Caroline Moorehead Interviewed by Alexandra Pringle

Historian and biographer Caroline Moorehead tells the story of Benito Mussolini’s favourite daughter, Edda, her place in the 20 years of Fascist Italy, and her key role in some of the defining moments of the 20th century.

Moorehead says Edda was spoilt, venal, uneducated but clever, faithless but flamboyant, a brilliant diplomat, wild but brave, and ultimately strong and loyal. She was an envoy to both Germany and Britain and played a part in steering Italy towards Hitler. She and her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, the youngest foreign secretary in Italian history, were the most glamorous couple in Roman fascist society. Moorehead describes the fall of Mussolini, Ciano’s execution, and Edda’s escape to exile in Switzerland.

Moorehead is biographer of Bertrand Russell, Freya Stark, Iris Origo, Madame de la Tour du Pin and Martha Gellhorn. Her most recent books have looked at the lives of people affected by Nazi occupation in France and the lives of those living in Fascist Italy. Here she talks to Alexandra Pringle, former editor in chief and now executive publisher at Bloomsbury Publishing. Pringle was also a founder of Virago Press, which champions women writers and aims to bring their voice to the widest readership around the world.