The official Daphne du Maurier website, approved by her Estate
Celebrating Daphne du Maurier’s birthday
Today we celebrate Daphne du Maurier’s birthday. She was born on 13th May 1907, the second daughter to Gerald du Maurier and his wife Muriel (née Beaumont).
Sheet-lightening split the sky over London on the evening of 12 May 1907 and thunder rumbled long into the night. All day it had been hot and sultry, the trees in Regents Park barely moving and a heat haze obscuring the new growth of leaves. Then, towards dawn the next day, the weather began to change. A wind picked up and by afternoon the rain had begun, light at first but by 5.20, when Muriel du Maurier gave birth to her second daughter, heavy and persistent, bringing with it a relief of much cooler weather…
Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster, published by Chatto and Windus, 1993, page 3.