James Bond Literary Wikia
Register
Advertisement
James Bond Literary Wikia
Miss Moneypenny
Moneypenny
Name: Moneypenny
Affiliation: MI6
Nationality: England English
Rank: Lieutenant RN
Occupation: Secretary
First appearance: Casino Royale
Last appearance: Trigger Mortis

Moneypenny is the private secretary of M, head of MI6. She is a regular, albeit unsubstantial, character throughout the Bond series.

History[]

Miss Moneypenny is a confidential clerk and private secretary to M, James Bond's superior, and the head of MI6. Her desk is in the room adjoining the entrances to M and his chief-of-staff Bill Tanner's offices. She holds the rank of Lieutenant RN, which is a prerequisite rank for this position. She is cleared for Top-Secret, Eyes-Only and Cabinet-Level intelligence reports, the latter of which she is often required to prepare, and in some cases present. Moneypenny is depicted as being utterly dedicated to her work, implying she has little time for a social life.

A close confidante of her boss, she also enjoys a flirtatious — though never consummated — relationship with Bond, whom she understands perfectly. Moneypenny is also described as being naturally inquisitive and possessing "eyes which were cool and direct and quizzical" which prevents her from being desirable to Bond. She is shown tacitly to be smitten with Bond. For example, in the novel Thunderball, Fleming wrote that she "often dreamed hopelessly about Bond." However, she never vocalizes these feelings. Moneypenny seldom interacts with Bond directly as he also has his own secretary (Loelia Ponsonby and later Mary Goodnight) with whom he has closer working relationships.

Background[]

In Fleming's first draft of Casino Royale, Moneypenny's name instead "Miss 'Petty' Pettaval," which was taken from Kathleen Pettigrew, the personal assistant to real life MI6 director Stewart Menzies. Fleming changed however it in order to be less obvious. In Andrew Lycett's Ian Fleming, he discloses the source of the name "Miss Moneypenny," to be the name of a character in an unpublished novel by Fleming's brother, Peter. Other candidates for Moneypenny's inspiration include Vera Atkins of Special Operations Executive; Paddy Ridsdale, a Naval Intelligence secretary; and Joan Bright Astley, whom Fleming dated during World War II, and who was noted for giving a warm and friendly reception to senior officers who visited her office to view confidential papers.

Trivia[]

  • Moneypenny's first name is never revealed, however in several novels she is referred to as "Penny" (a shortened version of her last name) by Bond and Bill Tanner. The spin-off series The Moneypenny Diaries by Samantha Weinberg gave her the first name of Jane however.
Advertisement