He was born in London in 1923. He was the eldest son of Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet, a British politician, and his first wife, Lady Cynthia Mosley, a daughter of The 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston. In 1932 his father, Sir Oswald Mosley, founded the British Union of Fascists and became an open supporter of Benito Mussolini. In 1933, when he was only 9, Nicholas's mother, Lady Cynthia, died and in 1936 Diana Mitford, one of the Mitford sisters, who was already his father's mistress, became his stepmother. As a young boy, he began to stammer and attended weekly sessions with the speech therapist Lionel Logue to help him manage it. He later said that his father claimed never really to have noticed this stammer, but still, he may, as a result of it, have been less aggressive when speaking to him than towards other people. Mosley was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1940, his father was interned because of his campaigning against the war with Germany. The younger Mosley was still soon commissioned into the Rifle Brigade and saw active service in Italy, winning the Military Cross in 1945. In 1966, Mosley succeeded his aunt Irene Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale, his mother's elder sister, as Baron Ravensdale, thus gaining a seat in the House of Lords. On the death of his father, on 3 December 1980, he also succeeded to his father's baronetcy. In 1983, after his father's death, Lord Ravensdale published Beyond the Pale: Sir Oswald Mosley and Family 1933–1980 in which he proved to be a harsh critic of his father. He called into question his father's motives and even Oswald's understanding of politics. The book contributed to the Channel 4television programmeMosley, based on Oswald Mosley's life. At the end of the serial, Nicholas is portrayed meeting his father in prison to ask him about his national allegiance. Living in London, he was a half-brother of Max Mosley, former President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile.
Marriages and children
Mosley married twice and was the father of five children. On 14 November 1947 he married firstly Rosemary Laura Salmond, daughter of Sir John Maitland Salmond and the Hon. Monica Margaret Grenfell, and they had four children:
Hon. Ivo Adam Rex Mosley, married 10 September 1977 Xanthe Jennifer Grenville Oppenheimer, daughter of Sir Michael Bernard Grenville Oppenheimer, 3rd Baronet, by his marriage on 12 July 1947 to Laetitia Helen Lucas-Tooth, daughter of Sir Hugh Vere Huntly Duff Munro-Lucas-Tooth, 1st Baronet, and Laetitia Florence Findlay, and they had four children: Nathaniel Inigo Mosley ; Felix Harry Mosley ; Scipio Louis Mosley and Noah Billy Mosley.
Hon. Robert Mosley, married 1980 Victoria McBain, and they had three children: Gregory Mosley ; Vija Mosley, a textile designer; married to ; and Orson Mosley.
Hon. Clare Mosley, unmarried, who has a natural daughter named Rosie Mosley.
In 1974, after a divorce, he married secondly Verity Elizabeth Raymond, daughter of John Raymond, and had one son:
