Brilliant life of JFK’s younger sister Kick who Charmed the English Aristocracy

 

Kathleen Kennedy and Billy, Marquess of Hartington, had an encounter during the summer of 1938 and fell in love at first sight. He was the oldest son and heir of the Duke of Devonshire, she one of the nine children of the American Ambassador.

But there was trouble ahead as the Kennedy’s were prominent Catholics and Billy’s ancestor, Sir William Cavendish had helped in the dissolution of the monasteries. After consultations with the Archbishop of Canterbury and a papal nuncio, B Kathleen Kennedy “Kick”, the 24-year-old fourth child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy and a younger sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, on Saturday May 6, 1944, married William “Billy” Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington, in a civil ceremony at the Caxton Hall Registry Office, in Westminster, London, England without the benefit of the clergy.  After five weeks living together, Billy returned to his regiment he was shot through the heart by a sniper. Billy’s mother wrote to her daughter-in-law “All your life I shall love you – not only for yourself but also for what you gave such perfect happiness to my son, whom I loved above anything in the world.” Four years later Kick herself died in a plane crash in the Cevennes aged 28 and was buried in Chatsworth.

Paula Bryne’s excellent biography charts the brilliant Kennedy family,  including Joe Kennedy senior who was a self-made millionaire, whose nine children seemed born to succeed. When it came to sex, the boys were allowed freer rein than their sisters – just as Rose tolerated her husband’s alliances with the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Gloria Swanson.

Her eldest brother Joseph P Kennedy, Jr. whom she had grown close, was the only member of the family to attend Kick’s wedding, was killed when his plane exploded over Blythburgh, Suffolk, in 1944. John the next, survived a childhood illness and became president of America only to be assassinated as was his brother Bobby. Rosemary, brain-damaged at birth, had a botched lobotomy and lived in care until 2005.

Kick was described by her biographer as sweet, effervescent, tenacious, witty and moreover, could handle the English aristocracy at its silliest. Billy’s father often loved fly-tying, as and when flies are ready, he  would summon his butler, and get into the bath and pretend to be a salmon, while his butler twitched the fishing rod over his submerged head.

 

 

Kick: The True Story of Kick Kennedy, JFK’s Forgotten Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth by Paula Byrne William Collins £20 352 pages.