We know the fabulous destinies of other press officers, such as Letizia Ortiz, who became Queen of Spain... Less well known is that of Prudence Emery, who, after a stellar career as a press attaché, became an author of detective novels at the age of 80.
If some families have a knack for choosing names for their offspring that are totally at odds with their future personalities, this is certainly the case with the Emery family, an already rather eccentric and well-to-do family from Nanaimo, a small Canadian town in British Columbia.
In 1936, the Emery couple had a daughter whom they decided to name Prudence... Truly an unsuitable first name for a woman who was to live at full speed for the rest of her long life, and for whom the word prudence must have been quite unknown in her vocabulary!
Young Prudence, soon known simply as Pru, was educated in Vancouver, and Daddy Emery decided it would be a good idea to send her to London to attend a renowned art school... A decision that didn't turn out to be a very good one, as Prudence considered London to be more of a place for partying than for studying! However, she took the opportunity to start building up a portfolio of contacts that would serve her well in her next... life!
When very famous press officers become successful authors...
Recruited by Expo 67, a world's fair held in Montreal in 1967 on the theme of “Man and His World” to showcase the industrial and technological achievements of the host countries, she then left for London to join, incidentally and without any research, the press relations department of the famous and chic Savoy Hotel.
Her cheerful disposition, constant good humor and love of the job served her well, and Pru soon became one of London's best-known press agents, seen in the company of Louis Armstrong, Twiggy, Noël Coward, Liza Minelli, Elizabeth Taylor, Petula Clark and many others... She struggled with the most difficult assignments: For example, getting David Frost to interview Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, or inviting Pierre Trudeau to a very exclusive reception where he could meet Barbara Streisand... The Beatles adored her and the whole of London, including politics, knew and loved her!
Perhaps weary of her London life, Prudence Emery decided to return to Canada in 1975, where she embraced the world of cinema as a publicist. It was in her native region that she decided to write her flamboyant memoirs in a book she entitled Nanaimo Girl, (Cormorant Books) she was already 82: in it she retraces all her “lives” in England and Canada, recounting a host of amusing anecdotes with her celebrities!
But her career as an author wasn't over yet: at the age of 85, co-writing with Ron Base, a Canadian screenwriter and author who had known her since her days at the Savoy, and with whom she had collaborated on several projects, she set about writing detective novels featuring, guess what? the Savoy's press officer in London, who became an amateur detective in her spare time when wealthy guests were being murdered in his hotel! Thus was born the Welcome to Savoy Hotel series, published by Douglas & McIntyre Editions.
Prudence Emery passed away on April 14 after what can only be described as a very full and happy life! She described her life as “rollicking”!
“My whole life has been a sheer lack of directions. I had no plans at all. Every job I got I never applied for, things just happened to me.” Prudence Emery
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