Elizabeth and Georgiana: The Duke of Devonshire and His Two Duchesses

by Caroline Chapman

"It was one of history's strangest and most remarkable love triangles. For twenty-five years, Lady Elizabeth Foster was the intimate friend of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire; for most of that time, she was also the mistress of the Duke, Georgiana's husband. Was Bess, as she was known, the scheming mistress, false friend, and relentless social climber portrayed in previous accounts of her life, including the bestselling Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire? Or was she a devoted and beloved partner to both the Duke and the Duchess?" In Elizabeth & Georgiana, noted editor and writer Caroline Chapman contends that Bess was an intelligent woman of deep feeling who coped courageously with a series of personal and political crises. Drawing on hundreds of previously unpublished letters and the 128 journals in which Bess recorded her most private thoughts and observations, this moving biography reveals a complex and perceptive woman who strove to be a true friend to Georgiana, a passionate lover to the Duke, and a dependable ally to both.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, British Literature, 19th Century, 18th Century

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Joss · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about Lady Elizabeth Foster, known historically as Bess and her attachment to the Fifth Duke (William) and Duchess (Georgiana) of Devonshire. The author did a good job filling in details from Bess's personal papers, never seen before outside of her family. I have to say right here, if you have seen the film The Duchess, or have read any of the back story about the love triangle she, William and Georgiana shared, this book deserves your attention if only because it does open Bess's character up in her own words and through the affectionate view her descendant's proffer. The jury is still out on whether or not Bess and Georgiana were ever lovers, they did however, enjoy a most passionate and extraordinary friendship. No one could've loved, saved or betrayed Georgiana as Bess did. In Georgiana's cold, complicated marriage to William, Bess was like the warmth of the sun on a frosty morning. Sadly, Bess had needs and desires of her own that her relationship with Georgiana couldn't fill. Chiefly, she needed William to help her eventually see her sons, which Her estranged husband refused to let her visit. Bess's ability to manoeuvre her way throughout the Devonshire's confidences, support and marriage are wholly unique amongst mistresses. She did this in the comfort of their homes, amongst their Kith and kin without prick of conscience. Nor did it faze her that Lady Spencer, Georgiana's mother despised her and wrote treatise after treatise imploring Georgiana to dispense with Bess. The Cavendish family didn't like or trust her either. She was bold as a fox in a hen house, she made herself necessary to them. Therefore, she became absolutely resolute and immovable from their lives, a true aristocratic-marital parasite. When William who made a serial career of producing children out of wedlock, even while being married to Georgiana, (he fathered a daughter before his marriage, who his young bride was forced to raise and two more with her best friend, Bess, who they smuggled into the household and raised along with his legitimate children by Georgiana), but when the longsuffering Georgiana found comfort in the arms of Earl Grey, and fell pregnant, he callously forced her to give the child up or she would forfeit her right to their children. This book is a good read. Depending on how much one has read of their history and your personal bias, would determine how you process this book. To my mind, I found it very pro Bess, nearly to the point of sainthood. I wondered why and came to find that the collaborator on this book, is Jane Dormer, the great-great-grandaughter of Bess's second child by William, Fifth Duke of Devonshire. So it stands to reason she would want some how clear up Bess's long-standing reputation as a double crosser and usurper of Georgiana's rightful place in her household/marriage. It's another perspective, one heretofore unseen. I recommend it because it is another piece of the puzzle. It was a fascinating, well researched book. It's plain to see the affection Bess's posterity hold her in and it must have been something they long wanted to "clear up" on her personal/historical account. Did it change my overall opinion of Bess Foster? No. But I cannot deny she made a way for herself in a time when most in her circumstances would have died in ruin and poverty. Her very life, health, comfort, and place in society was all due to the kindness of the Devonshires. Women had very little power back then. Their chances/choices were truly limited. She could have ended in a convent or worse. Not to mention being shunned by polite society. Bess had a grit and tenacity many lack. I don't say that's always a good thing, but her life and times are interesting. This is helpful in that it does aid one in trying to sketch out her character. She was in my opinion very adroit in her personal interactions and knew where "it" was at. She had her pulse on current events and had a variety of important devoted friends. This book has become a valuable addition to my personal library, one I shall dip into time and again.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished Amanda Foreman's excellent biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire with a wish to know more about her devoted friend, Lady Elizabeth Foster, who was also the Duke's lover and his second wife. I wondered whether Foreman's clear partiality for Georgiana had led her to paint Bess with a blacker brush than was warranted. Therefore, I was very pleased to find this book about both Bess and Georgiana; Chapman wrote in collaboration with Jane Dormer, a descendant of Bess, and with full access to Dormer's family collection of Bess's journals and letters.

