Felix Hope-Nicholson

Charles Felix Otho Victor Gabriel John Adrian Hope-Nicholson[1][2] (21 July 1921 – 15 September 1990) was a British aristocrat and genealogist. The Herald of Scotland called him a "tall, imposing figure known as the Squire of Chelsea", and noted that after Eton College, Christ Church, Oxford,[3][4] and the war he had "dedicated his life to the greater glory of his ancestors, in particular the Linlithgow family and the Hopes of Hopetoun House."[5]

Biography

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The son of Hedley Hope-Nicholson, a barrister, head of the Society of King Charles the Martyr and heir to a raincoat fortune,[6] in his young years Felix Hope-Nicholson was a notable figure in high society in London, and was often seen socialising at The Ritz.[7] During an air raid during World War II, in a drunken state, he tripped and fell on King Zog of Albania, who was staying at the hotel at the time.[8] By the 1970s he was described as "impoverished",[9] but successfully kept up the appearance of a "bachelor dandy".[10] He lived in the house in which he was raised, More House on Tite Street.[2][10] Hope-Nicholson was a friend of Francis Bacon[11] and Hamish Erskine (son of the 5th Earl of Rosslyn),[12] a "notoriously vain, rather silly and extremely amusing" homosexual, unofficially ('listlessly') engaged to Nancy Mitford until Erskine ended the relationship.[13][14]

References

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  1. ^ "Charles HOPE-NICHOLSON | | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
  2. ^ a b Family First: Tracing Relationships in the Past, Ruth Alexandra Symes, Pen and Sword History, 2015, pg 83
  3. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 2, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 2353
  4. ^ Oxford University Calendar 1945, University of Oxford Press, 1945, p. 893
  5. ^ "Saviour sought for gem of a house". The Herald (Scotland). 8 April 1993. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  6. ^ "M-J Lancaster: Outspoken writer and editor who became a prototype of". The Independent. 23 October 2011.
  7. ^ Thompson, Damian (22 June 2004). Loose Canon: A Portrait of Brian Brindley. A&C Black. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-8264-7418-6.
  8. ^ "Puttin' on the Ritz, at The Ritz". The Chicago Tribune. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  9. ^ Salwak, Dale (1 May 2011). AfterWord: Conjuring the Literary Dead. University of Iowa Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-58729-989-6.
  10. ^ a b Massingberd, Hugh (12 July 2012). Daydream Believer: Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper. Pan Macmillan. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-4472-1022-1.
  11. ^ Mellor, David Alan; Joule, Barry; Hamilton, Richard (31 December 2000). The Barry Joule archive: works on paper attributed to Francis Bacon. Irish Museum of Modern Art. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-873654-84-2.
  12. ^ Cooper, Artemis (16 June 2011). Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David. Faber & Faber. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-571-27977-7.
  13. ^ Dalley, Jan (2 May 2000). Diana Mosley. Knopf. p. 61. ISBN 9780394587363.
  14. ^ "Nancy pursued . . . and caught". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
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