And then this: an old friend, Hugh Dickinson, now a lieutenant in the Signal Corps, arranged to have himself transferred to Kenya simply to be closer to Diana! And had arrived only five days previously.
That same day, with their new white lady's maid, Dorothy Wilks (who will play a huge part in later proceedings), the Broughtons flew to Nairobi.
On the same flight was a sadistic, satanic character: John Carberry (more about him later). His wife June waiting at the Nairobi airport. June Carberry and Diana Caldwell Broughton struck up an instant alliance were soon to become "best friends."
June is important because she was "handmaid" to the romance between Joss and Diana. June would also have known everything.
The story of John Carberry, born John Evans-Freke; 10th Baron and 3rd Baronet Carbery (sic) at the age of six in 1898 (the barony, as opposed to the family name, was spelt with one r).
- developed a violent dislike for his native England
- educated at Trinity, (no Eton history, apparently)
- served in WWI in the Royal Naval Air Service
- 1919: took out American naturalization papers but withdrawn because of bootlegging history
- 1920: Kenya had changed his name by deed poll to John Evans Carberry, dropping his title
- had even acquired an American accent
- first wife divorced him for cruelty in 1919
- second wife: Maia Anderson, another aviatrix; died piloting her plane in 1928; her daughter thought accident was suicide provoked by bullying and cruelty of her husband
- so, think of John Carberry as a stereotypical Nazi and you get the picture
- house at Malindi, an airstrip -- he was a trophy-winning pilot and a bar called the Eden Roc
- owned another house and a ranch at Nyeri called Seremai (Masai: "place of death")
- an historical scene of bloodshed between the Kikuyu and the Masai
- ran his liquor still with his partner, Maxwell Trench; cheap gin, Jamaican rum, crème de menthe, and eau de cologne
1930: Carberry married a third time to June Mosley, the only woman who proved able to stand up to his monstrous (Nazi) behavior.
- at age 17, she couldn't put two words together, but she was very, very pretty (again, without needing to be said)
- drank brandy and soda all day long
- couple used terrible language to each other....terrible and violent rows...
- she had many affairs but Carberry adored his wife, and admired her tenacity
- once he loaded his plane with rocks, and then bombarded the car in which she was riding with her lover
- servants called him by the Masai name, "Msharish" -- the long whip with which oxen are driven --
Now we catch up with the Broughtons again.
On the day of their arrival in Nairobi, November 12th; the Broughtons go to the Muthaiga club where they would stay until they found a house.
Their first guest was Gwladys Delamere, the Mayor of Nairobi.
Broughton knew her in England and considered her a close friend.
Broughton had been absent from Kenya for 13 years. So, that's how "old" he is. Diana, on the other hand, is a naive 22-year-old, "dumb blond" -- Marilyn Monroe caricature.
Gladys claimed the honeymooning couple for dinner as well as lunch; also invited another guest, Broughton's contemporary, Jack Soames, who came in from his farm at Nanyuki
They ordered Bronxes before dinner and champagne.
Almost immediately an up-country journey to introduce Diana to Broughton's old friends:
- Lord Francis Scott -- the leader of the gang thirteen years earlier when Broughton left Kenya
- Mervyn Ridley
- Soames
- "Boy" and Paula Long
Author mentions "Old Etonians" at this point, p. 70
- "Commander" Soames at Bergeret
- Soames had become very, very strange; a sinister and morbid imagination; had become a voyeur wiht an alarming style, drilling holes in the roof above the guest bedrooms;
Soames' wife Nina Drury very, very aware of this and warned folks to stay away from him.
The famous target shooting story: one morning, bored, nothing else to do, Soames suggested target practice out at his farm;
- Broughton was all in favor
- Diana shot -- usually hit the target; most of Broughton's shots went wide
- foreshadowing the murder
- writer makes this read like a murder mystery, rather than a "biography"
Page 71:
Broughton and Diana returned to Nairobi around November 25th; Broughton left almost immediately to visit the farm he was interested in, on Lake Naivasha
He was away and missed the Caledonian Ball at the Muthaiga Club on November 30th; that was the first time that Joss Erroll and Diana Broughton met. She had been married for less than one month but when she saw Joss Erroll in his kilt, she fell for him immediately.
Erroll was free, of course. His three marriages in the past, and his affair with Mrs Wirewater was conducted by correspondence, between Nairobi and Cape Town where she had gone to install her children in school.
For six weeks they carried on their affair without telling Broughton. "For the first time in her life, Diana had fallen in love."
Broughton returns two days later, and things go on as usual. He is unaware of the affair.
By the beginning of December, Erroll was at their table for dinner almost every night. Erroll and Broughton seemed to hit it off, liking each other.
Diana had two constant companions (in addition to her husband and her lover): her old friend Hugh Dickinson and a new on, Major Richard (Dickie) Pembroke, had arrived in the course of military duty.
Broughton seemed to actually want Diana to take off with a younger man (p. 73).
December 5: Broughtons move from the club into their house at Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, named after Baroness Blixen
- 22 acres of groudn
- 15 servants
- Wilks was in charge
- head boy: Abdullah bin Ahmed
Page 73.
Remember, re-capping, Diana and Broughton married on November 5, 1940.
Arrived in Mombasa, Kenya, on the coast, by boat, on November 12, 1940.
Flew to Nairobi.
No comments:
Post a Comment