FROM THE ARCHIVE
FROM THE ARCHIVE
In the 1930s Walton’s career flourished.
He had experienced early success in 1923
with Façade, his orchestral setting for Edith
Sitwell’s poems. He had met the Sitwell
siblings at Christ Church, Oxford and they
had taken him under their wing, introducing
him to their artistic and cultural circles. In
the 1920s Walton was also supported
by a social set that became known as
the ‘Bright Young People’. Indeed, their
frivolous and debauched living inspired
Evelyn Waugh’s novel, Vile Bodies. It
must be remembered, however, that this
generation grew up under the shadow of
the Great War. None of them could have
escaped being affected by it in one way or
another. Perhaps this partially accounted
for their behaviour and attitude to life.
Wedding still from British Pathe News
as improving the grounds. Many grand
entertainments were held there over the years
and, in 1938, the happy couple had their
wedding reception there too before they left
for their honeymoon on the Continent. Little
did anyone suspect, that less than two years
later, in September 1940, Holland House
would be devastated by incendiary bombs.
The marriage ceremony was presided over
by the Very Rev. John Morgan, Bishop of
Swansea and Brecon. It is likely that he
was there at the behest of the bridegroom,
who had been MP for Brecon and Radnor
since 1935. The Bishop was assisted by
Prebendary Arthur E. Smith, then Vicar
of St Mary Abbots (1937-1948) and Rev.
F. L Blathwayt, who had been Rector of
Melbury, Lord Ilchester’s Dorset home.
22 | 2014 Spring
But what was Walton’s connection
with the bride and groom? Alice, Lady
Wimborne had become Walton’s patron in
the mid-1930s. Indeed, Walton was a selfconfessed scrounger and philandere r and
it was known within certain circles that
Walton was intimately acquainted with the
groom’s mother. Indeed, their relationship
lasted for thirteen years until the death of
Lady Wimborne in 1948 and Walton had
even moved in with her after his house
was destroyed in an air raid in May 1941.
Apparently, the Viscount and Viscountess
Wimborne had what today would be regarded
as an ‘open’ marriage and they led contentedly
separate lives. Yet it must have been
somewhat disquieting for the groom to have
his mother’s lover, a man almost the same age
as himself, compose music for his wedding.
After the success of his oratorio, Belshazzar’s
Feast, Walton was commissioned to write
his first symphony in 1932 but due to his
turbulent personal life he was only inspired
to finish it in 1935 following the start of his
association with Alice, Lady Wimborne.
Walton’s liaison, however, was disapproved
of by Osbert Sitwell and he was no longer
welcome at Sitwell’s home in Carlyle Square.
In 1937 Walton wrote the Crown Imperial
march for the coronation of King George
VI and later, he was to compose music for
the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Writing
to his librettist for Troilus and Cressida,
Christopher Hassall, in 1952, whilst struggling
with his compositions for the coronation,
Walton commented that: “After a spot of
bother with the “Virgin’s Womb” (the kind of
trouble I always seem to get into – don’t tell
the Archbishop!) the Te Deum is complete ...’
The Guest - Fox-Strangways wedding was
such an important, high society occasion
that it merited coverage by The Times
and British Pathé News. A short video of
the bride and groom emerging from the
church and the crowds waiting eagerly
outside for a glimpse of them can still be
seen at http://www.britishpathe.com/video/
kensington-wedding/query/Honourable .
Despite the entangled web of relationships
surrounding the origins of the anthem, ‘Set
me as a seal upon thine heart’ must be one
of the most beautiful and enduring wedding
gifts ever received.
The Marriage
Register
Spring 2014 | 23