 After a year of living with his daughter Ida and her husband Michel Gordey, he entered into a romance with Virginia Haggard, daughter of diplomat Sir Godfrey Digby Napier Haggard and great-niece of the author Sir Henry Rider Haggard; their relationship endured seven years.They had a child together, David McNeil, born 22 June 1946.Haggard recalled her "seven years of plenty" with Chagall in her book, "My Life with Chagall" (Robert Hale, 1986).