Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Summary (from the publisher): Sex, intrigue and adultery in the world of high politics and huge wealth in late eighteenth-century England.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was one of the most flamboyant and influential women of the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, a political savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict, an adulteress and the darling of the common people.

This authoritative, utterly absorbing book presents a mesmerizing picture of a fascinating world of political and sexual intrigues, grand houses, huge parties, glamour and great wealth – always on the edge of being squandered by the excesses and scandals of individuals.

 

Review: "Without any intention, she became the directress of the ton. She changed the hours, and set the fashions. Everybody endeavored to imitate her, not only in England, but even at Paris. Everyone enquired what [Georgiana] did, and how she dressed, anxious to act and dress in the same style. She had an uncommon gracefulness in her air rather than her figure; and appeared always to act entirely from the impression of the moment" (401).

 

Georgiana Spencer was born in 1757, the eldest child of the Earl and Countess Spencer. She was born into immense wealth, as her father inherited an estate worth 750,000 pounds - roughly equivalent to 45 million pounds today -  when his own father died. "It was one of the largest fortunes in England and included 100,000 acres in twenty-seven different counties, five substantial residences, and a sumptuous collection of plate, jewels and old master paintings" (4). Georgiana's father had an income of 700 pounds a week in a time period when a gentleman could live off 300 pounds a year.

 

Georgiana married George Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, who was even wealthier than her father. "His property included not only the magnificent Chatsworth in Derbyshire and Devonshire House in London, but five other estates of comparable grandeur" (17). The two did not always get along well, although they did eventually have three children together (and both had illegitimate children with others). Despite Georgiana's great wealth, she was a habitual gambler and amassed immense debts throughout her life that she was always trying to hide from her husband. Most interesting about their marriage was their mutual 'friend' Lady Elizabeth Foster, known as Bess, who was both a close confidante of Georgiana's and a lover (and the mother of two of his children) of her husband's. Despite family members' disapproval and the ulterior motives of Bess, she remained a fixed member of the Devonshire household for the remainder of the Duke and Duchess's life.

 

Reading Georgiana's biography was personally thrilling because it ties together the biographies of several other historical ladies that I have read. Georgiana's husband is descended from the famous Bess of Hardwick who was the original source of the family's wealth; when Bess died, her considerable fortune went to her Cavendish sons. "The eldest, William, used his mother's fortune to purchase the earldom of Devonshire from James I for 10,000 pounds. His descendants followed his example and devoted their lives to increasing the family's wealth and power" (15). Georgiana was a contemporary and a rival of the Duchess of Bedford, who appears again in this biography. She was a patron of the famous actress known as Perdita, who had an affair with the Prince of Wales, who just so happened to be good friends with Georgiana. And in more recent history, the title Georgiana gained through marriage was also worn by Debo Mitford, the youngest of the infamous six Mitford sisters. It's fascinating being able to make connections to other works and be able to notice what different biographers choose to highlight or omit in their telling, now that I have a somewhat broader sense of the time period and the social world that Georgiana inhabited.

 

At times I was frustrated by what the author chose to share in this biography and what was barely touched upon. For example, chapter one ends with the cliffhanger reveal that Georgiana's new husband had a newborn baby with another woman at the time of their marriage. Although Georgiana later accepts this child into her home, there's no reference made to Georgiana's first encounter with this illegitimate child. For that matter, very little substance regarding the Duke is shared, aside from his reactions to Georgiana; there's little clear insight into either his character or his relationship with his wife. Perhaps this is due to a scant historical record, but I have no way of knowing as reader. Another aspect of Georgiana's life I would have liked more information on include Georgiana's relationship with the actress Perdita. For that matter, I would like to have more information on her charitable contributions and support of the arts for which  she is known but yet was nearly entirely absent from this biography. And in one chapter, a footnote reveals that Georgiana took in the illegitimate daughter of Caroline Townsend, who was the daughter of her father's steward. Georgiana and her sister raised her baby Fanny and eventually helped her make a good marriage. No other mention is made of this girl, which seems unusual since she was a member of her household. These omissions made me wonder what else about Georgiana I was missing out on in this account.

 

I was unaware of how great a role Georgiana played in politics during her lifetime. Much of this biography deals with fairly nuanced discussions of the different political factions of the time. Although it seems this was a large part of Georgiana's life, this description of the political climate at large seemed to take precedence to more in-depth descriptions of Georgiana's household and close relationships, to my disappointment.

 

Georgiana was a complicated, larger than life figure and her accomplishments, scandals, interests, social circle, and impact on others cannot fully be conveyed in this brief summation. She was, in short, a bundle of contradictions: "She was an acknowledged beauty yet unappreciated by her husband, a popular leader of the ton who saw through its hypocrisy, and a woman whom people loved who was yet so insecure in her ability to command love that she became dependent upon the suspicious devotion of Lady Elizabeth Foster. She was a generous contributor to charitable causes who nevertheless stole from her friends, a writer who never published under her own name, a devoted mother who sacrificed one child to save three, a celebrity and patron of the arts in an era when married women had no legal status, a politician without a vote and a skilled tactician a generation before the development of professional party politics" (401).

 

Stars: 3