There aren't many biographies that I've read again and again.

I first read this exquisite biography many years ago, way before the release of the film starring a miscast Keira Knightley. I was browsing in a bookstore and was drawn by the cover of this book, which showed Gainsborough's arresting portrait of the Georgian celebrity, an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and whose notoriety in her day rivalled that of her famous descendant.

Foreman tells Georgiana's story with vigour, but also with sympathy. Forced to endure a loveless, dynastic marriage, then becoming part of a strange menage-a-trois with Bess Foster, the story eerily foretells the fate of Diana. But through her children and her interests, the Duchess also found much to be thankful for and even two hundred years after her death, her charm pulls you right into her everyday life.

Funnily enough, when I was working as a letting agent, a potential client owned a reproduction of the Gainsborough portrait of Georgiana but without knowing who the subject was. My enthusiasm in explaining the sitter's identity and her troubled life resulted in the client presenting me with the picture as a thank you for letting her house, and it now hangs in my house, one of my favourite possessions. Thank you Amanda Foreman - and Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire - for that gift!