Description
Even before the days of Camelot, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was a difficult act to follow – and no one felt this more than her charming, pretty, younger sister. As Diana DuBois demonstrates in this unauthorized biography, the patterns of sibling competition formed in childhood would subtly influence Lee Radziwill throughout her life. Never quite as graceful in the spotlight as Jackie, Lee made up the difference with glitter and glamour, finding husbands, relationships and lovers among the international jet set. She was first married to Michael Canfield, rumoured to be the bastard child of British royalty, then to Prince Stanislas Radziwill – real royalty in exile – and finally to director Herbert Ross. From New York and London to the capitals and sun spots of Europe, Lee has lived at the pinnacle of style, with friends such as Diana Vreeland, Rudolf Nureyev, Andy Warhol, Leslie Caron, Truman Capote, Richard Meier and, of course, the Kennedys. Perhaps most telling, Aristotle Onassis was Lee’s conquest – until the day she invited her sister along for a sail on his yacht. One theme has underscored all the dazzle: Lee’s jealous rivalry with her stunning sister, from childhood in East Hampton to high-profile adulthood. This book is a portrait of a woman living too close to a legend, and never quite becoming one herself.
Hardback