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The Original Gossip Girl

Frances Osborne recalls the seductive Idina Sackville, who scandalized 1920s British society and inspired Nancy Mitford’s character The Bolter. Michael Korda is smitten, dahling.

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Courtesy of the 24th Earl of Erroll
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Idina Sackville's engagement photo.

Courtesy of the 24th Earl of Erroll
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Euan and his sons after Idina’s departure, Old Lodge, April 1919.

Courtesy of the 24th Earl of Erroll
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Idina and her third husband, Joss, shortly after their engagement in September 1923. Joss become the 22nd Earl of Erroll.

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Idina and Joss, in red and gold kekoi and pajamas, on their Kenyan farm, Slains, 1924.

Courtesy of the 24th Earl of Erroll
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Donald and Idina’s wedding.

Courtesy of Planet News
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Idina, right, dressed for a Rift Valley picnic with her friend Paula Gellibrand — Cecil Beaton’s “living Modigliani”— who married Idina’s former lover, Boy Long.

Courtesy of the late Robin Long
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Idina Sackville

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