Reginald sat in a corner of the Princess’s salon and tried to forgive the furniture, which started out with an obvious intention of being Louis Quinze, but relapsed at frequent intervals into Wilhelm II. He classified the Princess with that distinct type of woman that looks as if it habitually went out to feed hens… Continue reading Reginald in Russia

Chips (Channon) records Christmas Day in his diary: 1944 – 1952. Monday 25th December, 1944. The Old Rectory, Elveden, Suffolk. A day too ghastly and cold almost to chronicle! Paul and I started out in the very cold for Henlow at 11.15: thick fog overtook us as we crept the whole way – warm welcome… Continue reading Christmas with Chips IV

Chips (Channon) records Christmas Day in his diary: 1940 – 1944. Christmas Day, Wednesday 25th December, 1940. HMS Edinburgh Castle, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Of all the Christmases this is the most exhausting and unpleasant. I didn’t sleep last night for the noise of the lizards at Bathurst racing in my room . . . and… Continue reading Christmas with Chips III

Chips (Channon) records Christmas Day in his diary: 1936 – 1939. Friday, 25th December, 1936. A day of cards, we must have had nearly 300 from all over the earth, but none from either poor Wallis Simpson nor the Duke of Windsor. Many cables, but bad presents. Honor, Paul and I are all ill, or… Continue reading Christmas with Chips II

Chips (Channon) records Christmas Day in his diary: 1924 – 1935. Thursday, 25th December, 1924. Christmas – the gloomiest of days. I arrived from New York feeling very lonely and thinking of all the happy Christmases I have had in England and of Madresfield where I had promised to be now – a bitterly cold… Continue reading Christmas with Chips