Tyne O'Connell's Blog, page 2
May 19, 2015
Is it something in the water?
The Quintessential English Village in The Heart of London has been churning out Eccentrics since 1236.
And one must ask…Is it something in the water?
Originally Mayfair was a small hamlet known as Tyburn, a Catholic pilgrimage site due to the powerful healing properties of the natural spring waters which sprung on what is present day Gilbert St.
It was Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of our most magnificent English Queens, who insisted her Husband, King Henry II install lead piping to carry the natural spring waters from what is now Bond Street station Mayfair through to the Old Roman Walled City of London: Charing Cross, Ludgate & Cheapside so that all may benefit from the magical healing waters.
Queen Eleanor did much for Britain apart from providing clean drinking water to Londoners. She also introduced Courtly Love, a codified system of courtship which elevated women’s position from one of serf to a celebrated symbol of romance.
Eleanor of Aquitane and Henry II displaying courtly love
Women became the inspiration for poetry & music as a result of her codified rules of Courtly Love which afforded women a position of respect.
As a great patron of the arts, poetry, music & literature, Queen Eleanor created a court of Troubadours in England who sang and wrote of the deeds of King Arthur’s Court.
Poetry Evenings continue to thrive in Mayfair & St James’s today, in Mayfair family residences – they were a vital & regular feature of my own children’s upbringing.
But they are also a feature of many of Mayfair’s Private Members Clubs, including The Arts Club.
May 16, 2015
Behind every author, artist and composer, there stands a Mayfair Eccentric
Mayfair Eccentric, Lord Berners 1883-1950, of 40 Half Moon St, Mayfair, was the basis for the refreshingly eccentric, Lord Merlin in Nancy Mitford’s Love In A Cold Climate. Part of the Mayfair Eccentric set of the Mitfords, Sitwells and Waugh, his Mayfair house was a magnet for global eccentrics such as Dali, Stravinsky and Gertrude Stein.
His eccentric wit and ways, charm us from the pages of history and from the pages of the books written by those whom he inspired – as a man who boosted the self esteem and gave courage to others enabling them to give flight to their dreams.
From his brightly coloured doves to his majestic exuberance which floated through the ballrooms of Mayfair like a mist of possibility, his perfect manners and confidence made him the perfect touchstone amongst the fusty Edwardian stalwarts of the day. Every debutante needs a Lord Berners (Lord Merlin) in her life to guide her through the tricky pathways of courtship & to shield her from the brutish romantic ineptitude of the English Public School boy on the dance floor.
Ultimately though, Lord Berners, author, composer, raconteur, was not defined by his homosexuality or his flamboyance but his generous spirit and noblesse oblige.
There is a genius in combining English good manners & kind-heartedness with a talent for the glamorously unexpected, that defines the Mayfair Eccentrics. Lord Berners had that by the champagne Nebuchadnezzar.
Copyright © Tyne O’Connell
May 3, 2015
Queen Henrietta
Hoorah For Catherine – congratulations to the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. Our Kingdom has a new Princess! Hoorah!
As we sip from celebratory saucers of champagne t’is hard not to contemplate the name they’ll choose for the kingdom’s new princess.
I love Henrietta – one of my most revered English Queens. She was a great patron of the arts, a lover of spaniels, stylish, compassionate & larkiness personified.
As the daughter of the Medici family she brought the kingdom a massive dowry which was stolen by Cromwell who frittered it away on his enormous Anti-Fun army to scrub makeup off women’s faces & ensure men didn’t dance or drink ale & children didn’t play with toys.
In 1655 Queen Henrietta exiled in France published her best selling cookbook, Queen Henrietta Maria – The Queens Kitchen Closet, cocking a snook at the Puritan Tyranny. The women under his miserable rule bought it in droves. Proving The Quill is mightier than any #anti fun Army!
Wife of King Charles I (who was responsible for Covent Garden) & mother of the fabulous King Charles II who bequeathed London St James’s Park & Mayfair & St James’s a residential & retail paradise of glass fronted shopping arcades by 1664.
Eleanor of Aquitane
The woods of England are carpeted with bluebells to celebrate the birth of a new Royal Princess to our Kingdom – Congratulations to the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge.
But while the bookies lay odds on Charlotte, I’d like to propose Eleanor one of the Greatest Queens the world has ever known.
As Queen of France she lead a crusade of 3000 women to the Holy Land dressed as Amazonians.
As Queen of Briton Eleanor gave us courtly love & troubadours.
