Review of The Duchess: Book, Movie, DVD

A Celebration of Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire: Book, Movie and DVD

The movie, “The Duchess”, is the story of Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire. Georgiana is the great-great-great-great aunt of Princess Diana. Georgiana was an English aristocrat who married at a young age, and experienced a variety of struggles in her marriage. The movie focuses on her marriage to William Cavendish, fifth duke of Devonshire; her friend (and her husband’s mistress) Lady Elizabeth “Bess” Foster; and on the crisis point of Georgiana’s affair with Charles, second Earl Grey. The movie is based on the book Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, written by Amanda Foreman, which won a Whitbread Prize for Biography.

I enjoyed watching the movie “The Duchess”. Though, personally, I do not like movies, and I really don’t like to watch drama and conflict in art. So, there were parts of the movie–probably necessary to the story- which I will probably never be able to watch again. I am very glad that the movie has been released on a DVD version. Now, I can watch the parts of the movie I enjoy over and over again. And, the DVD also provides background and details that add to the telling of the story of Georgiana’s life.

What the DVD gave me overall:

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Links for various interests: Georgiana, women’s history, Chatsworth…

Websites about Georgiana and her time:

The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide to the 18th Century
This site has interesting content about Georgiana, Marie Antoinette (her friend) and other 18th century women. The website is very visually appealing. It offers books and products for sale intertwined in its content. Put up by Heather Carroll.

Places to find images of Georgiana and her surroundings:

Olga’s Gallery
A site with a wonderful collections of  art, organized by artist, country, period/movement, etc.

Georgiana entry at Wikimedia Commons
At Wikipedia, some of the images of Georgiana are public domain (no copyright)

Chatsworth
Chatsworth estate (the Derbyshire home of the Dukes of Devonshire). Chatsworth was used for the movie The Duchess, and also for the 2005 movie “Pride and Prejudice.” The history page of the Chatsworth website lists all the Dukes and Duchesses from the 1st Duke who started building Chatsworth in 1552, through the family of the 11th Duke (married to the Hon. Deborah Mitford, daughter of Lord Redesdale, who published many books about Chatsworth), up to the present Duke, the 12th Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish who succeeded his father in May 2004.

Websites about Women’s History in general:

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