William Lyon Mackenzie King - Personal Life

Personal Life

King kept a very candid diary from 1893 until his death in 1950. One biographer called these diaries as "the most important single political document in twentieth-century Canadian history," for they explain motivations of the Canadian war efforts and describe other events in detail.

King was a cautious politician who tailored his policies to prevailing opinions. "Parliament will decide," he liked to say when pressed to act and would often say "In times of need all nations face difficult decisions, Canada is not an exception".

Privately, he was highly eccentric with his preference for communing with spirits, including those of Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, his dead mother, and several of his Irish Terrier dogs, all named Pat except for one named Bob. He also claimed to commune with the spirit of the late President Roosevelt. He sought personal reassurance from the spirit world, rather than seeking political advice. Indeed, after his death, one of his mediums said that she had not realized that he was a politician. King asked whether his party would win the 1935 election, one of the few times politics came up during his seances. His occult interests were kept secret during his years in office, and only became publicized later. Historians have seen in his occult activities a penchant for forging unities from antitheses, thus having latent political import. In 1953 Time stated that he owned—and used—both an Ouija board and a crystal ball.

King never married, but had several close women friends, including Joan Patteson, a married woman with whom he spent some of his leisure time.

Some historians have interpreted passages in his diaries as suggesting that King regularly had sexual relations with prostitutes. Others, also basing their claims on passages of his diaries, have suggested that King was in love with Lord Tweedsmuir, whom he had chosen for appointment as Governor General in 1935.