Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

DCVO
Deborah Mitford in 1938
Tenure26 November 1950 – 3 May 2004
BornDeborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford
(1920-03-31)31 March 1920
London, England
Died24 September 2014(2014-09-24) (aged 94)
Edensor, Derbyshire, England
ResidenceEdensor House, Chatsworth Estate
Noble familyMitford family
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1941; died 2004)​
Issue7, including
David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale
  • Sydney Bowles
    • Signature
    OccupationWriter, memoirist, socialite

    Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire,

    Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of British society
    in the 1930s and 1940s.

    Life

    Known to her family as "Debo", Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford was born in

    William, Marquess of Hartington, was killed in action in 1944, Cavendish became heir to the dukedom and began to use the courtesy title Marquess of Hartington. In 1950, on the death of his father, the Marquess of Hartington became the 11th Duke of Devonshire
    .

    Cavendish was the main public face of

    stately home, she took a very active role and was known to man the Chatsworth House ticket office herself. She also supervised the development of the Cavendish Hotel at Baslow, near Chatsworth, and the Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey.[3]

    In 1999, Cavendish was appointed a Dame Commander of the

    Royal Collection Trust.[1] Upon the death of her husband in 2004, her son Peregrine Cavendish became the 12th Duke of Devonshire. She became the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire at this time, and moved into a smaller house on the Chatsworth estate.[4]

    Children

    She and the duke had seven children, four of whom died shortly after birth:[5]

    Relatives

    She was a maternal aunt of Max Mosley, former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA),[7] as well as the grandmother of fashion model Stella Tennant (1970–2020)[8][9] and aristocrat William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.

    Politics

    In 1981 she and her husband joined the new Social Democratic Party.[10]

    Death

    Cavendish died from complications of dementia in Edensor on 24 September 2014, at the age of 94.[11] Her funeral was held on 2 October 2014 at St Peter's Church, Edensor. Mourners included the then Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) and his wife, Camilla, then-Duchess of Cornwall.[12]

    Titles

    • 1920–1941 – The Honourable Deborah Freeman-Mitford
    • 1941–1944 – Lady Andrew Cavendish
    • 1944–1950 – Marchioness of Hartington
    • 1950–1999 – Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire
    • 1999–2004 – Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO
    • 2004–2014 – Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO

    Selected interviews

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

    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. Looking at the interviewer with astonishment, she answered: "Well, Elvis of course! What an extraordinary question."[14]

    In 2010, the BBC journalist

    PBS.[16]

    On 10 November 2010, she was interviewed as part of "The Artists, Poets, and Writers Lecture Series" sponsored by the Frick Collection, an interview which focused on her memoir and her published correspondence with Patrick Leigh Fermor.[17]

    Ancestry

    Publications

    Books

    Magazines

    • The Spectator

    Bibliography

    Documentary

    Notes

    1. ^ Some later sources gave Cavendish's place of birth as Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire, but her entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, which cites her birth certificate, says she was born at 49 Victoria Road, Kensington, London.[1] This matches a record of the registration of her birth in Kensington.[2]

    References

    1. ^
      doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.108584. (Subscription or UK public library membership
      required.)
    2. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
    3. ^ "Last of the Mitfords: 'Debo', Dowager Duchess of Devonshire dies at 94". yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
    4. ^ "Dowager Duchess of Devonshire - obituary". The Telegraph. 19 March 2016. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
    5. ^ Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, Wait for Me! (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010), pages 128–132
    6. ^ Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, Wait for Me! (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010), pages 130
    7. ^ "Lady Mosley". The Telegraph. 13 August 2003. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
    8. ^ "End of an era: Last remaining Mitford sister dies aged 94". The Independent. 24 September 2014.
    9. ^ "Stella Tennant: Model dies days after 50th birthday". BBC News. 23 December 2020. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
    10. ^ Mitford, Jessica (2006). Sussman, Peter Y. (ed.). Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
    11. ^ "Last Mitford sister, Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, dies at 94". BBC News. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
    12. ^ "Chatsworth funeral for Dowager Duchess of Devonshire". BBC. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
    13. ^ "Imagine - Sitting for Lucian Freud | LocateTV". 7 October 2014. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014.
    14. ^ Preston, John (2 September 2007). "Last lady of letters". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 November 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
    15. ^ "Mitford duchess on her extraordinary life". 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
    16. ^ "Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire". Archived from the original on 28 December 2010.
    17. ^ "The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire". frick.org. Retrieved 10 November 2010.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deborah_Cavendish,_Duchess_of_Devonshire&oldid=1217651120"