Friday Drives
For Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, Friday afternoons were marked by a cherished ritual of taking Venetia Stanley for motor drives, offering him a crucial escape from political pressures. Usually chauffeured in his Napier car, they drove to places like Richmond, Hampstead, or Barnet, and Asquith later estimated they had shared over a hundred such “heavenly” outings, lamenting the future Fridays without her. These drives became the setting for both light gossip and serious political confidences, reflecting the deepening intimacy of their relationship. The privacy of the car also encouraged personal reflection, as when a February 1915 drive past his childhood home led him to reminisce about his youth, and he guarded this “divine” custom even at the cost of lonely, reflective journeys home.
The Friday Drives
Asquith's weekly escape: the intimate car rides with Venetia where state secrets were shared.
Character Perspectives(How each character saw that)
H.H. Asquith
He viewed the drives as a vital necessity for his mental health.
Margot Asquith
She loathed the Friday ritual, confessing she 'suffered tortures' knowing her husband was with Venetia.
Edwin Montagu
He was intensely jealous of the Prime Minister's monopoly on Venetia's time.
Venetia Stanley
She provided the solace Asquith craved, though by 1915 she began using nursing duties to avoid the drives.
Fun Fact
Asquith was so obsessive about these excursions that he calculated they had taken 'a hundred or more' drives together.
Sources
- • Asquith Letters
- • Naomi Levine
- • The Asquiths Book