Soraya and I
Tak i
Sandra J arvis-Daly Khashoggi's latest caper is not surprising. Her fat, unattractive, oily arms dealer of an ex-husband taught her at an early age to seek the company of the powerful and, even more impqrtant, of those who seemed likely to have a bright future. So it is easy to understand her choice of Winston Churchill as a lover. One does not need to be a history buff to have heard of his name. Nor a Whitehall insider. But the arms dealer was not around to coach her by the time she took up with Mr Churchill. If he had been, he surely would have pointed out that, unlike his grandfather and great grandfather, who were ministers by the age of 35, the present Winston was heading nowhere. I happen to admire very much his stand on Rhodesia. But by all accounts, he is otherwise less than admirable — a man who has inherited all the flaws of his flawed family but none of its virtues. But I was amused when a friend of mine said that young Winston was all right because he was not as 'pushy' as his grandfather. I knew the British upper classes hated ambition but this was a bit much. My feelings towards Winston senior are of gratitude for sending in British troops to save Greece from communism, and of derision for not making a deal with the German generals to get rid of Hitler. Of all the anecdotes about him, I like best his reported remark to Anthony Beauchamp about his admiration for Mussolini because he had the courage to shoot his son-in-law. Soames should bear that in mind. But to get back to more important subjects like Mrs Khas haggle . The first time I me z her it was, predictably, in Gstaad. Her husband was oiling up to Arnaud de Borchgrave, who brought them around. I somehow got the impression that he wanted her to 'work' the important people present, a group which unfortunately did not include me. But the little Greek boy never gives up, and 11 years ago she was looking better than she does now. Back in London we went out to dinner at the old place of John Aspinall. A friend, John Lucan, joined us. Afterwards we played Chemin de Fer and during the change of shoes, Lord Lucan took me aside and confided to me that he had grave doubts about her antecedents. 'She has a funny kind of accent,' Lucky said, 'as if she was Saudi working class or something like that.' Poor Lucan. After a bottle of vodka he mistook a Leicester working class twang for a Saudi one. But in fact Soraya had already admitted to me that her name was Sandra. She is and was always very truthful, as well as being on the nice side.
That was when she wanted to become an actress. She had produced five children for her rapacious husband — unfortunately for her they all looked Arab—and did not want to play the Arab concubine any longer. She invited the cream of English showbusiness people to her house at 15 Eaton Square. Hers was, 1 believe, one of only two private houses in the square. During the party, the guests admired a twisted piece of metal that they took for a piece of modern sculpture, beneath which there was something written in Arabic. When the upper theatrical echelons, who, as elsewhere in the world, tend to,revere the first half of the Bible more than the second, were told that the 'sculpture' was in reality bits of an Israeli Mirage shot down by Arab guns, the house emptied. The incident shows that Soraya is both naive and truthful.
The notion that security was compromised by her relationship with Churchill is outrageous. England has nothing to hide, everything has already been leaked, and Winston Churchill would be the last person on the island to leak it. Wags in New York have been saying that, having dwindled in politics, Winston was trying through Soraya to enter high finance. That is not true either. He married into a family that reveres money and has plenty of it. No, Churchill should be commended. He is the first of his family to be caught cheating on his wife. If anything, it shows that the English are ready to go into the Common Market; And as far as Soraya is concerned, it might help her with her divorce. Her mean husband might give her some of his money. He might speculate that Winston might one day become Minister of Defence, and that England might one day become strong again. But if I were her, I wouldn't bet on it. Khashoggi has been accused of everything but stupidity.
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