Alvilde Chaplin

Alvide Bridges Chaplin Lees-Milne, formerly Viscountess Chaplin (1909-1994) was a British gardening and landscape expert.

Personal life

Chaplin and James Lees-Milne, who became her second husband, met during World War II, while she was involved in an affair with the arts patron Winnaretta de Polignac, and by 1949, Lees-Milne confessed that he loved her. The relationship was not an easy one to start. Chaplin was married to Anthony Chaplin, who would become 3rd Viscount Chaplin in 1949, and had one daughter, Clarissa. At one point, the Chaplins, Lees-Milne, and Anthony Chaplin's girlfriend Hon. Rosemary Lyttelton all lived in the same house together. Lord and Lady Chaplin divorced in 1950, whereupon the viscount married Rosemary Lyttleton, by whom he had two daughters.

She and Lees-Milne never denied their true sexuality to one another, nor did they hide their affairs. Both had numerous same-sex affairs during their marriage. uring the 1930s, James Lees-Milne was involved in an affair with Harold Nicolson, the husband of the writer Vita Sackville-West, who was noted for her high profile lesbian affairs. Both Harold and Vita acted as witnesses on the Lees-Milnes's wedding day. Ironically, Sackville-West's former lover Violet Trefusis became the long-term lover of Princess de Polignac, whereas in the 1950s Sackville-West became involved in a love affair with Alvide Lees-Milne.

In written accounts later, James Lees-Milne described that he and his wife enjoyed a healthy sexual relationship prior to the marriage in 1951, but afterward she was less willing. He, at the time, was struggling with his homosexuality. In 1955, Alvide embarked on her affair with Sackville-West. They were semi-discreet, but it did not help him in his personal struggles with his sexuality, and the affair was well known within their social circles. When Lees-Milne began an affair with a younger man in the early 1958, the marriage became difficult.

In 1961 Alvide Lees-Milne purchased a house in Costwolds. The marriage held together, though they did not, at times, live together. Alvide began working on a garden which would later draw widespread attention due to its beauty.

Later life

By the late 1960s, Alvilde and Lees-Milne had reached a point in their marriage where they both were content. They became a more devoted couple, living together, but living separate lives.

In 1974, Alvide decided that the house in Costwolds was too much for them. She sold the property and the couple moved to Lansdowne Crest, in Bath. It was too cramped for them, so by 1975, they became tenants of the Duke of Beaufort on his Badminton estate, renting the 17th century Essex House. From 1984 to 1988, her husband struggled with serious illness, with her staying by his side nursing him through it.

By this stage in their lives, they were completely devoted to one another, despite the fact that at the age of 70 he conceived a romantic (but platonic) relationship with a man of 25; this caused considerable strain to their marriage and led to a rift between Alvilde and Rosamond Lehmann. In 1992, Alvide became seriously ill, and Lees-Milne devoted the next two years of his life to caring for her. She died in suddenly in 1994; James Lees-Milne found her collapsed on the pathway of their Badminton home. Her death left him deeply depressed at the loss.

References

* [http://www.jamesleesmilne.com/ James Lees-Milne and Alvide Chaplin]
* [http://www.jamesleesmilne.com/life3.html Lees-Miln Alvide Chaplin life]