George’s Life

The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George’s Life
Ffion Hague

‘Men’s lives are a perpetual conflict. The life that I have mapped out will be so especially – as lawyer and politician. Woman’s function is to pour oil on the wounds – to heal the bruises of spirit…and to stimulate to renewed exertion.’Lloyd George was a man who loved women and the tale of his intertwined relationships contains many mysteries and a few unsolved intrigues. He was involved in a divorce case early in his career, fought two libel cases over his private life and had persuaded the prettiest girl in Criccieth to be his wife. Lloyd George’s life was indeed a ‘perpetual conflict’. He was a habitual womaniser and, despite his early, enduring attachment to Margaret Owen, marriage did not curb his behaviour. There were many private scandals in a life devoted to public duty.Ffion Hague illuminates his complex attitude to women. Her own interest stems from the many parallels in her own life.

The Pain And The Privilege

The Women who Loved Lloyd George

Ffion Hague

To four remarkable families:Lloyd George, George, Longford—and my own

Table of Contents

Cover (#u3d261490-95cc-5550-82b9-af50e898c2db)

Title Page (#u0196107d-4eaf-5d54-8e9c-deaa159dc399)

Dedication (#u3edf27c9-a750-5fbb-ac96-87708eb43fd6)

Introduction (#u114fcf60-084c-5c2b-9dd7-473385f7a296)

Chapter 1: Hewn from the Rock (#u60bd33ea-8bb7-5a7e-9180-097b79507b5d)

Chapter 2: The Cottage-Bred Man (#u35459e9d-3f8f-51af-b6ba-44db5d060ec7)

Chapter 3: Love’s Infatuated Devotee (#ucf9ad9b0-1286-54e9-861e-c7c770e35085)

Chapter 4: Maggie Owen (#u384360a3-e9b4-54f6-b045-e7a343b4699f)

Chapter 5: Mrs Lloyd George (#u76ddaf8d-0bb9-5459-94e4-6cdcc3d4b62a)

Chapter 6: From Wales to Westminster (#uae154267-5b68-50b3-819e-c2457c2e4f54)

Chapter 7: Kitty Edwards (#u474d52fb-d13a-538b-b5c9-ee774e26c7a4)

Chapter 8: Mrs Tim (#u308cd516-0274-5f9c-b095-511706d6aac3)

Chapter 9: Mair (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10: Frances (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11: Overloaded with Flattery (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12: Love and Libel (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13: A Family in Downing Street (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14: Secrets and Smokescreens (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15: Two Wives at No. 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16: The Family at War (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17: Diverging Paths (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18: Disillusionment (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19: ‘Dame Margaret is the Star’ (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20: Alone into the Wilderness (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21: Megan (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22: New Loves (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23: Crises Public and Private (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24: Private Sorrows (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 25: Till Death us do Part (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

Bibliography (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

INTRODUCTION (#ulink_5224d215-6af0-54f0-96fd-b69663bec64f)

No one who grows up in Wales can escape the long shadow cast by David Lloyd George. In a country that loves heroes, the ‘Welsh Wizard’ and his mythology are still a potent force. ‘Lloyd George knew my father,’ runs the old song, ‘…and my mother,’ goes the unspoken second line, with a wink. To Conservative politician Lord Boothby, Lloyd George was ‘an artist expressing himself through the medium of politics…the greatest creative force I have ever come across’.

(#litres_trial_promo) Women found him compelling in a different way: ‘He could make anyone a friend of his. He had all the gifts and he could get his charm over to anybody and they would, as you know, worship him,’ according to his mistress.

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Intrigued though I am by Lloyd George, I have always found his first wife, Margaret, equally compelling. Maggie Owen was raised a God-fearing, Calvinistic Methodist, a Welsh-speaker and patriot. My original intention was to write a biography of this Welshwoman, to explore and understand how she made the journey from rural North Wales to Downing Street. I wanted to know if she felt overawed by her aristocratic and royal acquaintances, if she enjoyed her role in public life, if she regretted leaving Wales, and, above all, what price she paid for spending her life with an extraordinary man.