Thanks for explaining the connections, willy. The aristocracy was (and perhaps still is) such a small world. And jinja, your description of Her Grace is similar to that of her daughter-in-law Deborah in her memoirs when describing the Coronation:
Moucher carried out her part [Mistress of the Robes] to perfection. I had never seen her stand so straight before and it enhanced her beauty.
Lady Glenconner, who as Lady Anne Coke served as one of the Queen's Maids of Honour, wrote in The Telegraph:
The Duchess of Devonshire, Mistress of the Robes, walked behind us. She was meant to be in charge of us but I don't think she could be in charge of anything - she was divine but scatty.
Deborah doesn't call her mother-in-law names, but does relate that Moucher could get quite flustered when organinzing the rota of the ladies-in-waiting, that she definitely didn't have a head for figures, and "was vague and always late." She also describes her as "kindness itself" and "universally loved."
Interestingly, at the time of the Coronation in 1953 there were 3 generations of Devonshire duchesses. Deborah was the Duchess. The Mistress of the Robes was styled as Mary, Duchess of Devonshire because her mother-in-law Evelyn (Queen Mary's Mistress of the Robes) was still alive and was styled as the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.
2002
Responses
Responses are not allowed!