News about Pamela Harriman

Churchill's daughter-in-law, Pamela Harriman, was once dismissed as 'the courtesan of the century'. She used sex and seduction to bring America into the War and seal the Special Relationship with Britain. Here, in the second and concluding instalment, we reveal Pamela Harriman's intimate encounters in Europe - before she was wooed by the political charms of a young Bill Clinton...

When Pamela Harriman died at the age of 76 after collapsing in the pool at the Paris Ritz, the verdicts on her colorful life were mostly far from flattering. By 1997, the British-born aristocrat and daughter-in-law to Winston Churchill, had risen to serve as President Clinton's handpicked ambassador to France , the first woman in that role. Yet it was commonly held that she was 'expert only in the subject of rich men's ceilings', as one wag put it. Pamela had taken hundreds of lovers, certainly, enjoyed sexually charged thrills on jets and yachts and received dozens of marriage proposals in her time. She was also one of the greatest unsung political players of her time with an influence over prominent world leaders that spanned more than 50 years and two continents.