AIRMAN’S ROMANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 247, 18 October 1937, Page 2

AIRMAN’S ROMANCE

DAUGHTER OF COUNTESS MR. MOLLISON’S REVELATIONS LONDON, Sept. 13. Marriage with Lady Diana Wellesley (now Lady Dixon), great-grand-daughter of the Duke of Wellington, was contemplated by Mr. James Mollison, well-known airman, before he married Miss Amy Johnson, from whom he is now estranged. This is among a number of intimate disclosures which are made by Mr. Mollison in his book, “Playboy of the Air.” He adds: “I could have offered her adventure enough to satisfy the blood of the great Wellington.” Bui Lady Diana Wellesley’s mother, Countess Cowley, disapproved of the proposed marriage. “As a Hying companion I would still choose Amy, but, unfortunately, the woman you pick for a dangerous enterprise is not always the one you get along with afterwards,” says Mr. Mollison. The airman discloses that before the “fatal luncheon” at which he proposed to his wife neither had considered marrying the other. He says his engagement followed the breaking off of a year’s trial engagement with Lady Diana Wellesley, then aged 18 years, to which Countess Cowley was resolutely opposed. The countess believed that her daughter was too young and inexperienced to decide.

Mr. Mollison adds: “Looking back, who can blame her for her attitude when considering me as a prospective son-in-law?”

The airman declares that he was nauseated by the countess’ catechism about his prospects. “Nevertheless,” he adds, “but for the fact that I married Amy I think my wife's name would probably have been Diana.” Mr. Mollison admits that he has been “scared stiff” on certain occasions, but he overcame his fear sometimes by “drinking alcohol in a big way.” He refers to the mutual intolerance which occurred in the early months of his marriage. He adds: “It was humiliating to be semipublicly catechised for my late hours and belated appearances.” Replying to the comments by Mr. Mollison about her daughter and herself, Countess Cowley, in an interview published in the Daily Mail, said: “I was not being snobbish. Any mother in my position would have done the same. “Diana and Mr. Mollison lived in two entirely different worlds. I did not want hers to be wrecked. I was not disagreeable and nasty to Mr. Mollison. I was prepared to give them a chance, and told them to wait a year, meet each other’s friends, and then, if they loved each other, I could hardly hold out. Now, thank heaven, Diana is happily and comfortably married.” Lady Diana married a Guardsman, Mr. Deniel Dixon, in July, 1923. Mr. Dixon is now aide-de-camp to the general commanding Northern Ireland.