COOPER

Born Lady Diana Manners, she was an English aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrated group of intellectuals known as the Coterie, most of whom were killed in the First World War. She married one of the few survivors, Duff Cooper, later British ambassador to France. After his death, she wrote three volumes of memoirs which reveal much about early 20th-century upper-class life.From a small collection of letters to James Strachey BARNES (1890-1955) who was a theorist of British Fascism. During World War II Barnes worked to publicise Fascist Italy. His own Fascist views included palingenesis, anti-Semitism, and opposition to liberalism. After the war he lived in Italy. Lady Diana Cooper was entirely opposed to fascism, fiercely defending democracy and standing in stark contrast to the ideology. However she had a proximity to fascist figures because of her close friendships with the Mitford family - particularly her friendship with her close contemporary, the devoted fascist Diana Mitford, who married British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley.This letter refers to her husband's recent appointment by the new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill in May 1940 when he appointed him Minister of Information.