Barbara Cartland

thumb|Dame Barbara Cartland in 1987 Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland DBE CStJ (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) was an English romantic novelist specialising in historical love themes. Reputedly, only William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie have sold more books. Quotes I have always found women difficult. I don't really understand them. To begin with, few women tell the truth. The Isthmus Years, ch. 1 (1942) The great majority of people in England and America are modest, decent and pure-minded and the amount of virgins in the world today is stupendous. Interview in Wendy Leigh's Speaking Frankly (1978) The right diet directs sexual energy into the parts that matter. The Observer (London, January 11, 1981) [Referring to her first interview on French television] The French know about two things: the art of food and the art of love. I told them how I always went each year to the Ritz in Paris with my husband. France is the only place where you can make love in the afternoon without people hammering on your door and asking: "Are you ill?" "Diary", Evening Standard (25 October 1984), p. 6 Morally, I think men are much stronger, Why? Because women are weaker and less intelligent. [...] That will make me popular. You know perfectly well they are not as intelligent as men, and they have awful squeaky voices. Why do we now have to have a woman reading about the games? Women are very sweet and nice, but you always have to be rather careful that they do not run off with your husband or your best lover. They are rather inclined to do that. Don't you see, you have got to be careful of women. The men do not make trouble, at least not with me. When I want a plot, I say to God, please give me a plot. And it works. [...] The other day He was a bit slow; I thought perhaps He is bored with me. Extracts from an interview with Jenni Diski, as cited in "Homage to Barbara Cartland", London Review of Books 16:6 (18 August 1994). I will be voting for John Major. He is getting better and better every year. He is very, very good. He now speaks far better than he did. He's a brilliant speaker. He is learning to be a real leader. He really does speak out. Look around and who else is like the old leaders like Winston? I knew Winston when he was a little boy. He gradually got stronger and stronger. John Major came to lunch with me when he got in. He asked me what he should be doing. I said take England back to what it was. We really want lo be led, and John Major is leading as he has never before. The Labour Party are going to bring in a law that means you can go everywhere you want in the country. I have checked this with two people and they both said it was true. People will be able to walk into your garden and pick your flowers. It is absurd. My garden is a blaze of flowers. I don't want anyone In there. Interviewed by Alex Bellos for "Why I vote Conservative: 'Sleaze? Never heard of it'" The Guardian (2 April 1997), p. 16 Attributed Women shouldn't have character… they should be like pretty chocolate boxes. Attributed in "'Main character energy': The extraordinary story of Barbara Cartland, the forgotten millions-selling romance author", BBC Culture (11 September 2026) Quotes about Barbara Cartland It would be good if she was remembered as something more than a joke. That's not to say she wasn't funny and absurd because she was, but she achieved something that ought to be acknowledged in some way. If you dismiss her, you're also dismissing all her readers too, and there were two post-war generations to whom she was very important. Matthew Sweet, as cited in "'Main character energy': The extraordinary story of Barbara Cartland, the forgotten millions-selling romance author", BBC News (11 September 2026). Sweet's biography, The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2026. Like many other young girls in wartime, I read Barbara Cartland's Ronald Cartland, the life of her brother, a young, idealistic Conservative MP, who had fought appeasement all the way and who was killed at Dunkirk in 1940. In many ways her most romantic book, it was a striking testament to someone who had no doubt that the war was not only necessary but right, and whose thinking throughout his short life was "all of a piece", something which I always admired. Margaret Thatcher, The Path to Power (1995), p. 30 Cartland's brother, Ronald Cartland, was killed in action in May 1940. The biography, also known as My Brother Ronald, was published in 1942. See also Raine Spencer, Countess Spencer – daughter and step-mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. External links Official website Category:1901 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Novelists from England Category:People from Birmingham Category:Women aviators Category:Women authors from England Category:Women born in the 1900s