The Glamorous Duchess Who Was A Third Wheel In Her OWN Marriage | PART 1 | Georgiana Cavendish

Published 2024-03-17
Wealthy, noble, clever and pretty, Georgiana Spencer - later Cavendish - might have been seen to have it all. But like her indirect descendent Princess Diana many years later, Georgiana would end up in an unhappy and unfulfilling marriage, coping by gambling, drinking and partying to excess. This video looks at the early part of her life, her marriage to William Cavendish, her involvement in the culture of her time, and how ultimately she ended up in an uncomfortable and scandalous ménage à trois situation with her best friend and her husband...


Sources and Related Books:

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198…

(JSTOR) Moral Trespass in Georgian London: Gaming, Gender, and Electoral Politics in the Age of George III by Phyllis Deutsch - www.jstor.org/stable/2639963?mag=how-a-gambling-du…

(JSTOR) The Butcher-Kissing Duchess of Devonshire: Between Caricature and Allegory in 1784 by Amelia Rauser - www.jstor.org/stable/30053337

The Duchess by Amanda Foreman - amzn.to/4csNySP

Duchess Georgiana: Georgian Britain’s Most Popular Woman, A New Study by Lindsay Porter - amzn.to/3Pz7Lg2

The Sylph by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - amzn.to/3TLq9op

The Two Duchesses: Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire by Vera Foster - amzn.to/3TNSGKb

Some of the above links are affiliate links, and at no extra cost to you, help fund this channel when you buy through the links, so thank you very much!


For my images and footage, thanks to:

Pexels
Pixabay
Wikimedia Commons, especially:
walker44
Ricardalovesmonuments
Bycostello
Many of my images in this video were made with Midjourney, see if you can spot which ones!


I strive to always credit everyone whose images I use, and try as much as possible to use images freely in the public domain (purchased where not possible) - please let me know if I have missed you so I can give you due credit.

All Comments (21)
  • I love that this woman so thoroughly embraced her husband’s first extramarital child, even though it annoyed everyone. She loved that child and didn’t blame her and just loved her.
  • @dancingdingo
    The film starring Kiera Knightley the Duchess is an excellent look into this
  • @lrs7777
    Gambling is a dangerous addiction that still destroys families.
  • @user-yq2rn2hy8p
    The book THE DUCHESS IS A WONDERFUL READ. I HAD TO READ IT 3 TIMES TO TRULY UNDERSTAND. THE HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS OF THE TIME. AND GAMBLING WAS AN ADDICTION OF MANT OF THE ARISTOCRACY. INCREDIBLE AMOUNTS OF MONEY AND PROPERTY WAS THROWN AWAY!!😮😮
  • @liiiir
    The fact that her husband had fathered a child before their marriage and she took the little girl in and loved her like her own speaks volumes about her, I think.
  • @i.p.956
    Interesting how her descendant lived the exact same life, married the exact same man and had the exact same marriage! Almost like this is a family curse.
  • @JLFAN2009
    Diana did not descend directly from Georgiana but rather, from her brother.
  • @t.m.a.3665
    Her famous descendent is non other than Princess Diana who also lived a similarly heartbreaking love & life. ❤RIP Georgiana & Princess Diana .
  • @debralevin4305
    Amanda Foreman's bio of Georgiana is my favorite book of all time. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in her or the period. Actually, according to the book, she was not a great beauty, but managed to appear so due to her style and personality.
  • @altinaykor364
    Wow, I can't wait to hear the rest💗 although everyone seem to think her life is parallel with her great niece Princess Diana, which I don't completely disagree, but in her case, I find her husband much more annoying. I mean he didn't like her and didn't bother himself to show her enough respect or attention either and the love triangle thing started in the half-way through of their married life and the other woman came to her life much years later and it wasn't like her husband being obsessed with another from the start, which honestly makes it more heartbreaking, because it means he could love her, he just didn't want to or didn't bother to💔💔💔
  • @simon112
    Superb as always great presentation. and narration, she was a beautiful Inteligent lady, sadly she never knew true happiness her only solace were her children and gambling, I'd like to think history looks more kindly on her now, in many ways she led a sad life and deserved far more.
  • Thank you for this amazing rendition on Georgiana Cavendish, the glamorous Duchess of Devonshire, her fabulous style and captivating beauty made her the "It" girl of her times. The best video about her I've ever seen so far. Excellent work as always 😊❤
  • @newgabe09
    ooh.. glad there's a part 2 and it didn't just end on the cliffhanger!
  • @jenihansen7201
    This was a great video. Narration was on point with the comparisons. I saw a movie on Georgiana Cavendish, and the similarity with Diana, was amazing.
  • @greenblood64
    THE DUCHESS is a great movie that tells this story perfectly starring Kiera Knightly.
  • Cavendish was the ancestor of Bess of Hardwick. Georgina was a contemporary of Marie Antoinette; imagine having a friendship to Mr. Fox and his parliament. She is a fabulous figure of history, and I recommend anybody dig deeper and read a biography on her to gain a deeper respect of the woman, the era, as opposed to her gambling issues, poor choices, husband, and waste of brains. Ps. She is princess Diana’s relative and had more royal blood than any of the Windsors today (who are more Germanic than English).
  • @JangianTV
    Excellent as always! Must confess I picked up but never finished Amanda Foreman's bio of her. Will have to finish it sometime.