Boy Capel

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Captain Arthur Edward 'Boy' Capel,[1] CBE (d. 21 December 1919 in a motor accident) was an English polo player best remembered for his affair with, and influence on the style of, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. He was wealthy and supplied her with resources she needed to open her first shop. His blazers inspired her to put a squared, masculine touch on classic suit designs. Capel was killed in an auto accident in 1919.

In his daughter's obituary, Capel was described as "an intellectual, politician, tycoon, polo-player and the dashing lover and sponsor of the fashion designer Coco Chanel."[2]. Nothing else is known of his earlier life; there are hints in biographies of Chanel about his (illegitimate) connections with the Capel earls of Essex but no connection has been established. He was already a rich man, and apparently a self-made man, by 1909.


Contents

[edit] Capel and Chanel

His affair with Chanel apparently lasted from 1909 to 1918, when as a friend of her then lover Etienne Balsan he became acquainted with Balsan's 26-year-old mistress. [3]. Boy Capel financed Chanel's first stores and his own clothing style, notably his blazers, inspired her creation of the Chanel look. The couple spent time together at fashionable resorts such as Deauville, but he was never faithful to Chanel. [4]

Even after Capel married an aristocratic English beauty, he did not completely break off with Chanel. His death, in late 1919, was the single most devastating event in Chanel's life.[5]

[edit] Marriage and issue

In 1918, Capel married the Honourable Diana Wyndham, nee Lister (7 May 1893-1983), a daughter of Lord Ribblesdale and widow of Captain Percy Lyulph Wyndham (killed in action 1914) the half-brother of the Duke of Westminster. Diana's elder sister Laura was married to Lord Lovat, and another sister to a baronet. By Diana, Capel had two daughters:

1. Ann Diana France Ayesha Capel, (b. 1919; d by 4 May 2008) who has been thrice married, with issue by her first two marriages. She married 1stly, 1940 (div 1951), as his 1st wife, Hon. (George) Reginald Ward, later 1st Viscount Ward of Witley (cr 1960) (1907-1988) a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Dudley, by whom she had issue, 1 son (died unmarried in his parents' lifetime, aged 40) and 1 daughter. She married 2ndly 7 August 1951 (div 1966), (Richard) Thurstan Holland-Martin (26 December 1908-1968)[6], by whom she had issue, 2 sons Barnaby Robert (b. 1952) and Giles Thurstan (1955 - 4 May 2008). Ann Capel married 3rdly Peter Higgins, and was still living in 1993, but had died by 2008. [7]

2. June Capel (1920 posthumous-26 September 2006) later Lady Hutchinson of Lullington, who married 1stly 1948 Franz Osborn (deceased), by whom she had a son Christopher, and secondly May 1966 Jeremy Hutchinson,QC ((born 28 March 1915), former husband of Dame Peggy Ashcroft. [8]. Her second husband was created a life peer on 16 May 1978 with the title Baron Hutchinson of Lullington, of Lullington in the County of East Sussex. June was born after her father died, and he was apparently even unaware of her conception. Thus, he made no provisions for her in his will, and the will had to be contested to ensure that June got her fair share of her father's fortune (most of it subsequently stolen by a lawyer, according to Lady Hutchinson's obituary).

His living descendants today include the Honourable Mrs Patrick Tritton (daughter of his elder daughter Ann) and three sons by his younger daughter June, Lady Hutchinson. He had no issue with Chanel (who died childless).

[edit] References

  1. ^ His entry in thePeerage.com describes him as Edward Arthur Capel, but Burke's Landed Gentry (18th and 19th editions) and The Complete Peerage call him Arthur Edward Capel.
  2. ^ Lady Hutchinson, obituary, Daily Telegraph, 4 October 2006. According to that obituary, Capel was a Roman Catholic and his wife had to convert to Catholicism to marry him, and her two daughters by him were raised as Catholics. [1]
  3. ^ "At this time in 1909, at the age of 26, she became friendly with an Englishman Arthur Capel, nicknamed “Boy”, who was one of Etienne [Balsan]’s friends..."[2]
  4. ^ "That year was to prove a difficult one for Gabrielle as Arthur Capel decided that the time had come for him to marry into the English aristocracy. Arthur Capel was a very successful businessman and a keen polo player. Gabrielle hoped to settle down with him, but he was often away on business and was usually seen in the company of other women...."[3]
  5. ^ "Even though he was married Capel still sought out Gabrielle when he was in Paris. But all this was to come to an abrupt end. On December 21st, 1919 Arthur Capel was driving to Cannes for Christmas when he was involved in a fatal accident."[4]
  6. ^ Genealogy of Robert Martin (1908-1897). [5]. Retrieved 10 August 2007. Thurstan Holland-Martin, fifth son of Robert Martin Holland, later Holland-Martin (R License 14 August 1917), was the elder brother of Christopher Holland-Martin MP, and younger brother of Admiral Sir Deric Holland-Martin.
  7. ^ In 1993, she was still married to, or the widow of, Peter Higgins, at the memorial service for her half-brother the Earl of Westmorland. Michael Rhodes. " Question regarding Diana, late Countess of Westmorland." on usenet group atl.talk.royalty. Posted 11 September 2001. Retrieved 10 August 2007. [6]. At the time her youngest son's death was reported, she was described as the "late Mrs Peter Higgins."
  8. ^ Lady Hutchinson, obituary, Daily Telegraph, 4 October 2006. [7]

[edit] External links

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