The Diaries of Chips Channon

OP Very interesting, thanks for posting.

I really want get my hands on the kindle version but there's nothing listed for North America.

OP is worse than Hitler, Wallis Simpson and Margaret Thatcher.

That was then, this is now, and the search function never changes, R3.

Such a loss to DL that he didn't live to snark here!

The diaries are due to appear in the UK on March 4; I assume they'll be available on Amazon in the US after that date.

I hep seh.

OP of the original Chips Channon thread here. I'm delighted to hear that the unexpurgated version of Chips' diaries are out, and, needless to say, can't wait to get my hands on it.

Thanks for posting!

Is it available in North America? Last time I checked Amazon it wasn't.

"She is fundamentally lazy, very lazy and charming, always gay and pleasant"

The Queen Mum was gay?

He liked Hitler and Wallis Simpson. Pass. He sounds disgusting.

Are you kidding, R10? She munched so much carpet that she could have refloored the whole of Buckingham Palace with her stomach contents.

"Duke of Windsor (‘The ex-king’ in Channon’s diary)

‘I also have always thought that [he] suffers from sexual repression of another nature. His horror of anything even savouring of homosexuality was exaggerated.’

Ya think?

^Mountbatten was kayute!

I love that picture of Mountbatten and the Duke, you just know Mountbatten has his hand up the Duke's bum

Mountbatten is serving big dick energy.

It's not in electronic format. Try alibris.com or bookfinder.com. It's collectible and not cheap. I was fortunate to inherit my copy from a friend who had bought it in the early 70s.

If they don't offer it in the US, you can order it from the UK Amazon.

It's on archive.org - the diaries. You're welcome.

The Queen Mum a carpet muncher - that's even more hilarious than the turkey baster rumour. I don't think she cared much for sex at all. She was all about flirtation and projection. Hot sex was probably far too real for her. She was best at the imaginary - it was her real gift.

The Queen Mum was lucky to get a good-looking man. She was a frump.

[quote] 'Wallis is a woman of charm, sense, balance, and great wit. She has dignity and taste; she has always been an excellent influence on the King... She would have been an excellent Queen.

It's weird that an actual courtier thought those qualities would make for an excellent queen, as if her job were to be the national tastemaker or something--like she was supposed to be some sort of constitutionally enshrined version of Babe Paley or Bunny Mellon.

I think the British people of the 20th century would agree the Queen Mother was actually about as good and useful a queen-consort as the nation ever had (despite her decided personality flaws) for reasons Cannon seems blind to.

It's as if all courtiers are/were the most bitchy judgmental men in the world, and yet what they want to do with their lives is suck up to the royalty they secretly despise. It was the same thing with Cecil Beaton's diaries and Kenneth Rose's diaries.

Channon wasn’t a courtier, R22. Just a well-connected and fiercely adept social climber and gossip.

And for a long time the lover of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia - friend of the Queen Mother and brother in law of the Duke of Kent.

[quote] For six months they live there and all classes are mixed, which is an excellent system, its purpose is to wipe out class feeling, which has become practically non-existent in Germany. England could learn many a lesson from Nazi Germany.

From his ill advised trip to a labor camp populated by fake laborers. Apart from that, I am quite sure he would not have enjoyed an England in which “class feeling” was “wiped out”. Or maybe it was the classes feeling different that he wanted to abolish. The actual class *differences* would remain.

The DM is also excerpting.

Thanks, OP. Channon shows up everywhere and has some connection to everyone in between the wars art and literature: James Lees-Milne, Anthony Powell, Waugh, anyone who kept a diary, wrote a novel, a memoir, went to a fun party...

The political and royal bits I could happily skip over, but the rest I'm hoping will be good.

That was an interesting read.

Interesting how he says the King had a habit of surrounding himself with handsome men whom he dropped as friends when they aged.

[quote]Channon wasn’t a courtier, [R22]. Just a well-connected and fiercely adept social climber and gossip.

And American. Sort of a proto-Meghan, with a smaller dick.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

The Duke of Windsor was considered handsome? Why, he looked like a lemur.

The Duke of Windsor was considered handsome? Why, he looked like a lemur.

There is no accounting for taste. Some here even think Harry is handsome. And this is the priest Channon let spank him.

Does anyone know if they are publishing this in the US eventually? Or is it my best bet to just go ahead and buy it online from the UK?

Excellent long review in the latest TLS about The Diaries' publication history, plus social and sexual milieux. Equally excellent parody of Channon's snobbish decadence in the new 'Private Eye.'

Agreed though that it's eldergay catnip, and I can't wait to indulge.

For design historians, Mitchell Owens, whose features are far the best thing about Architectural Digest, had this piece with a reference to Chips Channon (and his diaries, it would seem). Instagram:

Well if I cared about the British monarchy I'd know DL is the place to find the last word on it

R29 the last third of this is really poignant. He had a long love affair with a guy called Henry Gage, who broke it off and married a woman, and it broke Channons heart obviously.

To those saying that the diaries are available on archive.org -- if at all, that would be the bowdlerized version from the 70s. The new, uncensored release does not appear to be available electronically.

More OP!

I found Vols. 1&2 very interesting . He had a unique and well informed take on many historical figures and events in an fascinating era in British and World history . He was very much of his class and era with all of their good and bad points and prejudices. Hindsight shows he backed many a wrong horse -but surely he was not alone .

I’m assuming he was HOMOSEXUAL