Unity Mitford

Unity Valkyrie Freeman-Mitford (8 August 1914 – 28 May 1948) was a British fascist and aristocrat known for her relationship with Adolf Hitler. Born in the United Kingdom, she belonged to Hitler's inner circle of friends and was a prominent supporter of Nazism, fascism and antisemitism.

Unity was one of the Mitford sisters, six girls born to David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale and his wife Sydney Bowles (1880–1963), namely Nancy (born 1904), Pamela (1907), Diana (1910), Unity (1914), Jessica (1917) and Deborah (1920). The sisters had one brother, Tom (born 1909) who was killed in action in 1945.

Unity was in Munich when the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, and she attempted suicide by shooting herself in the head, surviving, but with extensive brain damage. She returned to England but never recovered, ultimately dying in 1948 from consequences of the wound.

Early life

thumb|The [[Mitford family in 1928]]

The Mitford family is an aristocratic family tracing its origins in Northumberland back to the 11th-century Norman settlement of England. Unity Mitford was the fifth of seven children born in Kensington, London, to David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney, daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles, known to the children as Farve and Muv.

Mitford was, coincidentally considering her later beliefs, conceived in the town of Swastika, Ontario, Canada, where her family had gold mines. The Mitford children lived at Asthall Manor in Asthall, Oxfordshire. Unity was educated at home by governesses, and St Margaret's School in Bushey, Hertfordshire. She was nicknamed "Boud" by her siblings.

Diana Mosley's biographer, Jan Dalley, suggested that "Unity found life in her big family very difficult because she came after these cleverer, prettier, more accomplished sisters." Another biographer, David Pryce-Jones, said: "If you come from a ruck of children in a large family, you've got to do something to assert your individuality, and I think through the experience of trying to force her way forward among the sisters and in the family, she decided that she was going to form a personality against everything."

Biographers speculated that Unity turned to Nazism as a way to distinguish herself within the family. As Dalley states: "I think the desire to shock was very important, it was the way that she made herself special. When she discovered Nazism and discovered that it was a fantastic opportunity to shock everybody in England she'd discovered the best tease of all." At a Court ball held at Buckingham Palace, she drew attention to herself by stealing the writing paper. enrolling in a language school in Munich close to the Nazi Party headquarters. Dalley notes "She was obsessed with meeting Hitler, so she really set out to stalk him." where they talked for over 30 minutes, with Hitler picking up her bill. In a letter home to her father, Mitford wrote that: "It was the most wonderful and beautiful [day] of my life. I am so happy that I wouldn't mind a bit, dying. I'd suppose I am the luckiest girl in the world. For me he is the greatest man of all time." Hitler became smitten with the young blonde British student, the embodiment of the Nazi ideal of "Aryan" womanhood. He was also struck by her curious connections to Germanic culture, including her middle name, Valkyrie. but scholars had stated that Mitford "probably never had intimate sexual relations with Hitler".

Mitford's grandfather, Bertram Freeman-Mitford, had been a friend of Richard Wagner, one of Hitler's idols, and had written introductions to two works of Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Dalley says, "Hitler was extremely superstitious, and he believed that Unity was sort of sent to him, it was destined." "Fascist tourism" to Germany and Italy also became popular among British women rank and file members of the fascist movement, following Unity's example. When Hitler announced the Anschluss in 1938, she appeared with him on the balcony in Vienna. She was later arrested in Prague for distributing Nazi propaganda. and the suspicions of the British SIS were aroused.

MI5 officer Guy Liddell wrote in his diary: "Unity Mitford had been in close and intimate contact with the Führer and his supporters for several years, and was an ardent and open supporter of the Nazi regime. She had remained behind after the outbreak of war and her action had come perilously close to high treason." Mitford summered at the Berghof where she continued to discuss a possible German–British alliance with Hitler, going so far as to supply lists of potential supporters and enemies. Mitford tried to share her suspicions with Hitler that von Hohenlohe was a double agent and questioning why he would keep someone of suspected Jewish origin around him. Hitler, despite Mitford's warnings, did not act on them.

