In the above video, you can briefly see undated video footage (probably 1940, when St. Patrick’s Day fell on Palm Sunday) of Lord Cavan, or Rudolph Lambart, handing out shamrocks to the Irish Guards (British military) in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Cavan held various positions in the British Army and at one point had been Chief of the Imperial Staff, the top position in the British Army. His ancestry was also Anglo-Irish.

In 1921, Lord Cavan was part of the British delegation to the Washington Naval Conference. Marie Beale spent a lot of time with Cavan and liked him a great deal. She once referred to him as “the most friendly soul on earth”. She noted that he had “such a quality of friendliness and dependability.” She was impressed with his athletic skills as well, remarking that Cavan won many military “foot races”.

She was especially impressed when she found out that Cavan, who had served in the Great War, went out of his way to reach out to a former German General who was passing through Washington, D.C. Cavan went to lunch with him. Although others in their social circles took a dim view of this, Marie thought it was great. She wrote, “Quite like Cavan! Such a generous sporting spirit.” She also believed that it was past time to make peace.

Cavan was single during this conference, as unfortunately, his wife Caroline died the year before. Marie was on the lookout for him, but “regretted” that she could find “no girl” for him before the conference ended. Near the end of the conference, Cavan received word that he had been appointed as head of the British Army and invited Marie to visit him at the War Office in London, the next time she was there.

Back in England, Lord Cavan got married again the next year to Lady Hester Joan Byng. It was also her second marriage, as her first husband, who was an officer in the Irish Guards, died in the war. In his late 50s, Lord Cavan became a father for the first time (his first marriage was childless). He had one daughter in 1924 and a second one in 1929. The fact that his second wife was about twenty-three (23) years younger than him made this possible.

Cavan died in 1946, at the age of 80. His second wife died in 1976, at the age of 87. His daughters are both now deceased as well, the last one died a few years ago.

As for Marie Beale, her writings made clear that she had no sympathy whatsoever for the cause of Irish Republicanism. In terms of the treaty negotiations between southern Ireland and Great Britain, she was of the view that “Ireland ought to accept the terms that England offered,” which included accepting the British monarch as head of state of the newly formed Irish Free State. She was a staunch Anglophile, as evidenced from her as a twenty-year-old dressing as a British soldier at a Mardi Gras party in San Francisco in 1901 (which Truxtun Beale also attended, although I do not believe they were in a relationship yet), to her raising money for the Royal Air Force in March of 1941.