 Some contemporary observers thought they detected a " prima donna " streak in Eden 's attitude and appearance . For example , the aging Earl of Crawford and Balcarres ( 1871 – 1940 ) , a snob , thought him " vain as a peacock and all the mannerisms of a petit maître [ in the sense of a dandy or fop ] " . One of Eden 's permanent secretaries , P. J. Grigg , who rarely had a good word to say of anyone , dismissed him as " a poor feeble little pansy " . Less prosaically , W. F. Deedes , a Minister in Eden 's Government who , as a journalist , had once commented unfavourably on the colour of Eden 's socks , remarked half a century later that , in the modern vernacular , Eden would have been called a " smoothie " . The philosopher Bertrand Russell thought Eden " not a gentleman " because he dressed " too well " , while a Ministerial <unk> R. A. Butler , alluding to Eden 's parentage and highly strung nature , is said to have remarked , " that 's Anthony – half mad baronet , half beautiful woman " . 
