Lady Myra Idina Sackville (26 February 1893 – 5 November 1955) was a British aristocrat and member of the infamous Happy Valley set. Her deviant behaviour and promiscuous lifestyle scandalised upper class society.
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Lady Idina was the daughter of Lady Muriel Agnes Brassey and Gilbert George Reginald Sackville, the 8th Earl de la Warr.[1] She had two younger siblings, her sister Avie and her brother Herbrand. Her cousin was the writer Vita Sackville-West.
Lady Myra Idina Sackville usually went by her middle name, Idina. She married and divorced five times. At the age of 20, she married on 26 November 1913 Captain David Euan Wallace, taking his name. Their marriage produced two sons[2]:
In 1919 she divorced Wallace and married on 27 March 1919 Captain Charles Gordon, becoming Idina Gordon. Wallace took custody of their sons and Idina moved to Kenya. She and Gordon divorced in 1923, without issue, and later that year she married Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll and was thus styled the Countess of Erroll. They had one child, Diana Denyse Hay (1926-78).[3] Idina divorced Josslyn in 1930 and their daughter was sent home to England to be raised by her aunt in Wiltshire. Later that year on 22 November Idina married Donald Carmichael Haldeman. They divorced in 1938, without issue. In 1939, she married William Vincent Soltau, who died on 1 August 1964. She divorced Soltau in 1946, without issue. Lady Idina died in 1955 at the age of 62.
The elite social group in Kenya known as the Happy Valley set was notorious for stories of drug use and promiscuous sexual encounters. These expatriates living in British East Africa received much publicity for their decadent hedonism. While Idina was married to Josslyn Hay, they frequented the Muthaiga Country Club in Nairobi. At Clouds, her house on Mount Kipipiri above the Rift Valley, Idina hosted wild all-night parties where patrons enjoyed champagne, cocaine, and wife-swapping.
The notorious Happy Valley set was depicted in White Mischief, a film dramatizing the events surrounding the murder of Lady Idina's third husband Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll based on the same titled book by James Fox.
Nancy Mitford based her character "the Bolter" on Lady Idina in three of her books including The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.
Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh is also based on Lady Idina's character and lifestyle.
In the 1920's, the writer Michael Arlen wrote a book The Green Hat where the heroine Iris Storm is based on a portrait of Lady Idina Sackville. This book was turned into a movie A Woman of Affairs starring Greta Garbo.
Lady Idina's great-granddaughter through her eldest son David Wallace, Frances Osborne, wrote a biography The Bolter which was published in 2008.
Fox, James (1988). White Mischief, The Murder of Lord Erroll. Vintage. pp. 328. ISBN 978-0394756875.
Osborne, Frances (2008). The Bolter. Vintage. pp. 368. ISBN 978-0307476425.