Read This!: Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

Book challenge:  Book with pictures

By Amanda Foreman

I bought Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire during the big Borders blow out sale.  It was definitely an impulse buy and I put off reading it until now.  I just didn’t want to get bogged down in another biography.  But alas, I am getting low on books and decided to jump in.

Born Lady Georgiana Spencer and married in her teens to the Duke of Devonshire, Georgiana Cavendish was thrust into a life of fame and fashion.  She was the head of high society in late 18^th century England and intricately involved in the lives of the English and French elite as well as politics of the time (She was a major Whig party member).  In her personal life, Georgiana was the mother of four children, one illegitimate, and a compulsive gambler losing what would have been millions of dollars in today’s money.  The most unusual part of her life was her relationship with Lady Elizabeth Foster (Bess).  Best friend or lover, history can’t say.  But, what is known is that Bess (a bit of a schemer), Georgiana, and the Duke lived together in a sort of ménage-à-trois for many years. (Bess had two illegitimate children by the Duke).  When Georgiana died, Bess married the Duke and realized her life-long dream of taking her friend’s place (much to the Cavendishs’ dismay).

There were a lot of juicy details in this book and excerpts from letters.  However, personally, I found all of the political mumbo jumbo boring and my eyes glazed over.  I know that sometimes in biographies details must be explained but I thought they were a bit much here and I just wanted to go back to her personal life which was much more intriguing. 

I will say that I judged Georgiana a bit on the gambling.  It was a bit shocking how much money she was wasting. Yes, I gave more than an ample share of my allowance to Instant Bingo at the church fair as a kid but at least I knew when to stop.

I will also say I was surprised at how many of the ton were having affairs and illegitimate children.  That is not the picture one necessarily sees. At least not of the women.

Last but not least, I want to comment on the movie The Duchess which I saw a few years ago and is the screen version of this biography.  In The Duchess, Georgiana was made out to be more of a victim of both her husband and his relationship with Bess.  In the movie, the Duke is painted as a much more brutal, uncaring jerk than he is in the book where, while emotionally distant from Georgiana (it was not a love-match), he was never the cruel man he appeared in the movie.  And yes, in both, he did ask Georgiana to give up her illegitimate daughter but she was in agreement due to the scandal it would create.

Fun fact: The Duchess was an ancestral aunt to Princess Diana.