Though there's still a clear element of the scheming social climber who appeared in Foreman's biography, this book does present a more well-rounded portrait of Bess, as a bright, curious, artistic woman, who genuinely loved both Georgiana and her Duke. Where Foreman's biography is full of the social and political world, the realms are where Georgiana reigned supreme, Chapman gives lots of interesting details about other areas in which Bess was more concerned: notably, art, literature, travel (an excellent description of what the Grand Tour was like), and archaeology, in which Bess was interested in her later years. Gaps in the records due to censorship of letters and journals mean that we may never get a full picture of either Bess or Georgiana, but Elizabeth and Georgiana makes an excellent companion to Foreman's biography.

[Lissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

History as excuse-making. Bess Foster, the subject of this book--yes, it's ostensibly about the two dutchess of Devonshire but, really, it's all about Bess Foster. She has gone down in history as a manipulating social climber par excellence, who got the Devonshires to take her in and support her and her illegitimate children, as well as much of the rest of her family. While she was "best friend" of the Dutchess, she was regularly nailing the Duke. This book, unsurprisingly written by one of her descendants, does a really bad job of making excuses for it all. Not only that, but it also manages to take an interesting story and make it dull as all hell. Read Amanda Foreman's "Georgiana" instead.

[Irina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Foster was neither rich, nor beautiful, nor even that particularly smart but she had one talent that took care of all the rest - she had a real knack for associating herself with the right people. Yet, to label her an opportunist and schemer would be inaccurate. She was a woman who made the most of every opportunity that came her way and really, there were not that many for an impoverished woman of a noble birth in the late 18th century. Some of the things she did were really slimy, like having an affair with her best girlfriend's husband while living off of the couple! Yet, the two women appear to have had a very strong and genuine friendship, relying on one another in times of crisis including the times when the said man deliberately made their lives miserable.

According to many letters and diary entries, Elizabeth was surrounded by friends and admirers everywhere she went, along with those who thought her to be calculating, grabbing and manipulative. She was probably a little bit of everything. Georgiana's daughters (understandably) openly hated her, but she deliberately chose to avoid conflict, never saying or writing a bad word about them. After all, where would she go if she were kicked out of the Devonshires' house? Beggars can't be choosers.

In some ways she was ahead of her times, making physical exercise, serious reading (THE Edward Gibbon was one of her closest friends and pen-pals) and traveling an important part of her life. She was an excellent mother and her relationship with her children remained warm and affectionate throughout her life. You also have to admire the way she kept active both physically and intellectually in her later years. After the Duke’s death, she retired to Rome and immersed herself in art, history, archeology and literature, supporting artists and entertaining some of the most important people of the day.

I really enjoyed this biography. It's an easy and entertaining read that gives you a glimpse of what life was like for some people in the 18th century Europe.

