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Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

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Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO (born Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford and latterly Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire; 31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014) was an English aristocrat, writer, memoirist, and socialite. She was the youngest and last-surviving of the six Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of British society in the 1930s and 1940s.

Her Grace

The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire

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 Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire and Lady Sophia Topley
Parents
Signature
OccupationWriter, memoirist, socialite

Life

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Known to her family as "Debo", Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford was born in Kensington, London, on 31 March 1920.[a] Her parents were David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (1878–1958), son of Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney (1880–1963), daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles, MP. She married Lord Andrew Cavendish, younger son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, in 1941.[1] When Cavendish's older brother, 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 Chatsworth for many decades. She wrote several books about Chatsworth, and played a key role in the restoration of the house, the enhancement of the garden and the development of commercial activities such as Chatsworth Farm Shop (which is on a quite different scale from most farm shops, as it employs a hundred people); Chatsworth's other retail and catering operations; and assorted offshoots such as Chatsworth Food (later Chatsworth Estate Trading), which sold luxury foodstuffs carrying her signature; and Chatsworth Design, which sells image rights to items and designs from the Chatsworth collections. Recognising the commercial imperatives of running a 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 Victorian Order (DCVO) by Queen Elizabeth II, for her service to 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]

Towards the end of her life, she formed a friendship with Arthur Parkinson, the future gardening author and broadcaster, bonding over their shared interest in hens.[5]

Children

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She and the duke had seven children, four of whom died shortly after birth:[6]

Relatives

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She was a maternal aunt of Max Mosley, former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA),[8] as well as the grandmother of fashion model Stella Tennant (1970–2020)[9][10] and aristocrat William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.

Politics

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In 1981 she and her husband joined the new Social Democratic Party.[11]

Death

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Cavendish died from complications of dementia in Edensor on 24 September 2014, at the age of 94.[12] 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.[13]

Titles

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  • 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

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Cavendish was interviewed on her experience of sitting for a portrait for painter Lucian Freud in the BBC series Imagine in 2004.[14]

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."[15]

In 2010, the BBC journalist Kirsty Wark interviewed the Duchess for Newsnight. In it, the Duchess talked about life in the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler, the Chatsworth estate, and the marginalisation of the upper classes.[16] She was also interviewed on 23 December by Charlie Rose for PBS.[17]

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.[18]

Ancestry

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Publications

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Books

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  • Chatsworth: The House (1980; revised edition 2002)
  • The Estate: A View from Chatsworth (1990)
  • The Farmyard at Chatsworth (1991) – for children
  • Treasures of Chatsworth: A Private View (1991)
  • The Garden at Chatsworth (1999)
  • Counting My Chickens and Other Home Thoughts (2002) – essays
  • The Chatsworth Cookery Book (2003)
  • Round About Chatsworth (2005)
  • Memories of Andrew Devonshire (2007)
  • The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters (2007), edited by Charlotte Mosley, ISBN 0-06-137364-8
  • In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor (2008), edited by Charlotte Mosley
  • Home to Roost . . . and Other Peckings (2009)
  • Wait for Me!... Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister (2010)
  • All in One Basket (2011)
  • Mitford, Diana, The Pursuit of Laughter (2008) – introduction

Magazines

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Bibliography

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Documentary

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Notes

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  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

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  1. ^ a b c Davenport-Hines, Richard (2018). "Cavendish [née Freeman-Mitford], Deborah Vivien (Debo), Duchess of Devonshire (1920–2014), chatelaine and author". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 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. ^ Beddington, Emma (2 April 2023). "'Hens have always been a sanctuary for me': 'henfluencer' Arthur Parkinson". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  6. ^ Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, Wait for Me! (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010), pages 128–132
  7. ^ Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, Wait for Me! (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010), pages 130
  8. ^ "Lady Mosley". The Telegraph. 13 August 2003. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  9. ^ "End of an era: Last remaining Mitford sister dies aged 94". The Independent. 24 September 2014.
  10. ^ "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.
  11. ^ Mitford, Jessica (2006). Sussman, Peter Y. (ed.). Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "Chatsworth funeral for Dowager Duchess of Devonshire". BBC. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  14. ^ "Imagine - Sitting for Lucian Freud | LocateTV". 7 October 2014. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014.
  15. ^ Preston, John (2 September 2007). "Last lady of letters". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 November 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  16. ^ "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.
  17. ^ "Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire". Archived from the original on 28 December 2010.
  18. ^ "The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire". frick.org. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
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