Editing Elizabeth Bibesco

{{short description|English writer and socialite}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Elizabeth Bibesco
| image         = Elizabeth Bibesco.jpg
| alt           = 
| caption       = Elizabeth Asquith Bibesco, circa 1919
| birth_name    = Elizabeth Charlotte Lucy Asquith
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1897|02|26|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[London]], [[England]], UK
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1945|04|07|1897|02|26|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Bucharest]], [[Kingdom of Romania]]
| resting place = [[Mogoșoaia]], Romania
| nationality   = British
| other_names   = Elizabeth Asquith<br />Elizabeth Bibesco
| occupation    = Actress, writer, novelist
| years_active  = 1921–1940
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = 
| father        = [[H. H. Asquith]]
| mother        = [[Margot Asquith]]
| spouse        = [[Antoine Bibesco]] (1919–1945)
| children      = 1
}}

'''Elizabeth, Princess Bibesco''' (born '''Elizabeth Charlotte Lucy Asquith'''; 26 February 1897 – 7 April 1945) was an English socialite, actress and writer between 1921 and 1940. She was the daughter of [[H. H. Asquith]], the British Prime Minister, and the writer [[Margot Asquith]], and the wife of [[Antoine Bibesco]], a Romanian prince and diplomat. She drew on her experience in British high society in her work. A final posthumous collection of her stories, poems and aphorisms was published under the title ''Haven'' in 1951, with a preface by [[Elizabeth Bowen]].

==Childhood and youth==
Elizabeth Charlotte Lucy Asquith was the first child of [[H. H. Asquith]] (British Prime Minister, 1908–1916) and his second wife, [[Margot Asquith|Margot Tennant]]. As candidly recorded in her mother's 1920 autobiography, she was a precocious child of uncertain temper.<ref>[[Margot Asquith|Asquith, Margot]], ''An Autobiography'', Doran, 1922, vol III, p. 53</ref>

Life as the Prime Minister's daughter thrust her into the public eye at an early age and she developed a quick wit and a social presence beyond her years. At the age of 12 she asked [[George Bernard Shaw]] to write a play to be produced by her for a charity benefit. He wrote ''[[The Fascinating Foundling]]'', which she directed with other children as actors.<ref>Archibald Henderson, ''George Bernard Shaw: Man of the Century'', Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1956, p. 572</ref> 

When she was just 14, ''[[The Times]]'' wrote that "many members of the House have made the acquaintance of Miss Asquith and in expressing their concern for her health, have referred to her charm of manner and to the interest which she has begun already to show in political matters." As a teenager, during [[World War I]], she was given opportunities to do "good works", organising and performing in "matinees" for the servicemen. Her first known literary effort was a short duologue called "Off and On" which she performed with [[Nelson Keys]] in 1916 at the Palace Theatre. In the same year she organised a large show of portraits by [[John Singer Sargent]] at the [[Grafton Galleries]] to aid the Art Fund and a "Poets' Reading" in aid of the Star and Garter Fund. In 1918, she played small roles in two silent war movies by [[D.W. Griffith]], ''[[Hearts of the World]]'' and ''[[The Great Love (1918 film)|The Great Love]]''.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

==Marriage and travels==
[[Image:Prince and Princess Bibesco.jpg|thumb|left|Elizabeth and Antoine Bibesco's wedding, 1919]]
On 29 April 1919, she married Prince [[Antoine Bibesco]], member of the [[Bibescu|House of Bibescu]] and a Romanian diplomat stationed in London, a man 22 years her senior. Taking place at [[St. Margaret's, Westminster]], it was the society wedding of the year, attended by everyone from [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] to [[George Bernard Shaw]]. The wedding was filmed by the newly formed British Moving Picture News organization. After the marriage, Prince and Princess Bibesco lived in Paris at the Bibesco townhouse at 45, Quai Bourbon at the tip of the [[Île St-Louis]] looking up the river toward [[Notre-Dame de Paris|Notre Dame cathedral]]. The walls of the apartment were decorated with huge canvases by [[Édouard Vuillard]]. "They weren't pictures. They were gardens into which you walked through a frame," wrote [[Enid Bagnold]].<ref>[[Enid Bagnold|Bagnold, Enid]], ''Autobiography'', [[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] (1969)<!--ISBN needed--></ref>
[[File:Antoine & Elizabeth Bibesco.jpg|thumb|Prince Antoine and Elizabeth Bibesco]]

