Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - Amanda Foreman
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire - Amanda Foreman
Non-Fiction
Pages: 496
I don't know why it's taken me so long to read this. I live not far from Chatsworth, I've met the current Duke once or twice at work events, I was even in the film The Duchess (only as an extra, and the scene was cut in the end, alas). I suppose it's partly because Georgian history has never been an era I've been especially interested in, but after reading Lady Worsley's Whim, in which Georgiana is mentioned a few times, I was in the mood for more.
I knew a bit about Georgiana, of course - mainly that there was some curious ménage à trois going on and a bit about the scandals and her affair and unhappy marriage. But this book was quite a revelation to me - Georgiana wasn't a bit the fickle, flighty society matron I'd expected. Or rather she was, but that was more playing a role that was expected than who she really is, and she saw through much of the hypocrisy of the ton, as the elite social circles of the aristocracy were known. Her involvement with and influence on the major political figures of the day - from the Prince of Wales to Charles Fox, Pitt the Younger and Charles Grey - to her position as a leading light of the Whig Party was fascinating, particularly when combined with her apparently contradictory role as the doyenne of fashion and frivolity.
As Foreman points out in the conclusion to this book, the tendency of academic disciplines to operate within strictly defined spheres means that political historians have ignored the role of women at court and in politics, and feminist historians have focused on female occupations and domestic roles and ignored politics. Georgiana's life demonstrates ably how fluid and interlocking these spheres are in reality and how, at least before the Victorian era, upper-class Georgian women in particular were able to play a real and meaningful role in public life. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in either field, or indeed for anyone who has wandered around Chatsworth and marvelled in its grandeur and beauty.
Non-Fiction
Pages: 496
I don't know why it's taken me so long to read this. I live not far from Chatsworth, I've met the current Duke once or twice at work events, I was even in the film The Duchess (only as an extra, and the scene was cut in the end, alas). I suppose it's partly because Georgian history has never been an era I've been especially interested in, but after reading Lady Worsley's Whim, in which Georgiana is mentioned a few times, I was in the mood for more.
I knew a bit about Georgiana, of course - mainly that there was some curious ménage à trois going on and a bit about the scandals and her affair and unhappy marriage. But this book was quite a revelation to me - Georgiana wasn't a bit the fickle, flighty society matron I'd expected. Or rather she was, but that was more playing a role that was expected than who she really is, and she saw through much of the hypocrisy of the ton, as the elite social circles of the aristocracy were known. Her involvement with and influence on the major political figures of the day - from the Prince of Wales to Charles Fox, Pitt the Younger and Charles Grey - to her position as a leading light of the Whig Party was fascinating, particularly when combined with her apparently contradictory role as the doyenne of fashion and frivolity.
As Foreman points out in the conclusion to this book, the tendency of academic disciplines to operate within strictly defined spheres means that political historians have ignored the role of women at court and in politics, and feminist historians have focused on female occupations and domestic roles and ignored politics. Georgiana's life demonstrates ably how fluid and interlocking these spheres are in reality and how, at least before the Victorian era, upper-class Georgian women in particular were able to play a real and meaningful role in public life. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in either field, or indeed for anyone who has wandered around Chatsworth and marvelled in its grandeur and beauty.