Partner
Juliet Duff,
Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
Queer Places:
34-36 Wardour St, London W1D 6QT, UK
22 Bury Walk, London SW3 6QB, UK
Simon Henry Fleet aka Harry Carnes (1913 - December 11, 1966) was an
English journalist. He was a socialite antiques expert, who entertained
continuously at his Chelsea house, the Gothic Box. He was a close friend of
Richard Buckle and of
Cecil Beaton. He was the companion of Lady
Juliet Duff. Simon Fleet had also a relationship with
Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke (in his later years Lord Carisbrooke had a longtime male lover). Simon
Fleet features in
Truman Capote’s letters.
Fleet doubled as salesroom correspondent of the Observer and as a pimp for upper-class married gay men. Originally named Harry Carnes, he wished to change his name to ‘Simon Sailor’, but being dissuaded, compromised by becoming ‘Simon Fleet’. Duff says that Fleet woke each morning thinking ‘what has this day got to offer me, and for me to offer others?’ It might be the epigraph for his tender-hearted, prickly, resilient and life-enhancing memoir.
Along with Edgar Blatt, the driving force
behind the ill fated “To and Fro” was Simon Carnes. He wrote a
number of Revues in the 1930s, including “One of Those Things“(1934), “All’s
Well” (1936) and “Back Your Fancy” (1938). He was also an actor and a set
designer. Although primarily a lyricist he seems to have also done some
composing and is credited with providing the music for
the 1935 Fortune theatre production of Elmer Rice’s “Not For Children“. The
Revues seem to have been generally well-received but they peter out at the end
of the decade.
Simon Fleet by John Deakin
Simon Fleet by John Deakin
Lady (Gladys Mary) Juliet Duff (née Lowther); Lynn Fontanne; Alfred Lunt; Simon Fleet; Chips Channon
by Cecil Beaton
bromide print, 1948
5 3/8 in. x 5 3/8 in. (138 mm x 138 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1991
Photographs Collection
NPG x40084
Simon Carnes, like so many others, disappears from the records,
a small footnote to theatrical history. It's at this time that "Simon Fleet" was born. Carnes had lived in Wardour
Street, upstairs of what, in the 1930s, was
Mrs.Brown’s Little Tea Shop, and now Vietnamese restaurant. He was evidently already
something of a “character”. Tall, handsome, very much a dandy, he was taken up
by some very influential friends. The two most important were probably
Sophie
Fedorovich and Lady
Juliet Duff. Sophie Fedorovich was a Russian-born artist
who was part of the circle that included
Barbara Ker-Seymer,
Olivia Wyndham,
Marty Mann and Lucy Norton. She was also very close to
Frederick Ashton.
Although a gifted painter, it is for her costume and set designs for the
Ballet that she is best remembered. When she met Simon is uncertain – her name
is on the programme for “To and Fro” so it is likely that they knew each other
from the mid-thirties. Equally significant was his relationship with Lady
Juliet Duff, a socialite and patron of the Arts (particularly Ballet) to whom
the adjective “extraordinary” is customarily applied. Lady Juliet was thirty
years Carnes’ senior and he was to be what Viva King terms her “cavaliere
servente” for many years. She provided Carnes with an income – he seems not to
have been independently wealthy – and encouraged his transformation. He was a
constant presence at her house and as a companion at the theatre. Sir
Francis
Rose describes Simon in the early days of
his alliance with Lady Duff. “Simon Carnes, as he was called then, drifted
about the house quietly, politely, and with sufficient personal fantasy to
make him the most pleasing of modern and youthful eccentrics.”
During the War
Carnes (whose real name is something of a mystery –
Nicky Haslam says he was
originally Harry Carnes, while Viva King thinks it was Kahn) changed his name
to Simon Fleet. He was in the Merchant Navy at the time. He also changed his
appearance, thanks to an experiment with plastic surgery that left him with a
rather snub-nosed look, and his profession – moving from the world of the
stage to Antiques. Starting off as a Portobello Road stallholder, he was to
eventually become the salesroom correspondent for various Arts journals and the
Observer’s antiques expert.
His good taste was legendary and his 1961 book on
the history of clocks is still regarded as a classic. But it was his persona
and distinctive companions for which he is most usually remembered. As Viva
King recalled, “His house was made gay by his great variety of friends – high,
middle or lower class. Simon brought gaiety to his world and one was lucky to
know him.” These friends included Chips Channon,
Cecil Beaton,
Richard "Dickie" Buckle
and Oliver Messel. His appearance too, guaranteed that he was noticed. He had
a fondness for thigh-length boots, which, in the 1950s, must have even caused
Chelsea heads to turn. The house in question was 22 Bury Walk. He had
inherited this from Sophie
Fedorovich, who died there in 1953 – owing to a
gas leak. It was known as the “Gothic Box” and was sumptuously and ornately
decorated. Nicky Haslam, to whom Simon was an early mentor in all things
stylish and sophisticated, devotes considerable space to affectionate
reminiscences of the house and its owner in his autobiography Redeeming
Features.
Apart from his writings on
antiques, Fleet edited a tribute book to Sophie
Fedorovich and an odd little
booklet on Henry James at Rye. He befriended Lady
Diana Cooper and appears to
have had a similar relationship with her as with
Juliet Duff. When the latter
died in 1964, she left him money in her will, a testament to their long
friendshio. Thereafter he went into a serious emotional depression. His end
was sad and undignified. Less than sober, he fell down the stairs at the
Gothic Box and died as a consequence.
Richard "Dickie" Buckle gave the eulogy at
his funeral.
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