Background
Duff Cooper was born on February 22, 1890 in London, United Kingdom. He was a son of Sir Alfred Cooper, a surgeon and specialist in the sexual problems of the upper classes, and Lady Agnes Duff, a daughter of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife.
1919
The wedding of Alfred Duff Cooper and Lady Diana Manners
Holywell St, Oxford OX1 3BN, United Kingdom
New College
Windsor SL4 6DW, United Kingdom
Eton College
Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, together with his wife Lady Diana Manners
Duff Cooper was born on February 22, 1890 in London, United Kingdom. He was a son of Sir Alfred Cooper, a surgeon and specialist in the sexual problems of the upper classes, and Lady Agnes Duff, a daughter of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife.
Initially, Duff attended preparatory schools, including Wixenford School. Some time later, he enrolled at Eton College. Also, since 1908 to 1911, Cooper studied at New College in Oxford.
In October 1913, after studies at New College in Oxford, Duff Cooper entered the Foreign Service. During World War I, he worked in the commercial and the contraband departments. Owing to the national importance of his work at the cipher desk, he was exempted from military service until June 1917, when he joined the Grenadier Guards and spent there six months of his life. After demobilisation, Duff returned to Egypt Department and was appointed a Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary.
In October 1924, Cooper was elected a Conservative Member of Oldham Parliament. Some time later, in January 1928, he was appointed a Financial Secretary to the War Office. In 1929, when the Conservatives were defeated by Labour party, Cooper lost his own seat. During that time, he wrote a short biography of the French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. The book was published in 1932.
In 1931, Duff was elected a Member of Parliament for Westminster St George's (UK Parliament constituency), a post he held until 1945. In August 1931, on the formation of the National Government, he was appointed a Financial Secretary to the War Office. In June 1934, he was promoted to the post of a Financial Secretary to the British Treasury. The following year, in 1935, Cooper began to serve as a Minister of War, a position he held to 1937, when he was appointed the First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1938, Duff resigned to protest the Munich agreement.
During the period from 1940 to 1941, Cooper held the post of a Minister of Information under Winston Churchill. Since 1941 to 1943, Duff acted as a Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1943, he held the post of an Ambassador to the French Committee of National Liberation in Algiers. From 1944 till 1947, Duff served as an Ambassador from Great Britain to France.
During his last years, Duff Cooper took on some company directorships, including that of the Wagons-Lit company, but essentially devoted his time to writing.
In the intense political debates of the late 1930s over appeasement, he first put his trust in the League of Nations, and realised that war with Germany was inevitable. He denounced the Munich agreement of 1938 as meaningless, cowardly, and unworkable, as he resigned from the cabinet. When Winston Churchill became prime minister in May 1940, he named Cooper as Minister of Information.
Quotations:
"Wine has been to me a firm friend and wise counselor. Often...wine has shown me matters in their true perspective, and has, as though by the touch of a magic wand, reduced great disasters to small inconveniences."
"For the majority of English people there are only two religions, Roman Catholic, which is wrong, and the rest, which don't matter."
Cooper married Lady Diana Manners on June 2, 1919. Their marriage produced one son — John Julius, who would later become a well known writer and television host.
During his lifetime, Duff had affairs with several women, including Daisy Fellowes, Gloria Guinness, Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, Susan Mary Alsop and others.