Orphaned by the age of 6, Lady Diana, known by her family as "dear little Di", joined the household of her rich and ambitious maternal grandmother, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.

The highly influential Duchess of Marlborough tried to arrange a secret marriage between Lady Diana and Prince Frederick, King George II's eldest son and heir apparent to the throne.

When the scheme was frustrated by Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Lady Diana was married off to Lord John Russell, later 4th Duke of Bedford.

Lady Sunderland's mother, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, was one of the most influential women of the time due to her close friendship with Queen Anne, who died in 1714.

[2] Known to her family as "dear little Di", Lady Diana grew up into a tall, fair-haired, and attractive young woman, and was considered sympathetic and charismatic by her contemporaries.

[1] In her late adolescence, Lady Diana was at the top of the list of eligible high society brides due to both her looks and her closeness to the tremendously rich Dowager Duchess of Marlborough.

[5] Already well-liked by the prospective bride's domineering grandmother, the middle-aged Earl of Chesterfield proposed marriage by writing from The Hague to the Dowager Duchess on 14 August, 1731: "The person, the merit and the family of Lady Diana Spencer are objects so valuable that they must necessarily have ... caused many such applications of this nature to Your Grace.

Waiting for a wealthy suitor with both a title and appropriate political leanings almost proved to be a great mistake when Lady Diana developed tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis, requiring the Dowager Duchess to pay a prominent surgeon to hide the traces of the disfiguring disease.

[5] Lady Diana spent her early years in close contact with the children of King George II, despite the initially aloof relationship between her grandmother and his family.

Rumours began circulating that the Dowager Duchess was plotting to arrange a marriage between her favourite granddaughter and the King's estranged eldest son and heir apparent, Frederick, Prince of Wales.

[6] He learned of the scheme through his "infallible spy system" and prevented the union,[2][7] which led to a further deterioration of his relationship with the Dowager Duchess, already his great rival.

[2] After the planned royal marriage came to nothing, the Dowager Duchess finally settled on the 21-year-old Lord John Russell, younger brother and heir presumptive of the Duke of Bedford.

[4] Lord Hervey reported that it was deemed so important to prevent the Duchess from learning about her son's death "that after grand consultation ... it was determined a Child should be brought to replace the Defunct, till she was strong enough to hear the truth and be told it was only a pretender".