The Kennedys Arrive in Britain in 1938

Despite the money he would eventually make, Irish-Catholic Joseph P. Kennedy was an outsider, as were so many whose families originally came to America because of the Irish famine. Never accepted or fully trusted by the Boston Brahmans (those who claim heredity from English Protestants), Kennedy's pleasure must have been intense on being welcomed heartily as the American Ambassador to Great Britain. Political and intellectual figures, not to mention royalty and the nobility, courted him.

For two years, until he created consternation on both sides of the Atlantic by proclaiming democracy dead and making other inflammatory statements to the British press that resulted in his having to resign the post, Kennedy's nine charming children captured the world's attention for the first time. Like Diana in a later decade, they became media darlings.

In the photograph (above), Ted and Bobby Kennedy attend the 1938 opening of London's Regent's Park Children's zoo.

The entire family (last photo below). From left to right are Eunice, JFK, Rosemary, Jean (the only child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy who is still living), Joseph, Teddy, Rose, Joseph Jr., Patricia, RFK, and Kathleen.