Pamela Harriman
| Pamela Harriman | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 58th United States Ambassador to France | |
|
In office June 30, 1993 – February 5, 1997 |
|
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Walter Curley |
| Succeeded by | Felix Rohatyn |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Pamela Beryl Digby March 20, 1920 Farnborough, Hampshire, England |
| Died | February 5, 1997 (aged 76) Paris, France |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
Randolph Churchill (m. 1939; div. 1946) Leland Hayward (m. 1960; his death 1971) W. Averell Harriman (m. 1971; his death 1986) |
| Children | Winston Spencer-Churchill |
| Parents |
Edward Digby, 11th Baron Digby Constance Pamela Alice Bruce |
| Relatives | Edward Henry Kenelm Digby (brother) |
| Profession | Diplomat, socialite |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Pamela Beryl Harriman (née Digby; 20 March 1920 – 5 February 1997), also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English-born American socialite who was married and linked to important and powerful men. In later life, she became a political activist for the Democratic Party and a diplomat. Her only child, Winston Churchill, was named after his famous grandfather.
Pamela Beryl Digby was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, the daughter of Edward Digby, 11th Baron Digby, and his wife, Constance Pamela Alice, the daughter of Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare. Pamela was educated by governesses in the ancestral home at Minterne Magna in Dorset, along with her three younger siblings. Her great-great aunt was the nineteenth-century adventurer and courtesan Jane Digby (1807–1881), notorious for her exotic travels and scandalous personal life. Pamela was to follow in her ancestor's footsteps, being frequently cited as "the 20th-century's greatest courtesan."
Raised amid acres of Dorset farmland and woods, from an early age Pamela was a very good horsewoman. She competed at shows at the International Olympia, Royal Bath and West Show, and local shows at Dorchester and Melplash. She show-jumped a tiny pony called Stardust that did a clear round at Olympia when every fence was above the animal's withers.
At the age of seventeen, she was sent to a Munich boarding school for six months. While there she was introduced to Adolf Hitler by Unity Mitford. She subsequently went to Paris, taking some classes at the Sorbonne. Although in her Who's Who biography she identified these classes as "post-graduate" work, she actually never completed a college degree. By 1937, she had returned to England.
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