Georgette,
according to her contemporaries was very beautiful as a young woman.
She was tall, too, at 5'10". She was not athletic, and according to Hodge "took no exercise that she could avoid", but she did enjoy dancing.
She
met Ronald Rougier in 1920 at Christmas when both families were staying
at the Bushey Park Hotel. Ronald liked George Heyer immediately and
was impressed by his intelligence. He also took to the young Georgette.
In the 1920s young ladies were expected to bring their own partner
when they were invited to dances, and Ronald became Georgette's.
Ronald,
tall and handsome, was two years older than Georgette. His family were
of Huguenot extraction, but had settled in York where they ran an
import-export business. His first love, the navy, had to be given up
because of poor eyesight, so he attended The Royal School of Mines to
become a mining engineer. In 1922 he qualified as such and worked in
Nigeria for a while. He also played first-class rugger with the
Harlequins.
After
dating for five years, he and Georgette became engaged in 1925. A
month later, after playing tennis with his future son-in-law, George
Heyer died of a sudden heart attack. Two
months later the wedding went ahead as planned on August 18, 1925 at
St. Mary's in Wimbledon. Georgette wore a pretty little cloth hat and
her wedding photo in Hodge
shows her carrying a huge bouquet and standing next to a smiling and
dapper Ronald. The ceremoney was kept simple with no bridesmaids.
As
close as Georgette was to her father, she must have been suffering
immensely from grief. Ronald must have been of great strength to her.
She confided to a friend a few months later that a girl never got over
the death of her father.
As
a couple they were always reserved. Georgette was already an
established writer, bringing in a good income with her novels. At all
accounts they were a well-suited and happy couple. She learned to play
bridge for her husband's sake, and, though she disliked exercise, walked
many golf courses in his wake. A friend stated that she was 100% loyal
to Ronald and that he was entirely devoted to her. They were married
for almost fifty years. She may have been Georgette Heyer to her fans, but she was Mrs. Ronald Rougier in her private life.
Next Entry: Writing in Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment