Recognising the commercial imperatives of running a stately home, she took a very active role and was known to man the Chatsworth House ticket office herself.

[4] Towards the end of her life, she formed a friendship with Arthur Parkinson, the future gardening author and broadcaster, bonding over their shared interest in hens.

[5] She and the duke had seven children, four of whom died shortly after birth:[6] She was a maternal aunt of Max Mosley, former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA),[8] as well as the grandmother of fashion model Stella Tennant (1970–2020)[9][10] and aristocrat William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.

[13] Cavendish was interviewed on her experience of sitting for a portrait for painter Lucian Freud in the BBC series Imagine in 2004.

[14] In an interview with John Preston of The Daily Telegraph, published in September 2007, she recounted having tea with Adolf Hitler during a visit to Munich in June 1937, when she was visiting Germany with her mother and her sister Unity, the latter being the only one of the three who spoke German and, therefore the one who carried on the entire conversation with Hitler.

Shortly before ending the interview, Preston asked her to choose with whom she would have preferred to have tea: American singer Elvis Presley or Hitler.