Piero Malacrida de Saint-August

[8] The couple lived in a large and luxurious flat in Grosvenor Street and a country house at East Molesey, where they entertained many of the leading literary and artistic figures of the day.

[9] As a result of their numerous accomplishments and connections the couple acquired a certain glamour and were frequently mentioned in society gossip columns and the court pages of the London newspapers.

[9] Each pursued their own hobbies independently while sharing many common interests and collaborating on some of their written works; however, both professed to not being natural authors.

[10] Malacrida, though, was not beyond drawing upon medieval and Gothic motifs as was obvious in his design for a staircase hall in Upper Brook Street, London.

There, bare stone walls were adorned with medieval wooden figures and Venetian bucentaur lanterns while the room itself is covered by a trompe-l'œil ceiling depicting leaves against a sky.

[11] Malacida's early works mostly drew on classicism for inspiration, often designing circular or semi-circular columned rooms in the manner of temples.

Such was the bathroom he designed in 1932 for Samuel Courtauld, in a house - now a Grade II* listed building[12] - at 12 North Audley Street, Westminster, which not only had columns, but also painted feature panels by Rex Whistler.

Driving alone, she was returning to London from a weekend in the country when her car left the road and plunged down an embankment, she died instantly from a broken neck.

[6] A love of speed was a mutual passion the couple had shared; they had owned a series of fast cars including Hispano-Suiza, Mercedes and Isotta Fraschini.

In the 18 months between first meeting Nadja and their engagement he was abroad a great deal: "Northcliffe, my Lord and Master, packed me off to Helsingfors, where I was to collect some news from Kronstadt, and chat with as many Russian princesses as I could possibly bag, in the picturesquee camouflage of the latest fugitives from Soviet Russia.

After his return to London and second meeting with Nadja (an afternoon at Kew) he was obliged to travel again: "the next day I left for America, where I had to attend the Washington Conference, with a spectacular and grossly overpaid job for some American newspaper combine.

"[25] On his own account, the marriage was characterised by extravagant expenditure: "We bought a plane, though financially and otherwise we had no business to, and both flew a good deal, everywhere, together and separately.

His second wife, May (née Murphy) of Clonmel was a widow – her husband, Bernard Culhane, died on 29 December 1949 in a Dublin nursing home.