On 29 March 1939 Mitford wrote in a letter to her sister Diana: "I had lunch with the Führer on Sunday and Monday, and he asked me to send you viele Grüsse [many greetings]. Both days he was in his very sweetest mood, particularly on Monday, he held my hand most of the time and looked sweet and said 'Kind' [child] in his sympathetic way because he was so sorry about England and Germany being such enemies. However he said nothing but wonderful things about England and he completely gave me faith again that it will all come right in the end." He was concerned by her demeanour and assigned two men to follow her, but she managed to shake them off by the time she entered the English Garden in Munich, where she took a pearl-handled pistol given to her by Hitler for protection and shot herself in the head.

Stating she could remember nothing of the incident, Mitford returned to England with her mother and sister in January 1940 amid a flurry of press interest and her comment, "I'm glad to be in England, even if I'm not on your side",

Mitford survived her initial convalescence. Due to the intervention by Home Secretary John Anderson, at the behest of her father, she was left to live out her days with her mother at the family home at Swinbrook, Oxfordshire. Under the care of Professor Hugh Cairns, neurosurgeon at the Nuffield Hospital in Oxford, "She learned to walk again, but never fully recovered. She was incontinent and childish." She had a tendency to talk incessantly, had trouble concentrating her mind, and showed an unusually large appetite with sloppy table manners. Lees-Milne observed her to be "rather plain and fat, and says she weighs ". He was re-posted to the far north of Scotland, where he died in a Spitfire crash in 1945. Authorities then concluded that Mitford did not pose a significant threat.

From 1943, she also spent long periods in Hillmorton, an area of Rugby in Warwickshire, staying with the local vicar and his family. She also spent time on the Scottish island of Inch Kenneth, where she wrote that when she died: "Make sure that I go to heaven and sit there with the Fuhrer for ever and ever. Let all his enemies be smitten down especially the jews which will serve them all right."

Death

thumb|250px|right|Mitford's grave, between sisters Nancy (left) and Diana (right)

Mitford was taken seriously ill on a visit to the family owned island of Inch Kenneth and was taken to hospital in Oban. On 28 May 1948, 33-year-old Mitford died of meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around the bullet, which was still in her head. She was buried at Swinbrook Churchyard; the inscription on her gravestone reads: "Say not the struggle naught availeth."

Publication of diaries

In 2025, diaries believed to be Mitford's were discovered. They also record how she learnt how to shoot a pistol as "I am practising to kill Jews."

Controversies

Allegations of a faked shooting

On 1 December 2002, following the release of declassified documents (including the diary of wartime MI5 officer Guy Liddell), investigative journalist Martin Bright published an article in The Observer saying that Home Secretary John Anderson had intervened to prevent Mitford being questioned on her return from Germany. He also said that the shooting, which "has become part of the Mitford myth", may have been invented to excuse this.

Bright cites the statements of press photographers and others who witnessed Mitford's 3 January 1940 return to Britain that "there were no outward signs of her injury." Liddell had written on 2 January, "We had no evidence to support the press allegations that she was in a serious state of health, and it might well be that she was brought in on a stretcher in order to avoid publicity and unpleasantness to her family." Liddell had wanted her and her entourage, which according to Bright included known Nazi supporters, to be searched upon arrival, but the Home Secretary prevented this. On 8 January, Liddell notes receiving a report from the Security Control Officers who were responsible for meeting the arrivals that states "there were no signs of a bullet wound."

Rumours of Hitler's baby

In December 2007, Bright published an article in New Statesman stating that following a previous article on Unity Mitford, he had received a phone call from a Ms Val Hann, a member of the public, offering new information on the story. The caller said that during the war, her aunt, Betty Norton, had run Hill View Cottage, a private maternity hospital in Oxford where Mitford had been a client.

In popular culture

Unity, a play by John Mortimer depicting Mitford's time in Berlin, was broadcast on BBC2 on 20 March 1981. Unity was played by Lesley-Anne Down.

Mitford is mentioned in the 1958 novella Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. Rutherford ("Rusty") Trawler apparently was supposed to propose to Unity Mitford before the war, if Hitler had not.

Mitford is portrayed by Shannon Watson in the 2025 historical drama series Outrageous.

Mitford's connection with Adolf Hitler is the main subject of the novel Resolution by Adam Zerny.