The real Unity Mitford: meet the high society British Nazi whose was rumoured to have had Hitler's child
Drawn from the British aristocracy to the heart of Hitler’s inner circle, Unity Mitford’s life was a disturbing collision of ideology and implosion
Of all the Mitford sisters, Unity Valkyrie Mitford – nicknamed ‘Bobo’ and ‘Boud’ by her siblings – was the most chilling. Tall, striking and unflinchingly devoted to extremes, Unity was a Nazi fanatic who herself part of Adolf Hitler’s entourage.
Her very name was a dramatic flourish: Unity Valkyrie, chosen by her Germanophile parents as a nod to Wagnerian myth and martial grandeur. But even more eerie is the fact that she was conceived in a Canadian mining town named Swastika, Ontario – a coincidence that would later feed the mythos around her disturbing destiny.
What was Unity Mitford’s relationship with Hitler?
In the 1930s, as fascism began to spread across Europe, Unity became obsessed with Adolf Hitler. Alongside her sister Diana Mitford and brother Tom, she travelled to Germany, where they attended Nazi rallies, mingled with high-ranking officials and threw themselves into the theatrical pageantry of the Third Reich.
Unity was relentless in her pursuit of the dictator, and in 1935, after months of haunting his favourite Munich restaurant, she finally caught his eye.
Their relationship became disturbingly close. Hitler seated her beside him at dinner parties, film screenings and Nuremberg rallies. She wrote admiring letters to The Times, praising Nazism and wore a swastika brooch on her tailored English blouses.
During the Anschluss – Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria – on 15 March 1938, Unity stood behind Hitler on the balcony of the Hofburg Palace overlooking Heroes’ Square in Vienna.
That same year, the Nazi leader offered her a series of apartments in Munich. While touring one, Mitford excitedly discussed decorating plans while the dispossessed owners, a Jewish couple, wept in the kitchen.
What happened to Unity when WW2 broke out?
When war was declared in September 1939, Unity was devastated. Unable to reconcile her love for both nations, she took a pistol to Munich’s English Garden and shot herself in the head.
Astonishingly, she survived – though with a bullet lodged in her brain – and was repatriated to Britain via Switzerland under cloak-and-dagger arrangements.
Her return was a media sensation. One newspaper reported that when asked if she was pleased to be home, Unity replied: “I’m very glad to be in England, even if I’m not on your side”.
Did Unity Mitford have a child with Hitler?
In the early 21st century, hearsay that she may have been pregnant with Hitler’s love child and that the baby was subsequently put up for adoption, reignited interest in the circumstances surrounding her dramatic return to Britain. This was fuelled by testimony from a family living in Wigginton, Oxfordshire who claimed that Unity had been admitted to a maternity cottage hospital in the village in early 1940.
The closeness of Unity and Hitler’s bond was reputedly a source of jealousy for his partner and eventual wife, Eva Braun. In his 1969 memoir, Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer, the Nazi minister of armaments and Hitler’s architect, recalled that Unity was privileged among the coterie of women surrounding the Führer in that she was regularly permitted to voice her political and ideological counsel.
Nevertheless, the speculation that Unity may have borne his child remains just that: speculation. Her youngest sister, Deborah, dismissed the idea out of hand.
How did Unity Mitford die?
Unity spent her final years in a childlike state, mentally impaired and physically frail, cared for by her mother. She died in 1948 at the age of 33 from complications linked to her suicide attempt.
To some, she was a cautionary tale of ideological seduction. To others, she remained a chilling symbol of the British aristocracy’s flirtation with fascism.
Authors
Danny Bird is Content Producer for BBC History Magazine and was previously staff writer for BBC History Revealed. He joined the History team in 2022. Fascinated with the past since childhood, Danny completed his History BA at the University of Sheffield, developing a special interest in the Spanish Civil War and the Paris Commune. He subsequently gained his History MA from University College London, studying at its School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)