Olivia Plunket Greene

Olivia Honor Mary Plunket Greene (7 March 1907 - 11 November 1958), together with her brothers Richard and David, was part of the Bright Young Things who inspired the novel Vile Bodies to Evelyn Waugh, who was Olivia's suitor.

Greene was born on 7 March 1907, the daughter of Harry Plunket Greene and Gwendoline Maud Parry.

Evelyn Waugh was at Oxford with David Plunket Greene and Richard Plunket Greene, fell in love with Olivia Greene and became a constant of the family. Waugh wrote about his attraction to Greene in A Little Learning. According to Waugh, Greene was a tease who was available to everyone but him. It has been said that she is the model for Honorable Agatha Runcible in Vile Bodies.

In 1936 Greene, an alcoholic, retired at Longleat Estate, Aucombe, with her mother.

In July 1958 she went to Bath for breast cancer treatment but died on 11 November 1958. The day after, her mother wrote to Waugh, and her letter is now in the British Library. She said she had saved all of Waugh’s letters to her. Her mother died of a broken heart (her son David had committed suicide in 1941), eight months later.Harman Grisewood wanted to write a biography of Gwen Plunket Greene, and wrote to her grandson, Alexander Plunket Greene. According to him, Richard Plunket Greene destroyed everything to do with the family, including probably Waugh’s letters to Olivia. The Harman Grisewood Papers, including several letters by Olivia and Gwen, are at the Georgetown University Library’s Special Collections.

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