From mother in love: James Bond creator Ian Fleming was doomed to never marry the woman he truly loved – so he made her 007’s mother, says biographer
- New biography on Bond creator says doomed love sculpted spy’s family setup
A new biography about James Bond creator Ian Fleming claims he based the superspy’s mother on a lover with whom he had a failed engagement.
Monique Panchaud de Bottens was today named as the inspiration for the fictional MI5 womanizer’s parent.
In Fleming’s novels, Bond’s mother is named Monique Delacroix and has the same nationality as the real Madame de Bottens.
And Ian Fleming’s biography: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare – which is in progress serialized in The Times – says failed love is what made Bond so tough.
The book claims that Fleming’s mother, Eve, did not approve of her son’s three-year engagement to Madame de Bottens.
She reportedly fought for this contract to be terminated and succeeded in doing so in October 1933 after threatening to cut off her allowance.
Shakespeare tracked down Mrs Bottens’ son for his book and found Charles de Mestral.
He said: “We bought the Bond books from a bookstore, none were from him.
Ian Fleming with his mother Evelyn St. Croix Fleming in November 1957 crossing the road
In Fleming’s novels, Bond’s mother is named Monique Delacroix and has the same nationality as the real Madame de Bottens.
“The way Fleming approached the relationship was to have her become James Bond’s mother.”
Ernest Cuneo, who was a close friend of Fleming, is also mentioned by Shakespeare in his new book.
He said: “It seems to me that James Bond embodies Ian’s revenge for this terrible injury.
“Bond puts them to bed, leaves them with the memory of a wild rapture which, ye gods, leaves them longing for Bond and forever deprived of him.”
These are theories that Shakespeare considers reliable and credible.
He says: “She gives birth to Bond, that’s what Cuneo believed.
Daniel Craig starred as Fleming’s spy James Bond in the blockbuster Casino Royale Hollywood
Ian Fleming’s Biography: Nicholas Shakespeare’s The Complete Man Makes the Revelations
“It’s his first adult romance and he’s ready to commit. Obviously he hasn’t fallen in love with her.
“Obviously Fleming fell in love with her and she with him. But his terrible mother doesn’t want him to marry a Swiss woman.
Ms. de Botten, who later married and became de Mestral, later worked in an interior design boutique in Switzerland.
Her son believes she was the one who broke off the relationship with Fleming after being made angry by his mother.
It is believed that Eve Fleming forbade the two men from sleeping in the same bed under her roof.
And she allegedly refused to light the fire in Madame de Botten’s room, leaving her cold.
The straw that broke the camel’s back would have been when she criticized him for never having tasted caviar for breakfast one morning.
Her son, Mr de Mestral, added: “The theory here is that it was Monique who broke off the engagement.
“I guess we’ll never know for sure, but it’s safe to say Monique was perfectly capable of it.”
