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THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AUCTION

This March, Sotheby’s, London, will be auctioning items belonging to

2 March | London 



Born into English society as the youngest of the Mitford Sisters, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire was unfailingly elegant yet down-to-earth. This March, Sotheby’s will offer more than 450 objects from her personal collection, including jewellery, works by artist friends like Lucian Freud, family photos and charming hen-related objects. 

I admit here that I have always had a special affinity for this Duchess, as for her predecessor, Georgiana. 


Both women lead spectacular lives, albeit for different reasons, but each was a star in her own right. I believe that their connections to Chatsworth House adds to my affections, as Chatsworth remains my personal favourite Stately Home. 




Still, you have to admire Deborah Mitford, who grew up in a stellar family and who married a minor member of the aristocracy, who ascended to the dukedom when his elder brother was killed in WWII. Through it all, the Duchess remained Debo to all – her down to earth, get it done mindset allowed her and the Duke to pull Chatsworth from the brink of bankruptcy and turn it into the most successful of British estates and a model for other members of the peerage who afterwards opened their own homes to the public. Through it all, the Duchess remained true to herself and to her love of country pursuits, including her involvemet in championing many breeds of British livestock, including her beloved hens, which can still be seen at Chatsworth. The Duchess was also an ardent fan of Elvis Presley. 

Deborah would never have become Duchess had the Duke’s elder brother, William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, who was married to Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, sister to the President, not died before him. You can read more about that chapter of Chatsworth history here.

For more background on Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and the auction, you will find the article from the Daily Mail here.

And you will find a slideshow of limited items from the Sotheby’s sale on their website here.

POST-TOUR WINDSOR: QUEEN VICTORIA'S LOO

While we were in Windsor after the tour Kristine, of course, came down with the usual malady she suffers through on each of her trips over. Thank goodness it waited to arrive until after the Tour was finished. While she lay dying in bed at the hotel,  I trotted off to see a few Windsor sights I had missed on previous visits. Nothing like a good friend in need, I thought.  But to tell the truth she was in no mood to be either entertained or conversed with. The best thing I could do was let her sleep!!

One place I was eager to see was the special area in the Windsor and Eton Railroad Station that had been reserved for the use of Queen Victoria and her attendants back in the day.

I had long heard it was in the station, but where?  That station has been turned into shopping mall — which we had visited to enthuse over the Jo Malone shop — a favorite of both of us for special luxurious and fragrant cosmetics,  Never saw the Queen’s loo.  But when I enquired at the station, I was pointed in the direction of All Bar One restaurant at the far end.

And indeed,  it was entirely open to the public, if you knew it was there.  The writing on the door says ‘This room is reserved’ — but the proprietors are perfectly willing to allow one inside.

It was fitted out as a special private dining room — not the actual loo of course, but the associated small waiting rooms used by the Royal party.

The basin and loo were actually glassed off, either to protect them or to continue the exclusivity…if Queen Elizabeth II happened by, would they allow her to use the facility???

Just outside All Bar One, was a  non-working locomotive.

It seems that the locomotive is about all that is left from displays formerly set up on the station by Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, no longer in operation in Windsor.

The text panel reads:  The locomotive is a full scale replica of the GWR Achilles class 4-2-2 locomotive No. 3041. It was built in 1804 and originally named “Emlyn” after Lord Emlyn, Chairman of the Great Western Railway Company. Repainted in 1897, in GWR livery, the great locomotive, 57 feet long was renamed “The Queen” especially to pull the six new carriages of the Royal Train. No examples of these locomotives survive today and “The Queen” (later renamed “James Mason”) was withdrawn from service  in 1912.

Next time you are in Windsor, check it out!  Not as stunning as the Castle, but an amusing sidelight on the Queen who was the first Royal to use the railroads for her travel.

THOUGHTS ON WELLINGTON BY GUEST BLOGGER DIANE PERKINS

What a delight to be a guest blogger at Number One London, one of my favorite blogs.

This piece was first written for Risky Regencies on June 28, 2009, but I could have written it after Kristine and Vicky’s Duke of Wellington Tour. It’s worth a revisit, though, (slightly edited) because, well, it’s about the Duke of Wellington!
As a certified Wellington Groupie (Kristine Hughes is the founding member) and in continuing honor of the Waterloo Anniversary, I thought I would simply share some of my Wellington-related photos and thoughts. Kristine is the real expert and I didn’t check any facts, so I might not be 100% accurate in all I say.
When I first fell in raptures about Wellington (or dear Artie, as Kristine and I call him), it was at Stratfield Saye, Wellington’s country house. Of all the houses we saw on that 2003 trip to England, Stratfield Saye seemed the most like it was a home. It was a home. The present duke’s son and his family live there, but you could feel the first Duke there in every room. In an outer building there house was the funeral carriage that carried the Duke’s body through London. A recording played of all his honors, as had been read out during his funeral. I realized that this had been a truly great man.

On that trip we also got to go up to the top of the Wellington Arch in London, and of course we toured Apsley House, also known as Number One London. Apsley House felt more like a museum than a house and well it should. It was filled with wonderful art and artifacts.
Also in London we visited Lock and Co, a Hatters shop that has been in Mayfair since 1676. On display there are Wellington’s and Nelson’s hats, instantly recognizable.
I don’t claim to be an expert on Wellington. I’ve just read one biography (and can’t remember which one it was), but I think of him as a man with great integrity, courage and honor. As a boy he didn’t show much promise, but his mother sent him to a military academy in Europe (near Waterloo, I think) and he found his strength. As a military man he understood how to use his resources, he was clever, and he was brave. He rode the battlefield during Waterloo, was everywhere he could be and ignored the danger to himself. He cared about his men. One of my favorite Wellington quotes is: “Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.”
He was not a good husband, although he felt honor-bound to marry his wife, because she thought they were betrothed and had waited for him while he served in India. He had many dalliances throughout their marriage and one has to wonder how his wife felt as this man grew in greatness and increasingly left her behind. His sons could not match his success. Who could? I like this quote from his son after the Duke’s death, “Imagine what it will be when the Duke of Wellington is announced, and only I walk in the room.”
The Duke was a man who was very sure of himself and his opinions. I suspect he had a big ego, but he also had a sense of humor. In the display at Lock and Co. was a little caricature of Wellington, making fun of the term Wellington boot for the style of boot he favored. At Stratfield Saye there was a room papered with hundreds of caricatures of the Duke, which I thought was akin to a writer papering a bathroom with rejection letters. The boot one was was there, too.
What is your opinion of the Duke of Wellington? Pro and Con. Any favorite quotes or vignettes of his life?
Diane Gaston is the award-winning author of Regency-set historical romances. Her next book, Bound By One Scandalous Night, Book 2 in the Scandalous Summerfields series, will be released March 22, 2016, from Harlequin Historical.