Anita Theodosia Moira King (née Leslie; first married name Rodzianko; 21 November 1914 – 5 November 1985), generally known as Anita Leslie, was an Irish-born biographer and writer. She was a first cousin once removed of the British wartime Prime Minister

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

Childhood and education

The eldest of three children born in New York City, to a wealthy

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

landowning family (49,968 acres). Anita Theodosia Moira Leslie, alongside her brothers (

Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet Captain Sir John Norman Ide Leslie, 4th Baronet (6 December 1916 – 18 April 2016), known locally as Jack Leslie, was the eldest son of Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet (known as Shane Leslie), and Marjorie Ide. He became the fourth ba ...

and Desmond Leslie) were born to Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet (a.k.a.

Shane Leslie Sir John Randolph Leslie, 3rd Baronet (Irish: ''Sir Seaghán Leslaigh''; 24 September 1885 – 14 August 1971), commonly known as Sir Shane Leslie, was an Irish-born diplomat and writer. He was a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill. In 1908 ...

) and his wife, Majorie Ide, the Vermont-born daughter of General Henry Clay Ide the US ambassador to Spain."Marjorie Ide Weds Under Canopy"
nytimes.com; retrieved 7 January 2008. Anita's schooling was abysmal. She spent her childhood partly on a feudal estate in a country torn by conflict, partly in a London town-house where everyone in the 1920s seemed obsessed by cocktails, short skirts, bobbed hair and Eton crops, and partly in strange schools and convents in various parts of Europe. But she always felt at home at Castle Leslie and her 1981 autobiography, ''The Gilt and the gingerbread'', details her early childhood and eventual decision to leave the home of her grandparents and play her part in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Second World War

During the war Anita Leslie joined the

Mechanised Transport Corps The Mechanised Transport Corps (MTC), sometimes erroneously called the Motor Transport Corps, was a British women's organisation that initially provided its own transport and uniforms and operated during the Second World War. It was a civilian uni ...

, as a fully trained mechanic and ambulance driver. Anita was stationed in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, and Jordan during the intervening years. In 1944 she drove ambulances with the Free French army through northern France and liberated a V2 Rocket factory in Germany. She wrote letters home from Hitler's office in the

Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared s ...

and took part in the Victory parade in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Anita met future husband Bill King in Lebanon in 1943, where King served for 5 months as executive officer of the submarine base at

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. She was on a skiing trip after doing duty in Africa in the Mechanised Transport Corps in 1940–42, although a letter mentions her being in

in 1941–42.Georgetown University Libraries.
"Special Collections: Sir Shane Leslie Papers." Box: 31 Fold: 1 Alec Waugh. Letter(s) dated 28 August 1949; retrieved 7 January 2008. She served as an ambulance driver in the French Army from 1944-45. For the latter, she was awarded the ''

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

'' in 1945 by General

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

Post-war life and marriage

On 1 January 1949, Leslie married King. After the war, Anita took up farming and was an avid fox hunter, as was her husband Bill. In 1946, the Kings bought Oranmore Castle, a 15th-century

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

keep built on Galway Bay in county

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, Ireland for £200-. Other sources report that Anita Leslie-King was given the castle by her mother, who had bought it in 1946.tourismresources.ie
"A Royal Castle! Oranmore Castle, near Galway. Havens & Hideaways"; retrieved 7 January 2008. For a while, the Kings lived in a hunting lodge outside Oranmore village, designed by Bill, and built while he and Anita went on a "world sailing cruise."Finlan, Michael

''The Irish Times'', 26 October 2006; retrieved 8 January 2008. To help combat his wife's asthma, King developed an organic farm and garden to feed his family. Both Anita Leslie's mother and grandmother had suffered from asthma.. Video of a visit with Commander Bill King at Oranmore. Retrieved on 15 February 2008.

Family

She married, firstly in 1937, Paul Rodzianko (1903-1993 a great nephew of

Mikhail Rodzianko Mikhail Vladimirovich Rodzianko (russian: Михаи́л Влади́мирович Родзя́нко; uk, Михайло Володимирович Родзянко; 21 February 1859, Yekaterinoslav Governorate – 24 January 1924, Novo ...

) and secondly, Commander Bill King in 1947 who during World War II served as a submarine commander and later a transatlantic and circumnavigator yachtsman. The Kings had two children:
Richard Tarka Bourke King
(born 1949) has two children, William and Olivia. *Leonie Rose King, Mrs Finn (born 1951) married celebrated Irish folk musician Alec Finn and still resides in Oranmore, County Galway, with her father, Bill King. She and Finn have two children.

Published works

*1937: 'Rodin, immortal peasant'. (Prentice-Hall, inc) *1940: 'Mannerheim: an intimate picture of a great soldier and statesman'.'' Co-authored with her then husband Paul Rodzianko. (Jarrolds Limited) *1948: 'Train to Nowhere'. (Hutchinson) *1952: 'Love in a Nutshell'. (Hutchinson) *1954: 'The Remarkable Mr Jerome'. *1960: 'Mrs Fitzherbert'. The love affair of Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince of Wales, who later became George IV of the United Kingdom. (Scribner) *1961: 'The Fabulous Leonard Jerome'. (Arrow Books) *1966: 'Mr. Frewen of England: a Victorian adventurer'. (Hutchinson) *1969: 'Lady Randolph Churchill; The story of Jennie Jerome'. (Scribner) *1973: 'The Marlborough House set'. (Doubleday) *1974: 'Edwardians in Love'. *1975: 'Francis Chichester'. (Hutchinson: Hodder and Stoughton) *1976: 'Cousin Clare: the tempestuous career of Clare Sheridan'. (Hutchinson) *1978: 'Madame Tussaud, Waxworker Extraordinaire'. (Hutchinson: Hodder and Stoughton) *1981: 'The Gilt and the Gingerbread'. (Hutchinson) *1983: 'A Story Half Told: A Wartime Autobiography'. (Hutchinson) *1985: 'Cousin Randolf: The Biography of Winston Churchill's Son'. Profiles the son of Churchill who, with his many advantages—good looks, diverse abilities, and connections—had to make his mark in spite of his mother's diffidence and father's disinterest. (Hutchinson)

References

External links

Anita Leslie obituary
''Los Angeles Times'' 9 November 1985; accessed 26 January 2018.
Collected works
librarything.com; accessed 26 January 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, Anita 1985 deaths 1914 births People from Oranmore Irish people of American descent Irish women biographers 20th-century Irish biographers British women in World War II Daughters of baronets Irish people of Scottish descent French military personnel of World War II Writers from County Galway