Who is the man in the photograph with President John F. Kennedy and why did JFK refer to him as uncle?
HINT: They had a "Special Relationship."
The answer is after the JUMP.
HINT: They had a "Special Relationship."
The answer is after the JUMP.
The man to the left of John F. Kennedy is Harold Macmillan. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom until the final month of the Kennedy administration. Kennedy and Macmillan took the "special relationship" between their countries to its apogee, with the elder Macmillan serving as occasional mentor to young Kennedy.
The men had a personal connection via marriage. Macmillan was the uncle-in-law of JFK's deceased sister Kick. Kick was the war widow of William "Billy" Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington. He was the first born son of Edward Cavendish, the 10th Duke of Devonshire, whose sister was married to Harold Macmillan.
The familial connection between Kennedy and Macmillan seems weak: too attenuated to matter. Yet, it did, in part due to the influence of one of the 20th Century's most remarkable women. In the decades following Kick's death in a 1948 plane crash, JFK became close with Kick's sister-in-law, Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire (née Mitford). The Devonshires were surprised and honored to be seated in the family section at Kennedy's inauguration, and Deborah was guest at the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy even referred to the British leader as "Uncle Harold," in reference to Deborah's name for him, her uncle by marriage.
The men had a personal connection via marriage. Macmillan was the uncle-in-law of JFK's deceased sister Kick. Kick was the war widow of William "Billy" Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington. He was the first born son of Edward Cavendish, the 10th Duke of Devonshire, whose sister was married to Harold Macmillan.
The familial connection between Kennedy and Macmillan seems weak: too attenuated to matter. Yet, it did, in part due to the influence of one of the 20th Century's most remarkable women. In the decades following Kick's death in a 1948 plane crash, JFK became close with Kick's sister-in-law, Deborah, the Duchess of Devonshire (née Mitford). The Devonshires were surprised and honored to be seated in the family section at Kennedy's inauguration, and Deborah was guest at the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy even referred to the British leader as "Uncle Harold," in reference to Deborah's name for him, her uncle by marriage.
 Billy Hartington and Kick Kennedy |  Grave of Kick Kennedy at the Devonshire Family Plot, Edensor (Near Chatsworth) |
The Mitfords, Letters Between Six Sisters collects the correspondence between Deborah and her five sisters. The letters include references to "Uncle Harold" and the young and glamorous American president. The Mitford sisters nicknamed JFK the "Loved One" The insinuation from book is that Deborah conducted an affair with Kennedy. Yet, in the last years of her life, she indicated their relationship had been platonic. Kennedy was not known for chaste relations with the opposite sex. Yet, not many possessed the charm or wit of Deborah Devonshire. It also helped that she was a back channel connection to the Prime Minister the United Kingdom, America's most important ally.
 Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and Harold Macmillan, 1964 |  JFK Visiting His Sister Kick's Grave |
Note: It is difficult to overstate the charisma of Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy. Deborah Devonshire adored her, as did everyone else. Moreover, in a family such as the Kennedys, in which the sons had the spotlight, Kick managed to shine as brightly as her brothers. She took England (and Billy Hartington) by storm when her father was United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James in the years leading up to World War II. Wrote her biographer Lynne McTaggart, “In 1938 Kathleen Kennedy dazzled English society as no American has before or since. During the bleak days of 1943, when she returned to Britain, one young aristocrat called her ‘the best thing America has ever sent us.’”
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