--- title: Jackie’s Letters to JFK’s Friend description: Letters between Jacqueline Kennedy and David Ormsby Gore are going to be auctioned in March canonical: https://time.com/4665236/jackie-kennedys-letters/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-09T17:10:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:56.617Z og:title: Jackie Kennedy's Personal Letters to JFK’s Friend Going Up for Auction og:description: On why her second husband had to be outside the world of her 'past and pain' og:url: https://time.com/4665236/jackie-kennedys-letters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeb770107d0ab3b/6988b983a988ca36866baef7/jackie-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jacqueline Kennedy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jackie Kennedy's Personal Letters to JFK’s Friend Going Up for Auction twitter:description: On why her second husband had to be outside the world of her 'past and pain' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeb770107d0ab3b/6988b983a988ca36866baef7/jackie-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jackie Kennedy’s Letters About Love and Grief Are Going Up for Auction by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Feb 9, 2017 5:10 PM UTC  Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy enjoys herself at a picnic circa the 1960s. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy enjoys herself at a picnic circa the 1960s.Michael Ochs Archive—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Feb 9, 2017 5:10 PM UTC In the wake of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the bereaved First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy struck up a close friendship with one of his most trusted friends, David Ormbsy Gore, the [former British ambassador](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938107,00.html?iid=sr-link2) to Washington. Now, their letters are going up for auction. In the late 1960s, Jacqueline Kennedy was, perhaps, the [world’s most famous widow](http://time.com/3878253/jackie-kennedy-in-the-sixties-classic-photos-of-an-american-icon/?iid=sr-link9), but few had access to her feelings, either in grief or in the public eye. Mr. [Ormsby Gore](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903672,00.html?iid=sr-link3), also a widow, was one of the few who could relate. He was an old friend of John F. Kennedy, and as Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., became a close advisor to the president, as well. After Orsmby Gore’s wife died in a car accident, he and Jacqueline shared more, and he eventually proposed. Kennedy demurred, though, choosing [to wed oil magnate Aristotle Onassis](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19681025,00.html?iid=sr-link2), explaining her decision in a letter. “If ever I can find some healing and some comfort—it has to be with somebody who is not part of all my world of past and pain,” she wrote in one of the letters to Ormsby Gore, as the [_New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/world/europe/letters-from-jacqueline-kennedy-to-the-man-she-didnt-marry.html) reported. “I can find that now—if the world will let us.” Now the letters, including the one about her [decision to wed ](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2025424%5F2025441%5F2025836,00.html?iid=sr-link5)Onassis, are going up for sale at Bonhams in London. The letters were discovered in locked cases in the home of Ormsby Gore’s grandson who decided to put the letters up for sale in the hopes that the proceeds can pay for the restoration of the Gore family home in Wales, the [_New York Times_ reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/world/europe/letters-from-jacqueline-kennedy-to-the-man-she-didnt-marry.html?%5Fr=0). The auction house will auction off the letters next month, currently scheduled for March 29. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4665236/jackie-kennedys-letters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4665236/jackie-kennedys-letters/"},"headline":"Jackie Kennedy’s Letters About Love and Grief Are Going Up for Auction","datePublished":"2017-02-09T17:10:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:56.617Z","description":"Letters between Jacqueline Kennedy and David Ormsby Gore are up for sale","url":"https://time.com/4665236/jackie-kennedys-letters/","keywords":["Newsfeed","History","JFK","Auctions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeb770107d0ab3b/6988b983a988ca36866baef7/jackie-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeeb770107d0ab3b/6988b983a988ca36866baef7/jackie-kennedy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jacqueline Kennedy","caption":"Jacqueline Kennedy","creditText":"Michael Ochs Archive—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4665236/jackie-kennedys-letters/","name":"Jackie Kennedy’s Letters About Love and Grief Are Going Up for Auction"}}]}] ```