[4] The family, hitherto only middling gentry, but with financial roles at court, rose to prominence under the Tudor dynasty, when Sir William Cavendish was a courtier who made a great deal of money handling the disposal of the spoils of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

It was probably she who pursuaded Sir William to sell his lands in the south of England, around the manor of Cavendish, Suffolk, and buy the Chatsworth estate in her native Derbyshire.

After missing nation-leading and internationally definitive largesse and empire-building in Charles II's five-peer acronym of the Cabal ministry, William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire, was the first of the name to rise to duke.

He co-wrote the 1688 Invitation to William to exclude Catholics from the monarchy, which set in motion the Glorious Revolution in that year (and which also ultimately had the result of shifting more power to Parliament).

High appointments were often won by senior title holders and some juniors among the Cavendishes, from 1688 until about 1887, and marked the family's ascendancy, along with the Marquesses of Salisbury and the Earls of Derby.

The head of the modern family is Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, whose Georgian mansion, Chatsworth House, in the Peak District attracts many visitors with its gardens, iconic high-jet fountain, Capability Brown grounds, and fine-art collection.