PAUL BOWLES:  GALLERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Other photographs on this page are of the American-born painter Marguerite McBey at El Foolk, her villa on the Old Mountain, where she entertained Jane and Paul Bowles and many others during the six decades she lived in Tangier.

The Hon. David Herbert was born into an aristocratic English family and moved to Tangier permanently in 1946. Herbert was truly a one-of-a-kind individual throughout his half a century in the city, frequently entertaining friends and guests. As the social arbiter of Tangier society, he also arranged the guest lists for Barbara Hutton's lavish parties at Sidi Hosni, her house in the upper medina. Herbert was particularly fond of Jane Bowles, whom he called "Janie".

The photographer Cherie Nutting was one of the closest woman friends of Paul Bowles during the last 15 years of his life. They collaborated on a book of her photographs, Yesterday's Perfume: An Intimate Portrait of Paul Bowles, published in 2000. The book contains some of Paul Bowles last writings, including several essays and hand-written picture captions.

The American-born painter Marguerite McBey, a resident of Tangier for over six decades, sits under a portrait of herself by her husband, the celebrated Scottish etcher and artist James McBey. She lived at El Foolk, in Tangier, Morocco, and had another home in London.

Marguerite McBey at Anthea and Lawrence Mynott's penthouse in Tangier in 1991. (View an earlier portrait of Marguerite McBey)

(Above: The Hon. David Herbert, at Dar Kharoubia, his home on the New Mountain. whom Bowles termed "Tangier's social arbiter".)

David Herbert was born into an aristocratic family in England on October 3, 1908. His full name was David Alexander Reginald Herbert, and he was the second son of the Fifteenth Earl of Pembroke and the Twelfth Earl of Montgomery, and the Countess of Pembroke. As a child he was raised in Castletown, Ireland, and at age four Herbert moved to England, when his father inherited the family's ancestral home, Wilton House, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It is considered one of the great country houses in England, and also a one of the finest examples of Palladian architecture in England. Wilton House contains numerous paintings by Van Dyke and Reynolds, a Rembrandt and a collection of ancient sculptures. In 1551, King Henry VII gave the house, originally a nunnery, and 60,000 acres of land to William Herbert. At age nine Herbert went to a preparatory school at Wixenford, and later he was sent to Eton.

David Herbert first traveled to Tangier in 1932 with his friend, Cecil Beaton—the photographer preferred by British royalty. In the early 1930s, Cecil Beaton encouraged his friend to paint portraits, and David Herbert painted Rose Kennedy, the mother of President John F. Kennedy, and her daughters. Throughout the 1930s, he continued to visit Tangier and other cities in Morocco, and in October 1946, Herbert took up permanent residence in Tangier. In 1948 he first met Jane and Paul Bowles when they were staying at El Farhar with Truman Capote and Jack Dunphy. David Herbert was indisputably—for nearly half a century— the pre-eminent host in Tangier's social life; and he prepared the guest lists for Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton's lavish parties at Sidi Hosni. In addition to Paul and Jane Bowles, Herbert's friends included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Prince William of Gloucester, Ian Fleming, Noël Coward, Christopher Gibbs, Malcolm Forbes, Lady Diana Cooper and Sir Winston Churchill. Herbert's sister, Lady Patricia, the Dowager Viscountess Hambleden, served for fifty years as a Lady in Waiting to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

As a devoted, life-long friend of Jane Bowles, David Herbert once said that if anything ever happened to Paul, he would have married "Janie," as he called her. While a houseguest at Wilton in 1949, Paul Bowles was shown photographs of an intriguing, two-acre tropical island in the Indian Ocean—Taprobane. Herbert's family had stayed there in the 1930s. Paul Bowles first traveled to Ceylon in 1950, and he bought the island in 1952. David Herbert was the author of three books: Second Son: An Autobiography, 1972; Engaging Eccentrics: Recollections, 1990; and Relations and Revelations: Advice to Jemima, 1992. David Herbert was born on October 3, 1908; David Herbert died from kidney failure in Tangier on April 3, 1995, at age 86. After a funeral service at Saint Andrews' Church in Tangier, he was buried in its cemetery, where his tombstone reads simply: "He loved Morocco."

David Herbert and Paul Bowles in 1989, at the villa of Sheikha Fatima Fahd al-Salim al-Sabah of Kuwait. (Photograph copyright © 1989 by Cherie Nutting). (Villa Mabrouka, located on the Marshan in Tangier, Morocco, is now one of the Moroccan homes of the French couturier and fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent).

A last farewell after nearly half a century of friendship: Paul Bowles and David Herbert, after a lunch at Mercedes Guitta's restaurant. Herbert died several few weeks later. (Place de Kowéit, Tangier, early 1995)

Photographer Cherie Nutting sits next to Paul Bowles in the medina of Asilah, Morocco in 1993. She married a Moroccan musician, Bachir Attar, after first meeting him at Paul Bowles's apartment. After parting amicably, Nutting and Attar remain friends, and she now manages the group, arranging tours, concerts and other performances of the Master Musicians throughout the world.

Cherie Nutting with composer Ned Rorem, president of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, at the publication party for her book Yesterday's Perfume: An Intimate Memoir of Paul Bowles, New York City, 2000. (Ned Rorem's official Web site is: www.NedRorem.com.)