Antoine Bibesco was a lifelong friend of [[Marcel Proust]] and after his marriage to Elizabeth she too became a favourite of the reclusive writer. At the time of her marriage Proust wrote that she "was probably unsurpassed in intelligence by any of her contemporaries," and added that "she looked like a lovely figure in an Italian fresco".<ref>Bibesco, Antoine, Letters of Marcel Proust to Antoine Bibesco, [[Thames & Hudson]], 1953, pg 39</ref> He would leave his house late at night to visit them, to discuss Shakespeare with Elizabeth or to gossip with Antoine until dawn. Elizabeth wrote a moving obituary for Proust in the November 1922 ''[[New Statesman]]''. ''"Gently, deliberately, he drew me into that magic circle of his personality with the ultimate sureness of a look that needs no touch to seal it. Insensibly you were drawn into that intricate cobweb of iridescent steel, his mind, which, interlacing with yours, spread patterns of light and shade over your most intimate thoughts."''<ref>Bibesco, Elizabeth, ''New Statesman'', 1922, p. 235</ref> Elizabeth also travelled with her husband in his capacity as [[List of Ambassadors from Romania to the United States|Romanian ambassador]], first to [[Washington, D.C.]] (1920–1926) and then to [[Madrid]] (1927–1931). 

Their only child, Priscilla Helen Alexandra Bibesco, later Hodgson, was born in London in 1920; she died in Paris in 2004.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/priscilla-bibesco-6157130.html Obituary, Priscilla Bibesco], ''The Independent'', Saturday, 27 November 2004.</ref><ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw169767/Prince-Antoine-Bibesco-with-his-daughter-Princess-Priscilla-Bibesco-and-Mother-in-Law-Margot-Asquith?LinkID=mp55479&role=sit&rNo=0 Family Portrait: Prince Antoine Bibesco with his daughter Princess Priscilla Bibesco and Mother-in-Law Margot Asquith, 1932. National Portrait Gallery, London]</ref>

==Writings==
Between 1921 and 1940, Bibesco published three collections of short stories, four novels, two plays and a book of poetry.<ref>Darby, Paul, Pilgrimage: The Life of Elizabeth Bibesco, pp. 100–114</ref> [[Katharine Sergeant Angell White|Katharine Angell]], reviewing ''Balloons'' for ''[[The Nation]]'' in 1923 wrote, "Elizabeth Bibesco uses for her sketches material from which [[Katherine Mansfield]] would have made short stories, and [[Henry James]], novels ... Elizabeth Bibesco has a genius for compression – the compression into a few phrases of all the details of a situation, into a few pages of the hopes and failures of a lifetime".<ref>Angell, Katharine, ''[[The Nation]]'', 4 April 1923, p. 397</ref> Her collections of short stories were reviewed on both sides of the Atlantic and her novel ''The Fir and the Palm'' was serialised in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' in November and December 1924.

