 This, along with remarks in Bernays's own diaries and letters (such as "I suppose that what I really want in a woman is that kind of mental affinity which I get from someone like H[arold] N[icolson]" and 
"he is very fond of me as I am of him", has led to suggestions that they were actually involved in a discreet homosexual relationship.Previously Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster had reported, to King George V among others, that Bernays had been a lover of the 7th Earl Beauchamp – Westminster's brother-in-law – on their Australian travels in 1930.