Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Spencer; /dʒɔːrˈdʒeɪnə/ jor-JAY-nə; 7 June 1757 – 30 March 1806), was an English aristocrat, socialite, prodigious and addicted gambler, political organiser, author, and activist.

[1][2] The Duchess was famous for her charisma, political influence, beauty, unusual marital arrangement, love affairs, socializing, and notoriety for her gambling addiction, leading to an immense debt.

Lord and Lady Spencer had what was considered an unusually happy and demonstrably affectionate marriage for the era,[6] raising their children according to the "modern" and enlightened ideas of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Georgiana was the family favourite and had an extraordinary close bond with her mother, who confessed to favouring her over her other children,[5] but this stability ended abruptly when she was separated from her parents when they traveled to Italy for her father's health.

In 1766, the death of the Spencers' fourth child, soon after her first birthday, and then the loss of another daughter after only a few weeks just three years later, started an era of obsessive travelling and gambling as they sought distraction from their "heavy affliction."

Georgiana’s mother attempted to balance the worldly vice of gambling until dawn with self-denial and good works, but was aware, as were others, that this obsession was not based on a real religious devotion.

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, who was nine years her senior.

[4] It was a small ceremony attended only by her parents, her paternal grandmother Lady Cowper, one of her prospective brothers-in-law, and her soon-to-be sister-in-law, the Duchess of Portland.

She was sadly mistaken; although they grew closer in later life, at the beginning of their marriage the Duke could not meet Georgiana's emotional needs, and she quickly learned her role was solely to produce an heir and fulfil her social obligations.

They had few interests in common,[3] and as society dictated it was unfashionable for husband and wife to be seen too much in each other’s company, the Duke was able to resume his bachelor lifestyle by spending nights playing cards at Brooks’s.

[11] Her position meant that she was a fashion leader, and her wit, personality and innate sense of style quickly made her a sought-after popular figure in her own right.

If Lady Spencer was shaken to discover that her daughter withheld secrets from her, Georgiana was more unnerved that the matter was met by silence on the part of her husband, rather than by anger.

[14] In modern times it's been suggested that Lady Elizabeth insinuated her way into the marriage by taking advantage of the Duchess's friendship and codependency on her, and "engineered her way" into a sexual relationship with the Duke.

Lady Elizabeth's affair with the Duke resulted in two illegitimate children: a daughter, Caroline Rosalie St Jules, and a son, Augustus Clifford.

She sought personal consolation from a "dissipated existence"[16] in passions (socialising, fashion, politics, writing), addictions (gambling, drinking, and drugs), and affairs (with several men, not just Grey, possibly including the bachelor John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset).

An example of her lack of airs was shown when Georgiana pointedly danced with French actor Monsieur Tessier after the Duchess of Manchester snobbishly refused to speak to him because he earned a living.

"[30] Madame d'Arblay, who had a preference for acquaintances of talent, found that her appeal was not generally for her beauty but for far more, which included her fine "manner, politeness, and gentle quiet.

[14] At the time of her involvement, King George III (who detested the Whigs) and his ministers had a direct influence over the House of Commons, principally through their power of patronage.

[16] Associating with the Blue Stockings Society enabled Georgiana to develop close friendships with female novelists and intellectuals; she herself was an avid writer, composing several works, of both prose and poetry, of which some were published.

[37] One more piece was published in the last years of Georgiana's life, The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard, first in an unauthorised version in the 'Morning Chronicle' and 'Morning Post' of 20 and 21 December 1799, then in a privately printed edition in 1800.

The thirty-stanza poem, together with 28 extended notes, was translated into some of the main languages of Western Europe including into French, by Jacques Delille, in 1802; Italian, by Gaetano Polidori, in 1803; and German in 1805.

[30] Georgiana was among a few women whose work exemplified English theatre and popular songs of the late-eighteenth century, along with Harriet Abrams, Dorothea Bland, and Mary Ann Wrighten Pownall.

Petrini, Blagden, and Henry Cavendish likewise contacted her mother Countess Spencer remarking upon the Duchess's aptitude, the degree of knowledge she acquired, and her extraordinary observations in the field of mineralogy.

For the rest of her life, Georgiana continued to amass an immense, ever-escalating debt that she always lied and tried to keep hidden from her husband (even though he was among the richest men in the land).

At one point, to try to settle some of her debts, she did not shrink from pressing her close friends like Mrs Mary Graham, who gave as much as she could until her husband found out, then the affluent banker Thomas Coutts for more funds.

-Georgiana to Bess[1]Her absence from English society and exile in France had isolated Georgiana and was a low point for her in every respect; she returned to England, a "changed woman".

In her late thirties, Georgiana was able to regain pre-eminence and enjoyment in open society,[3] although her personal life would continue to be marred by degrees of unhappiness, debt, and decline in health.

Georgiana's eldest daughter furthermore poured out her feelings, "Oh my beloved, my adored departed mother, are you indeed forever parted from me—Shall I see no more that angelic countenance or that blessed voice—You whom I loved with such tenderness, you who were the .

The legacy of the life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire has remained a topic of study and intrigue in cultural and historical spheres centuries after her death.

Artwork representing the Duchess of Devonshire by reputable painters of the Georgian era remain, including a 1787 portrait by the famed Thomas Gainsborough which was once thought lost.