Research Catalog

Elizabeth : the scandalous life of the Duchess of Kingston

Title: Elizabeth : the scandalous life of the Duchess of Kingston / Claire Gervat.
Author: Gervat, Claire.
Publication: London : Century, 2003.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	DA506.B74 G478 2003	Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 306 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits (some color); 24 cm

Summary

Charged with bigamy and faced with the prospect of living out her days in exile on the continent, this biography of 18th-century beauty and bigamist Elizabeth Chudleigh recounts how her courage and zest for life still allowed her to charm Catherine the Great and live in outrageous luxury.
"When Elizabeth Chudleigh married the Duke of Kingston in 1769 it was the happiest and proudest moment of her life. She had put her childhood of impoverished gentility firmly behind her and reached the highest point of the social ladder. But her joy was short lived, and within a few years she would be standing in the dock in the House of Lords, charged with bigamy and facing the prospect of living out her days in exile on the continent." "Yet she was much more than the caricature villain her contemporaries made her out to be. In 1743 she had been appointed maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales. Taking to court life like a duck to water, her beauty, wit, vitality and generosity soon ensured her a crowd of passionate admirers, and one year later she secretly married Augustus Hervey, a naval lieutenant, shortly before he left for two years in the West Indies." "Elizabeth carried on as 'Miss Chudleigh', the life and soul of court life and London society. When her marriage proved a failure, she began an affair and fell in love with the Duke of Kingston. Eventually Elizabeth denied in the ecclesiastical courts that she was married to Hervey and wed the Duke by special licence." "After the Duke's death, a witness to her marriage with Hervey was discovered. Bigamy fever swept London society and, in a very public trial, Elizabeth was found guilty of the crime. But her strength of character ensured that, even when her friends deserted her, her courage and zest for life did not. Elizabeth left Britain for Europe where, true to form, she continued her adventures, charmed Catherine the Great, and lived in outrageous luxury."--Jacket.

Subject

Genre/Form

Biographies.
History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-298) and index.

ISBN

0712614516
9780712614511

LCCN

2004401565

OCLC

ocm51914547
51914547
SCSB-14078698

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library