July 1933, and breaking news on the cover of The Tatler: Nancy
Astor, then 54, had lost to the Prince of Wales in the semi-final of a
parliamentary golf competition. As the first-ever female MP to take her
seat, she was the only woman on the course that day at Walton Heath
and a keen golfer – she would even fire a few rounds down the lawn
of her estate, Cliveden, on her 80th birthday. Known as a great beautyViscountess Astorin her youth, American-born Nancy Langhorne married her second
husband, the Hon Waldorf Astor, in 1906, and the pair were given
Cliveden as a wedding present from his father, the 1st Viscount Astor.
Now, on the centenary of her trailblazing rise to parliament, Tatler
celebrates a winning chatelaine who was victorious in seven elections
between 1919 and 1935 – and many more games of golf. PHOTOGRAPH: ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS/MARY EVANStatler
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