Background
Pamela was born on March 20, 1920 in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, to Edward Digby and Constance Pamela Alice.
Pamela was born on March 20, 1920 in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, to Edward Digby and Constance Pamela Alice.
Pamela studied by governesses at home in Dorset. She was educated at a Munich boarding school for six months, took some classes at the Sorbonne.
Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman led an extraordinary life among the world's rich and powerful.
She was a successful fund-raiser for the party in the 1980s and for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential election campaign and in 1993 was rewarded with the ambassadorship to France. The vivacious daughter of a British aristocrat, Pamela Digby saw that her chance of attaining prominence lay in influencing prominent men.
With her husband’s encouragement and support, Harriman formed a political action committee and became a valuable asset to the Democrats. His death in 1986 left her with a huge fortune, but a court battle with other heirs diminished it considerably.
As recognition and reward, Clinton appointed her ambassador to France. The French were extremely pleased, and she proved herself a hard-working and effective diplomat.
The French expressed their admiration by making her a Commander of the Order of Arts & Letters, the first time an active foreign diplomat was honored in such a way.
She was ambitious, but also plump and a bit self-conscious--not yet the beauty she was to become - when she accepted a blind date with Randolph Churchill.
Quotes from others about the person
At her death in 1997, President Clinton remembered Harriman, saying, "She was one of the most unusual and gifted people I ever met. .. .She was a source of judgment and inspiration to me, a source of constant good humor and charm and real friendship. "
Randolph Churchill proposed to her on the very evening they met, and they were married on 4 October 1939.
In 1960, she met and married Hollywood producer Leland Hayward; and after his death 11 years later, married one of her first loves, Averell Harriman.