Harriet Osborne, Baroness Godolphin

An illegitimate child, her mother was the society figure Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, who became pregnant by her longtime lover Lord Granville Leveson-Gower.

The consequences of such an event could be potentially disastrous; eight years earlier, Lady Bessborough had witnessed the scandal and emotional turmoil experienced by her sister Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, when her own illegitimate child had been born.

[1] Undoubtedly aided by the era's empire waist fashions, she succeeded in hiding the pregnancy from him – only a few close family members and friends were made aware.

[5] Illegitimate children were increasingly disapproved of in English society; worrying about her daughter's future, Lady Bessborough arranged for her to be raised by a foster mother.

[4][8] One of the few surviving letters reveals that when the girl was two years old, her mother purchased a locket and asked Leveson-Gower for a piece of his hair in which to send to their daughter.

[8] Harriet's life changed quite significantly in August 1812, when she was brought to live in her father's household at Tixall Hall in Staffordshire.

"[13] In 1824, Harriet and the rest of the family moved to Brussels upon the appointment of Leveson-Gower, now Viscount Granville, as British ambassador to The Hague.

Viscountess Granville worried that her charge's marriage prospects would face difficulties, namely due to her mysterious status as a ward and lack of a dowry.

The girl had many positive qualities, however; the historian Janet Gleeson describes Harriet as "well-mannered and physically attractive to the opposite sex.

[23] George Arundel Stewart travelled a lot and would bring gifts, Indian turbans, shawls, fans, and a chess set, from Asia and India.