Georgiana Cavendish (1757 - 1806). Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire was an English socialite, political organizer, style icon, author, and activist. Of noble birth from the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she was the first wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and the mother of the 6th Duke of Devonshire. As the Duchess of Devonshire, she garnered much attention and fame in society during her lifetime. With a pre-eminent position in the peerage of England, the duchess was famous for her charisma, political influence, beauty, unusual marital arrangement, love affairs, socializing, and gambling. She was the great-great-great-grand-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. Their lives, centuries apart, have been compared in tragedy. The duchess was born Miss Georgiana Spencer, on 7 June 1757, as the first child of John Spencer and his wife, Georgiana, at the Spencer family home, Althorp. After her daughter's birth, her mother wrote that I will own I feel so partial to my Dear little Gee, that I think I never shall love another so well. Two younger siblings followed: Henrietta and George. Mr John Spencer, great-grandson of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, came from a wealthy English noble family. He built a Spencer family residence at St. James's, London and raised his children there. The parents raised Georgiana and her siblings in a happy marriage which bears no record of there ever having been any extramarital affairs-a rarity in the era. Meanwhile, Georgiana grew to be close to her mother who was said to favour Georgiana over her other children. When her father assumed the title of Viscount Spencer in 1761, she became The Honourable Georgiana Spencer. In 1765, her father became Earl Spencer and she Lady Georgiana Spencer. On her seventeenth birthday, 7 June 1774, Lady Georgiana Spencer was married to society's most eligible bachelor, William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. The wedding took place at Wimbledon Parish Church. It was a small ceremony attended only by her parents, her maternal grandmother, one of her prospective brothers-in-law, and soon-to-be sister-in-law. Her parents were emotionally reluctant to let their daughter go, but she was wed to one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the land. Her father, who had always shown affection to his children, wrote to her, My Dearest Georgiana, I did not know till lately how much I loved you; I miss you more every day and every hour. Mother and daughter continued to correspond throughout their lives and many of their letters survive. From the beginning of the marriage, the Duke of Devonshire proved to be an emotionally reserved man who was quite unlike the duchess's father and who did not meet the emotional needs of the duchess. The spouses also had little in common. He would seldom be at her side and would spend nights at Brooks's playing cards. The duke continued with adulterous behaviour throughout their married life and discord followed pregnancies that ended in miscarriage or failure to produce a male child as heir. Before their marriage, the duke had fathered an illegitimate daughter, Charlotte Williams, born from a dalliance with a former milliner, Charlotte Spencer. This was unknown to the duchess until years after her marriage to the duke. After the death of the child's mother, she was compelled to raise Charlotte herself. The duchess of Devonshire was very pleased with Charlotte, although her own mother, now Countess Spencer, expressed disapproval: I hope you have not talk'd of her to people. The duchess replied, She is the best humoured little thing you ever saw. In 1782, while on a retreat from London with the duke, the duchess met Lady Elizabeth Foster in the City of Bath. She became close friends with Lady Elizabeth who had become destitute after separating from her husband and three sons.