26 Facts About Pamela Harriman

Pamela Beryl Harriman, known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English political activist for the Democratic Party, diplomat, and socialite.

Pamela Harriman married three times: her first husband was Randolph Churchill, the son of prime minister Winston Churchill; her third husband was W Averell Harriman, an American diplomat who served as Governor of New York.

Pamela Harriman served as US ambassador to France from 1993 until her death in 1997.

Pamela Harriman was educated by governesses in the ancestral home at Minterne Magna in Dorset, along with her three younger siblings, and later attended Downham School.

Pamela Harriman was to follow in her relative's footsteps, and has been called "the 20th-century's most influential courtesan".

Pamela Harriman competed at shows at the International Olympia, Royal Bath and West Show, and local shows at Dorchester and Melplash.

Pamela Harriman show-jumped a tiny pony called Stardust that did a clear round at Olympia when every fence was above the animal's withers.

Pamela Harriman subsequently went to Paris, taking some classes at the Sorbonne.

Pamela Harriman was a descendant of the Earls of Leicester and Ilchester and the Dukes of Atholl.

Pamela Harriman was a first cousin of Lavinia Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, a third cousin, once removed, of Angus Ogilvy, husband of Queen Elizabeth's cousin, Alexandra of Kent and a fourth cousin, once removed, of Sarah, Duchess of York.

In 1939, while working at the Foreign Office in London doing French-to-English translations, the 19-year-old Pamela Harriman met Randolph Churchill, the son of Winston Churchill, who according to British writer Sonia Purnell was, "a womaniser and alcoholic, desperate for a wife having already proposed to eight women in the space of two weeks".

Shortly after giving birth, Pamela Harriman and the newborn were photographed by Cecil Beaton for Life magazine, its first cover of a mother with baby.

Pamela Harriman was left to cope alone with a young baby and Randolph's creditors.

Pamela Harriman fell in love and started an affair with American envoy Averell Harriman, who was married and almost 30 years her senior.

Pamela Harriman filed for divorce in December 1945 on the grounds that Churchill had deserted her for three years.

In 1948, Pamela Harriman moved to Paris and began a five-year-long romance with Gianni Agnelli, a noted playboy and heir to the Fiat empire, who was a year younger than she was.

Pamela Harriman described this as the happiest period of her life.

Pamela Harriman supported her financially, and she was schooled in art history and wine-making during this clandestine and short relationship.

Pamela Harriman proposed to her, and after her marriage ultimatum to Rothschild was rejected, she accepted Hayward's offer and moved to New York City.

Pamela Harriman Hayward stayed with her husband until his death on March 18,1971.

The day after Hayward's funeral, Pamela arranged to resume her acquaintance with her former lover, Harriman, then 79 years old and recently widowed.

In later years, she had many legal problems with Pamela Harriman's children concerning the inheritance.

Pamela Harriman served on The Rockefeller University Council from 1977 to 1979, and on the Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1993.

Pamela Harriman died on February 5,1997 at the American Hospital, Neuilly-sur-Seine, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while swimming at the Paris Ritz one day earlier.

Pamela Harriman was the first female foreign diplomat to receive this honor.

In recognition of her service and importance, United States President Bill Clinton sent Air Force One to repatriate her body to the US, and spoke glowingly of her public service himself at her funeral on Feb 13,1997, at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC Pamela Harriman was buried February 14,1997, at Arden, the former Pamela Harriman estate in New York.