Bibesco's last novel, ''The Romantic'', published in 1940, starts with a dedication to [[Falange Española]] founder [[Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera]], whom Bibesco had known during her stay in Madrid where her husband was Romanian ambassador (1927-31): "''To Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera. I promised you a book before it was begun. It is yours now that it is finished -- Those we love die for us only when we die--''".<ref>Bibesco, Elizabeth, ''The Romantic'', William Heinemann, London, 1940. See: Constenla, Tereixa, El Pais, Madrid, 1 October 2015 & Badcock, James and Rayner, Gordon, ''The Telegraph'', London, 2 October 2015.</ref> A thorough appraisal of Bibesco's work was written by [[Elizabeth Bowen]] in an introduction to ''Haven'', the 1951 posthumous collection of Bibesco's stories, poems and aphorisms. In her essay, Bowen wrote that, "The Bibesco characters seem to be the inhabitants of a special milieu, in which the more ordinary taboos of feeling and brakes on speech do not operate."<ref>[[Elizabeth Bowen|Bowen, Elizabeth]], "Introduction to Bibesco, Elizabeth", Haven: short stories, poems, and aphorisms (1951), J. Barrie.</ref>

==Final years==
Elizabeth was in Romania during [[World War II]] and died there of [[pneumonia]] in [[1945 in Romania|1945]], aged 48. She was buried in the Bibesco family graveyard on the grounds of [[Mogoșoaia Palace]] outside [[Bucharest]]. Her epitaph reads, "My soul has gained the freedom of the night" – the last line of the last poem in her 1927 collection.<ref>Bibesco, Marthe, In Memoriam, Les Oeuvres Libres, 1946, p. 92</ref> Her death was the final sorrow for her mother, Margot, who died within months of her daughter's death. Prince Antoine, forced out of Romania after the war, never returned to his homeland. He died in 1951 and was buried in Paris. Priscilla Hodgson, the couple's only child, continued to live at 45, Quai Bourbon until her death in 2004.<ref>''The Independent'', 27 November 2004.</ref>

==Portraits==
[[File:Augustus John, Princess Antoine Bibesco, 1924.jpg|thumb|right|Elizabeth Bibesco, by [[Augustus John]], 1924]]
Elizabeth's portrait was painted twice by [[Augustus John]], in 1919 and again five years later. The first painting (titled "Elizabeth Asquith") shows her as a vivacious debutante in a feather stole over bare shoulders. This picture is in the [[Laing Art Gallery]] in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], England. In the second portrait, seen at right (titled "Princess Antoine Bibesco"), Elizabeth appears slightly weary and melancholic, her eyes averted just enough to suggest a break in her former self-confidence. She wears a [[mantilla]] given to her father by the [[Queen of Portugal]]<ref>[[H. H. Asquith|Asquith, H. H.]], ''Letters to a Friend'', Bles, 1933, vol. 2, p. 176</ref> and holds one of her own books. When shown at the [[Royal Academy]] summer show in 1924, [[Mary Chamot]], writing in ''[[Country Life (magazine)|Country Life]]'', wrote of this painting that it "has the force to make every other picture in the room look insipid, so dazzling is the contrast between the mysterious darkness of her eyes and hair and the shimmering brilliance of the white lace she wears over her head."<ref>Chamot, Mary, Country Life magazine, 10 May 1924</ref>

==Selected works==
* ''I Have Only Myself to Blame'', 1921 – short stories
* ''Balloons'', 1922 – short stories
* ''The Painted Swan'', 1922 – play
* ''The Fir and the Palm'', 1924 – novel
* ''The Whole Story'', 1925 – short stories
* ''There is No Return'', 1927 – novel
* ''Points of View'', 1927 – play
* ''Poems'', 1927 – poetry
* ''Portrait of Caroline'', 1931 – novel
* ''The Romantic'', 1940 – novel

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Elizabeth Bibesco}}
*{{wikiquote-inline}}
*{{wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=5890}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Bibesco, Elizabeth|name=Elizabeth Bibesco|author=yes}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11716}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Elizabeth Bibesco}}

{{H. H. Asquith|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibesco, Elizabeth}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century English women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English writers]]
[[Category:Asquith family]]
[[Category:Bibescu family|Elizabeth]]
[[Category:Daughters of British earls]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Romania]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:English silent film actresses]]
[[Category:Princes Bibescu]]
[[Category:Romanian princesses]]
[[Category:Tennant family]]
[[Category:Children of H. H. Asquith]]