Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue

Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue (2024) by Sonia Purnell is a biography of “the most powerful courtesan in history” (1), Pamela Harriman. Pamela was known during her lifetime for her sex appeal and connections to powerful men, including Winston Churchill and Bill Clinton. In this narrative biography, Purnell presents Pamela as a powerful political figure in her own right while criticizing the relatively shallow and scandalous coverage of her life. Kingmaker touches on themes of Sexual Politics as a Route to Formal Power, Misogyny in Historical Memory-Making, and The Changing Role of Women in Politics.

Sonia Purnell is a British journalist and historian known for her well-researched, engaging, and award-winning trade biographies of women overlooked or misunderstood by history. Her best-known work to date is A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy (2019), which was selected as a “Best Book of the Year” by NPR.

This guide references the 2024 Viking Kindle edition of Kingmaker.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of religious discrimination, gender discrimination, rape, mental illness, child sexual abuse, pregnancy loss and termination, substance use and addiction, sexual content, illness, death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

The Prologue opens with a description of the day Pamela Harriman died on February 3, 1997, in Paris. Purnell uses the scene to describe the significance of Pamela’s life to history and politics. She argues that Pamela was a “nuance[d]” figure who used her sex appeal to gain political power and influence in a time when many women were shut out of such spheres.

Kingmaker is divided into three “Acts” representing three major stages of Pamela’s life. Act 1, “War,” covers Pamela’s early life and her young adulthood during World War II. Pamela was born in 1920 to the wealthy Digby family in Dorset, England. She led a highly sheltered life and had little normal education. When she turned 17, she had a formal “coming out” in London, which was her first taste of society life. She married soon after to Randolph Churchill, son of Winston Churchill. She grew close to the Churchill family, although she never had a good relationship with her husband. At the start of World War II, Randolph was deployed with his military regiment. The Churchills and others recognized Pamela’s sex appeal and charm. They used her to garner support from American statesmen and military leaders to encourage the United States to support the United Kingdom in their war effort against the Axis Powers. During this time, Pamela had affairs with many powerful men, including statesman Averell Harriman and news reporter Edward Murrow. Pamela used her dinner parties to collect intelligence for the UK government. Purnell argues Pamela’s diplomatic efforts were essential to the formation of the “Special Relationship” between the US and the UK.

In 1940, Pamela gave birth to her only child, Winston. Although she loved him, she devoted much of her time to her social and diplomatic efforts for her country, which left Winston relatively neglected. On June 6, 1944, the Allied troops landed in Normandy on D-Day. Pamela’s role became less important as the UK had finally secured the outcome they wanted: US support in World War II. She asked her husband, Randolph, for a divorce, and he agreed. The war ended on September 2, 1945.

Act 2, “Peace,” covers Pamela’s life after World War II, enjoying her newfound freedom. She traveled and partied extensively with famous and well-connected people, including the Kennedys. In 1948, she met Gianni Agnelli, the heir to the Fiat fortune, in the French Riviera. They began a close and intimate relationship that would endure for the rest of her life. He bought her many lavish gifts and, in exchange, she helped Gianni forge important connections with contacts in the US and the UK. Although she eventually tired of Gianni’s “cocaine-fueled” lifestyle, she hoped they would one day marry. She even went so far as to convert to Catholicism for him. However, his family intervened, and they never married. After ending things with Gianni, Pamela had an affair with Élie de Rothschild of the Rothschild Family banking dynasty. But again, their religious differences prevented any marriage between the two.

In the 1950s, Pamela met Broadway and television producer Leland Hayward. Although he was then married to socialite Slim Hayward, Leland eventually left his wife for Pamela, and they married in 1960. Leland had been married several times before and had children from previous marriages. His ex-wife, Slim, and his children, particularly Brooke Hayward, disapproved of Pamela’s influence over Leland. Leland’s biggest Broadway hit at the time was the debut of The Sound of Music. In 1971, Leland died, leaving Pamela heartbroken.

Act 3, “Power,” covers Pamela’s life in Washington, D.C. Shortly after the death of Leland, Pamela reconnected with Averell Harriman, with whom she had had an affair during World War II. Averell was a respected and distinguished statesman with a long career in Washington politics. His wife had recently died. He and Pamela reunited in the spring of 1971 and married in September of that same year. Pamela used the entrée and wealth afforded to her by Averell’s distinguished career to become involved in Washington politics. She became an American citizen soon after their marriage and threw herself into political organizing and fundraising. She campaigned on behalf of a number of Democratic candidates and eventually began to embrace her own political instincts separate from those of her old-fashioned husband.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the US presidential election, and Pamela rallied the defeated Democratic Party. She created her own political action committee, Democrats for the 80s, to raise money and support Democratic candidates. She was praised for her fundraising abilities and political acumen. She helped make the party more efficient and competitive through efforts like creating a television studio for filming political ads and improving polling. She began to cultivate rising stars in the party, like Joe Biden and Bill Clinton.

During this time, her personal life experienced strain. In 1986, her husband, Averell, died after a long illness. After his death, it was discovered that their financial situation was more fraught than Pamela had realized due to bad investments. There was ongoing litigation over the financial mismanagement of the estate with both Averell and Leland’s families.

That same year, the Democrats won several electoral victories in the House and Senate. Purnell states that the party leadership felt “indebted” to Pamela for her support in winning those races. Pamela also cultivated intelligence and expertise about foreign policy. When Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited the US in 1987, he was charmed by her, and his wife, Raisa, paid Pamela a personal visit.

In 1990, at the age of 70, Pamela disbanded her PAC. However, she remained politically engaged and continued fundraising for the Democratic Party. Believing the 1992 election was her last chance to contribute to a Democrat winning the presidency, she worked to support Bill Clinton’s candidacy. When he won the election, he appointed Pamela as the US ambassador to France. After many decades of political engagement, she finally had a formal title in government.

In 1993, Pamela arrived in France to begin her diplomatic duties. She threw herself into the role. She grew close with French presidents Mitterrand and Chirac and used her decades of experience to support ties between France and the US. Pamela used her role as ambassador to support France’s efforts to encourage the US to intervene militarily in the war in the Balkans. Despite these professional successes, Pamela felt increasingly “lonely” and isolated. She was stressed about an unauthorized biography of her, Life of the Party, which portrayed Pamela as a “scarlet lady.” After nearly four years in her role as ambassador, Pamela requested that Clinton appoint a replacement.

In February 1997, Pamela traveled to the UK for a day for the christening of her granddaughter, Arabella Repard, and returned to Paris that evening. The next day, during her daily swim at the Ritz, she lost consciousness and died soon after. Pamela was lauded by U.S. President Clinton and President Chirac of France for her contributions to diplomacy and the country. She was awarded the Grand Croix of the Légion d’Honneur, and her funeral was held at the National Cathedral in Washington. President Clinton read the eulogy.

Purnell argues that Pamela should be remembered for her intelligence, charm, and diplomatic talents, not only for her many affairs and relationships with powerful men.