Editing Harold Macmillan (section)

==Personal life==
According to [[Michael Bloch]], there have long been rumours that Macmillan was expelled from Eton for homosexuality. Macmillan's biographer [[D. R. Thorpe]] is of the view that he was removed by his mother when she discovered that he was being "used" by older boys.<ref>{{cite book | last = Bloch | first = Michael | title = Closet Queens | page=213 | publisher = Little, Brown | year = 2015 | isbn = 978-1408704127}}</ref> [[Dick Leonard]] reports that [[Alistair Horne]] refers to "inevitable rumours" and that "he left for the 'usual reasons' for boys to be expelled from public schools".<ref>{{cite book | last = Leonard | first = Dick | title = Harold Macmillan — Idealist into Manipulator. In: A Century of Premiers | page=210 | publisher = [[Palgrave Macmillan]] | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-1-4039-3990-6}}</ref>

===Marriage===
Macmillan married [[Lady Dorothy Macmillan|Lady Dorothy Cavendish]], the daughter of the [[9th Duke of Devonshire]], on 21 April 1920. Her great-uncle was [[Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire]], who was leader of the Liberal Party in the 1870s, and a close colleague of [[William Ewart Gladstone]], [[Joseph Chamberlain]] and [[Lord Salisbury]]. Lady Dorothy was also descended from [[William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire]], who served as prime minister from 1756 to 1757 in communion with [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Newcastle]] and [[Pitt the Elder]]. Her nephew [[William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington]], married [[Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington|Kathleen Kennedy]], a sister of [[John F. Kennedy]].

In 1929, Lady Dorothy began a lifelong affair with the Conservative politician [[Robert Boothby]], an arrangement that scandalised high society but remained unknown to the general public.{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|pp=94–100}} Philip Frere, a partner in Frere Cholmely solicitors, urged Macmillan not to divorce his wife, which at that time would have been fatal to a public career even for the "innocent party". Macmillan and Lady Dorothy lived largely separate lives in private thereafter.<ref>Thorpe 2010, p. 95. Thorpe points out that divorce still caused muttering as late as the 1950s. [[Walter Monckton]]'s divorce may have cost him promotion to the highest legal positions of Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor, while Anthony Eden faced criticism for divorcing and remarrying, and talk that he was unfit to make ecclesiastical appointments.</ref> The stress caused by that may have contributed to Macmillan's nervous breakdown in 1931.<ref>{{Citation|last=Parris|first=Matthew|year=1997|title=Great Parliamentary Scandals: Four Centuries of Calumny, Smear & Innuendo|publisher=Robson Books|location=London|isbn=1-86105-152-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatparliamenta0000parr_j7g3/page/98 98–104]|url=https://archive.org/details/greatparliamenta0000parr_j7g3/page/98}}</ref> He was often treated with condescension by his aristocratic in-laws and was observed to be a sad and isolated figure at [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth]] in the 1930s.{{sfn|Horne|1988|p=67}} [[John Campbell (biographer)|John Campbell]] suggests that Macmillan's humiliation was first a major cause of his odd and rebellious behaviour in the 1930s then, in subsequent decades, made him a harder and more ruthless politician than his rivals Eden and Butler.{{sfn|Campbell|2010|p=248}}

The Macmillans had four children:
* [[Maurice Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden]] (1921–1984), Conservative politician and publisher. Married [[Katharine Macmillan, Viscountess Macmillan of Ovenden|The Hon Katharine Ormsby-Gore]], daughter of the [[Baron Harlech|4th Baron Harlech]]. His father outlived him by nearly three years.
* [[Lady Caroline Faber|Lady Caroline Macmillan]] (1923–2016). Married [[Julian Faber]]; five children.
* [[Lady Catherine Amery|Lady Catherine Macmillan]] (1926–1991). Married [[Julian Amery]] (later Baron Amery of Lustleigh), Conservative politician; four children.
* Sarah Macmillan (1930–1970). A family rumour that Boothby was her natural father has been discounted by the most recent and detailed study.{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|p=100}}{{pn|date=October 2022}} Married Andrew Heath in 1953; two children. Having had an abortion in 1951, she was unable to have children of her own and the couple adopted two sons.{{sfn|Thorpe|2010}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Forbes |first=Alastair |title=A real book |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/21st-september-1991/29/a-real-book |date=21 September 1991 |magazine=The Spectator |page=29 |access-date=13 December 2017 }}</ref> She had an unhappy life, which was blighted by a drinking problem, and died aged only 40, her father outliving her by 16 years.

Lady Dorothy died on 21 May 1966, aged 65.

In old age, Macmillan was a close friend of [[Ava Anderson, Viscountess Waverley]], ''née'' Bodley, the widow of [[John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley]].{{sfn|Thorpe|2010|loc=14116–14121}} [[Eileen O'Casey]], ''née'' Reynolds, the actress wife of Irish dramatist [[Seán O'Casey]], was another female friend, Macmillan publishing her husband's plays. Although she is said to have replaced Lady Dorothy in Macmillan's affections, there is disagreement over how intimate they became after the deaths of their respective spouses, and whether he proposed.<ref>Richard Allen Cave, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35283 O'Casey, Sean (1880–1964)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108140010/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-35283;jsessionid=E13221D45C127D0B961B695E2656548A |date=8 November 2021 }}, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2011.</ref><ref>Garry O'Connor, 'Obituary&nbsp;– Eileen O'Casey', ''The Guardian'' (12 April 1995), p. 13.</ref><ref>Edward Marriott, 'Obituary&nbsp;– Eileen O'Casey', ''Evening Standard'' (London, 18 April 1995).</ref><ref>"Eileen O'Casey; Obituary." ''The Times'' (11 April 1995), p. 19.</ref>