In 1236 she gave Londoners fresh spring water by installing lead piping to carry the fresh healing spring water from the magical Tyburn Springs in the London hamlet of Tyburn now known as Mayfair.
The Mayfair Tyburn Spring waters had healing powers & in the 12th & 13th Centuries pilgrims travelled from across the kingdom to Mayfair to drink from the healing waters on the site of present day Bond Street @MayfairLocals.
She persuaded her husband that by installing lead piping from the current Bond St Station the healing waters of the Natural Tyburn Springs could be delivered throughout the villages of London, through Charing Hamlet to Cheapside, all the way down to Ludgate Hamlet.
Eleanor was brave, she was independently rich, she was educated & she was beautiful & she was bold.
Queen Eleanor, husband to King Henry II remains one of the most Magnificent Women Of History, for Queen Eleanor put the Great into Britain.
She remains a beacon & icon of the best of Britishness & a shining example of how to live & love.
We continue to honour her in the 21st Century by pilgrimages to Bond St where we doff our hats & curtsey in celebration of all that’s lovely.
April 30, 2015
The Faded Glory of The Fabulous Footmen Of Mayfair
There was a time one couldn’t post a letter in Mayfair without tripping over dashing footmen or stepping aside for the Grand Ladies & their Cav Spaniels sitting upon their magnificent litters carried by their teams of tall handsome footmen.
But as the years went by the Footmen Of Mayfair faded away like Lord Lucan & Nightingales singing in Berkeley Square.
Several years ago I placed an ad in the Mayfair Times offering Footmen Internships – which alas bore no responses – notwithstanding a highly unsuitable young man with very odd ideas regarding the duties of a footman.
Eventually I had to make do with an unsatisfactory make-shift arrangement & took up the offer of my two ex-husbands & 2 sons who lugged me from my Mayfair Flat across Berkeley Sq to Bond Street on a chaise-longue in a classic case of larkiness over rectitude.
At one point I tumbled off trying to take a sip from my saucer of champagne & I sensed the doorman outside The Clermont Club holding in a snicker…unlike my Husbands & Sons who rolled about like puppies hooting with laughter.
While memorable it was not an activity that took root in family lore.
Indeed, the paucity of footmen in #Mayfair was so thin I took to suspending Battenberg cake on a string from my 4th Floor Mayfair walk-up in an attempt to lure passing footmen whom I’ve read are inordinately fond of this Queen of Cakes. Alas all my Battenberg lured was a Jesuit priest & a pair of skiving barmen from Scott’s.
So yes my joy for this bold move by The Goring to bulk up the footmen numbers of Mayfair is just what’s needed to get Spring off to a dashing start.
The ducklings of St James’s Park
The ducklings of St James’s Park are afoot…or is that afloat? Either way go at once & soak in the duck love.
Ducks make everything wonderful. Pepys & Evelyn’s Diaries of the 1660 speak endlessly of the waddle of ducks & spaniels that followed King Charles II around on his early morning peregrinations through St James’s & Mayfair with his builder Sir Christipher Wren as they spoke of his great dream that the area of St James’s & Mayfair should become the residential & retail paradise of Europe by 1670.
There was a little duck pond on Dover St by which the king woe stand & wait for his waddle of ducks to splash about before continuing North.
By 1707 when Fortnums opened their doors, Mayfair & St James’s was packed to the rafters with grand Mansions, Churches & architectural delights; the most popular being the glass fronted shopping arcades that drew the exquisites & gentry of London, like ducks to the ponds of St James’s Park that the king insisted be created as a tribute to his beloved & loyal ducks.
April 22, 2015
The Ritz
“I won’t stay at a cheap hotel. I’m very sorry it’s the way I’m made, besides it’s well known to be cheaper in the end to stay at the Ritz because otherwise one has to keep taking taxis there to see who’s arrived” Nancy Mitford, Highland Fling
But it is a fact! It really is cheaper to stay at #TheRitz – Alas it took me until I was 27 to realise the prudence of staying at The Ritz. Unfortunately I’d acquired 3 children & 2 husbands by that point. Instead of staying at#TheRitz I’d run through a veritable fortune, pitching up in ruins around the world. Had I exhibited a little prudence and stayed at #The Ritz I would have saved a sweet little nest egg to see me through the gloaming of my twilight years. However I’m reassured that my children have learned through the financial follies of my callow youth. They know the mantra, “it’s always #cheapertostayatTheRitz ”
January 4, 2015
The City of Ladies
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Elinor Glyn
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January 3, 2015
Countess Ada Lovelace
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