The winner of Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize and a
bestseller there for months, this wonderfully readable
biography offers a rich, rollicking picture of late-
eighteenth-century British aristocracy and the intimate
story of a woman who for a time was its undisputed
leader.
Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-
great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was
nearly as famous in her day. In 1774, at the age of
seventeen, Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by
marrying one of England's richest and most influential
aristocrats, the Duke of Devonshire. Launched into a world
of wealth and power, she quickly became the queen of
fashionable society, adored by the Prince of Wales, a dear
friend of Marie-Antoinette, and leader of the most
important salon of her time. Not content with the role of
society hostess, she used her connections to enter
politics, eventually becoming more influential than most
of the men who held office.
Her good works and
social exploits made her loved by the multitudes, but
Georgiana's public success, like Diana's, concealed a
personal life that was fraught with suffering. The Duke of
Devonshire was unimpressed by his wife's legendary charms,
preferring instead those of her closest friend, a woman
with whom Georgiana herself was rumored to be on intimate
terms. For over twenty years, the three lived together in
a jealous and uneasy ménage à trois, during which time
both women bore the Duke's children—as well as those of
other men.
Foreman's descriptions of Georgiana's
uncontrollable gambling, all- night drinking, drug taking,
and love affairs with the leading politicians of the day
give us fascinating insight into the lives of the British
aristocracy in the era of the madness of King George III,
the American and French revolutions, and the defeat of
Napoleon.
A gifted young historian whom critics
are already likening to Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman
draws on a wealth of fresh research and writes colorfully
and penetratingly about the fascinating Georgiana, whose
struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty
and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in
the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly
contemporary figure.
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