Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Her Grace Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire DCVO DCVO
The Duchess of Devonshire, 1938
Tenure	26 November 1950 – 3 May 2004
Born	Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford (1920-03-31)31 March 1920 Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, England
Died	24 September 2014(2014-09-24) (aged 94)
Residence	Edensor House, Chatsworth Estate, Derbyshire
Spouse(s)	Andrew Cavendish ​ ​ (m. 1941⁠–⁠2004)​
Parents	David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale and Sydney Bowles
Occupation	Writer, memoirist, socialite

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

Life

Known to her family as "Debo", Deborah Mitford was born in Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, England. Her parents were 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. 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.

The Duchess 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, which sells 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.

In 1999, the Duchess was appointed a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) by Queen Elizabeth II, for her service to the Royal Collection Trust. 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.

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

• Mark Cavendish (born and died 14 November 1941)
• Emma Cavendish (born 26 March 1943, styled Lady Emma Cavendish from 1944)
• Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire (born 27 April 1944)
• An unnamed child (miscarried December 1946; the child was a twin of Victor Cavendish, born in 1947)
• Lord Victor Cavendish (born and died 22 May 1947)
• Lady Mary Cavendish (born and died 5 April 1953)
• Lady Sophia Louise Sydney Cavendish (born 18 March 1957)

She was a maternal aunt of Max Mosley, former president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as well as the grandmother of fashion model Stella Tennant.

Death

Her death, at the age of 94, was announced on 24 September 2014. The Duchess was survived by three of her seven children, eight grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren. Her funeral took place on 2 October 2014 at St Peter's Church, Edensor in Derbyshire, England. It was attended by various family members and friends, as well as six hundred staff and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Selected interviews

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

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."

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. She was also interviewed on 23 December by Charlie Rose for PBS. She spoke of her memoir and other interesting aspects of her life.

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.

Titles and styles

• The Honourable Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford (1920–1941)
• Lady Andrew Cavendish (1941–1944)
• Marchioness of Hartington (1944–1950)
• Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire (1950–1999)
• Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO (1999-2004)
• Her Grace The Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO (2004-2014)

Mitford siblings

• Nancy Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973)
• Pamela Mitford (25 November 1907 – 12 April 1994)
• Thomas Mitford (2 January 1909 – 30 March 1945)
• Diana Mitford (17 June 1910 – 11 August 2003)
• Unity Mitford (8 August 1914 – 28 May 1948)
• Jessica Mitford (11 September 1917 – 22 July 1996)
• Deborah Mitford (31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014)

Ancestry

Family of Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Henry Reveley Mitford, son of William Mitford Henry Reveley Mitford Mary Anstruther Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham Georgiana Jemima Ashburnham Lady Charlotte Percy David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale David Ogilvy, 9th Earl of Airlie David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie Clementina Drummond Lady Clementine Gertrude Helen Ogilvy Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley Henrietta Blanche Stanley Henrietta Dillon Deborah Mitford Thomas Milner Gibson Thomas Milner Gibson Isabella Glover Thomas Gibson Bowles William Bowles Susannah Bowles Mary-Ann Dawes Sydney Bowles George Evans General Charles Evans-Gordon Frances Spalding Jessica Evans-Gordon Rev. Dr. Alexander Rose Catherine (Kate) Rose Janet McIntosh

Bibliography

Books

• 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

• The Spectator

See also

• Chatsworth (TV series)

External links

• Deborah Mitford: Beauty Icon on style.com; accessed 28 September 2014.
• Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire at IMDb