[Carol D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fascinating look into historical lives that comes alive as you read it, with a complexity that adds a multitude of shades to the story of the lives told about. Very definitely worth reading multiple times.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously, I find the people surrounding Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, fascinating. They all have the most amazingly over-the-top stories, & it was such a soap opera of a time in England, anyway. But the Devonshire menage a trois definitely tops the "weird but apparently acceptable things done by the British aristocracy in the late eighteenth century" list. Upon meeting Lady Elizabeth Foster, an earl's daughter who married far below herself & then suffered the further stigma of the marriage breaking up & leaving her in the limbo of a married mother with no husband or children, the famous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, met a woman who became so much more to her than a best friend. She was truly a lifelong companion who shared in the hectic life of Devonshire house; a person that Georgiana loved as a sister, if not more, apparently for the rest of her life. It's a thing that we in the modern era find very hard to swallow, but while simultaneously filling this urgent need in the life of a very vivacious & intelligent, if needy woman, Lady Elizabeth (known to history as "Bess") was engaging in a lifelong relationship of quite another sort with Georgiana's husband, the Duke of Devonshire: one which would result in two apparently secret illegitimate children who were yet raised with the rest of the children, & end with Bess' marriage to the Duke following Georgiana's death. A lot has been written about the Devonshires, & there has been a lot of opinion expressed on her motives & whether she was really the true life companion & helpmeet of her friend, or simply playing along while placing herself in a position to be a long-term mistress. Most opinions of Bess are not favorable. This book, written in conjunction with the current holder of Bess' correspondence & journals, comes across as a strong apologia, firm in the belief that the three parties were truly much happier together, & more or less completely aware of the nature of their various relationships. Obviously, it's impossible to know who is right after all this time & from the historical record as it stands. I feel confident that the truth is somewhere closer to the middle. Still, this is a fascinating read, & adds a layer to our knowledge of this remarkable family friendship that makes it more real & balanced.

[Yooperprof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awkward and somewhat inaccurate title does not detract from the quality of the book.

Although the title might suggest that there are three equal subjects of this book, Caroline Chapman has actually written a good biography of Elizabeth Hervey Foster Cavendish, the occasional mistress and second wife of William, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. There's no doubt that Elizabeth is the main character entirely; Georgiana and her husband are given good "coverage" in consideration of their relationships with the woman who entered their lives in the 1782 and became the closest of friends and the most intimate of companions.

"Mrs. Foster" had an interesting life before the Devonshires, first as daughter of the eccentric Earl-Bishop, Frederick, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, and later as a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, forced to surrender custody of her two sons. She also had an interesting life after the death of the 5th Duke, moving to Rome and become an active figure in the social and cultural life of that city - and establishing a close friendship with the influential Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Consalvi. Actually, the Roman life and connections of Elizabeth were some of the most interesting aspects of her life. I was intrigued to learn of her connections and friendships with such major figures as Edward Gibbon [!} and Antonio Canova [!].

There's a lot to learn and untangle too in the complex and complicated personal affairs of the Whig Aristocracy in the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was certainly an era of heightened sensibility which was not always accompanied by a great deal of sense.

[historic_chronicles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Georgiana Cavendish was one of the first true "celebrities" of her time. Her beauty and charisma marked her out among her peers and she was a central figure in Whig circles. Lady Elizabeth Foster entered Georgiana's life when she needed a true friend and confidante. This she became with her easy-going and likeable manner but she also managed to become the Duke of Devonshire's (and Georgiana's husband) mistress in the process. This bizarre and complex ménage à trois has baffled contemporaries and historians since. What cannot be denied is how fascinating the women central to this relationship remain to this day.

This book is very much a championship of opening up the character of Bess Foster and allowing her to enter the limelight.

I found it utterly fascinating to read from her own hand as the author had access to personal documents that were written and kept by Bess during the time she lived with the Devonshire's.

Meticulously researched, I found it easy to slip into and immerse myself as I traversed the life of a woman in 18th Century Europe.

The main drawback, however, was that while this book was named 'Elizabeth and Georgiana" it is very much biased towards Bess sometimes to the extent of comparing Georgiana unfavourably. This book was completed in association with Bess's ancestors so I understand the wish to keep Bess in a picture of positivity but I found it a little unnecessary at times.

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating story of these two women....if you've seen the film 'The Duchess', all I can say is you would be amazed at what they left OUT of the movie. Bess Foster was generally villianized by history, but I find it better to approach such things with an open mind. Would definitely recommend along with the Amanda Foreman book.

[Rebecca Huston · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at one of history's more infamous menage-a-trois, as seen in the film The Duchess. Want the real skinny on the story -- take a look in here for about Lady Elizabeth Foster.

For the longer review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_93569...

[Julia Lose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I began to feel like I knew Bess. an easy, enjoyable, informative read for those interested in the regency era.