Nancie was looking after little Mimi when her Mother, Jean Harris, nee Ferris married Charles Louis d'Espinay-Durtal on 20th April 1938 At Champeaux. The happy couple honeymooned at Rennes whilst Nancie and the other members of the household celebrated with champagne at home. On her marriage Jean became the Marquise d'Espinay-Durtal, Princesse de Broons.
According to Cheryl Beck who has researched his background, Charles was the son of a Paris shoemaker, one Charles Vrigoneaux and his wife, Marie Rochard. In 1937 he had his birth record altered and again, in 1938, after he had married Jean. It would seem that she had no idea about his true origins and we will never know for sure if she suspected anything. Sadly she died on 19th September 1941, after an operation in Pau, at the early age of thirty-one.
There are some very strange entries in Nancie's diary around the time of the wedding. Just before she married Charles, Jean apparently tried to kill herself. Whether she had doubts about marrying him or whether someone was trying to prevent the marriage, no one knows. She may even have been trying to escape other influences by marrying Charles.
She seems to have had a very unstable personality, looking at her on-off relationship with her first husband, Irving Drought Harris. Being parted from her firstborn, her son John, can't have helped.
Nancie rarely refers to Charles so we can only surmise about their relationship.
The newlyweds went off to the Mediterranean on their honeymoon, however, and all seemed well. There was a lot of commotion about buying a yacht but Nancie doesn't give details. Reading between the lines Jean seemed to be a lady who liked her own way, whether it be in the choice of a yacht or a husband and woe betide anyone who crossed her! All that money did not bring her a lot of happiness and it certainly made Nancie appreciate that fact.
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