If you have seen the movie “Coco before Chanel” you may recall the name Boy Capel. Arthur “Boy” Capel (1881-1919), the lover Coco Chanel lost, both by his marriage to an aristocrat, and by his tragic death in a road accident, has figured as a man of mysterious origins in many of the writings on Coco Chanel. In this blog I attempt to collect the fragments of information that are available on Boy Capel and his origins.
Having searched through much of the literature on Coco Chanel and found only inaccurate or vague allusions to Boy Capel’s origins I was disappointed by the dearth of information. One rumor hinted he was the illegitimate son of one the Capel earls of Essex The mystery became a challenge and let me down an interesting path.
The first clue in my search to uncover Boy Capel’s family background came from what seemed an unlikely source at the time but in hindsight was iterally under our noses all the time. It was a marble bust of a clerical looking man seen in photos of Coco Chanel’s private apartment that drew my attention. The bust matched an old postcard I found of Monsignor Thomas John Capel, who turned out to be a paternal uncle of Boy Capel.
Over the Chanel boutique,on Rue Cambon,Paris, her apartment is maintained as she left it like a time capsule. The marble bust of the Irish born Monsignor has pride of place on the dining room mantelpiece. Coco Chanel apparently made few documented references to the statue and is not recorded as revealing the identity of its subject as far as I can determine from published accounts.
The former catholic priest and one time society cleric and celebrated orator had been defrocked by the Catholic Church following a series of high profile romantic scandals in the UK and ended his days in retirement in America.
Tracing back from the uncle we find a brother Arthur J. Capel, Boy Capel’s father a successful business man who married a French woman. So now we have a connection to France and a possible motive for the family to leave England with their children, including son Arthur “Boy” Capel,and take up residence in Paris. One can imagine that a prominent business family with upwardly mobile aspirations might be prompted to move across the channel to escape the social fallout from the affair of the scandalous uncle.
This is a new site so while I continue to update it here are links to my related articles on another site:
Identified: The Bust on Coco Chanel’s Mantelpiece – July 21, 2011 After I published this article the wikipedia page on Boy Capel was updated regarding his paternal family’s Irish background, with my article cited as a reference.
Arthur J. Capel, Boy Capel’s father – Some info I gathered regarding Boy’s father
