Movie Night

Last night some friends and I did girls movie night. We met at CPK where had yummy hummus and salads, then we did some quick window shopping before the movie.
The movie we saw was The Duchess. A friend informed me that the movie was based on a true story and the main character Georgiana was great(?)-aunt of Lady Diana.
Now since I love all things Diana, this tidbit made me more intrigued in the movie.
I thought the movie was a little slow in parts, but I loved the story line and Keira Knightley played the character flawlessly. Afterwards, all the girls said they loved the movie.

This is what Wikipedia says about the Georgiana of Devonshire:

Georgiana was a celebrated beauty and a socialite who gathered around her a large circle of literary and political figures—a salon. She was also an active political campaigner in an age when women's suffrage was still over a century away. Both the Spencers and the Cavendishes were Whigs. Georgiana campaigned for the Whigs—particularly for a distant cousin, Charles James Fox—at a time when the King (George III) and his Ministers had more direct influence over the House of Commons, principally through their power of patronage. During the 1784 general election, the Duchess was rumored to have traded kisses for votes in favor of Fox and was satirised by Thomas Rowlandson in his print "THE DEVONSHIRE, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes".

Famously, when she was stepping out of her carriage one day, an Irish dustman exclaimed: "Love and bless you, my lady, let me light my pipe in your eyes!", a compliment which she often recalled whenever others complimented her by retorting, "After the dustman's compliment, all others are insipid." [1] [2]

Georgiana married the incumbent Duke of Devonshire on June 6, 1774, one day before her seventeenth birthday. The marriage was a brilliant but unhappy one, with the couple mismatched by temperament. (The Cavendishes' marriage was satirised in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play, School for Scandal, where a young wife from the country, Lady Teazle, is beguiled by fashionable people.) The young Duchess's early childlessness was also a matter of concern when aristocratic wives were valued as much for their fertility as for their dowries and connections. She had numerous miscarriages before finally giving birth to two daughters, before the much-awaited heir (and only son) was born. This son William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790–1858) died unmarried. Her daughters were Georgiana Cavendish (1783–1858), who married George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle (1773–1844), and Harriet Cavendish (1785–1862), who married Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville.

It was Georgiana who introduced the Duke to his mistress and second wife-to-be, Lady Elizabeth Foster. "Bess" was Georgiana's best friend, and she tolerated the ménage à trois for many years. Georgiana herself formed a relationship with Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, by whom she had a daughter in 1792, Eliza Courtney. (See the entry on Eliza Courtney for two poems attributed to Georgiana.)

Lady Elizabeth Foster had two children by the Duke—a son and daughter. When the Duchess died, her husband married Bess Foster. At his death, his son by his first wife Georgiana became 6th Duke but died unmarried. He was succeeded by a first cousin once removed William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire (1808–1891), who was widower of the 6th Duke's niece and Georgiana's granddaughter Lady Blanche Howard.

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Now for the reasoning behind my infatuation with Diana...
I went to a small high school in West Texas. We had a two types of 4 year English programs for high school students: English and Honors English. After four years of Honors English the students took a trip to England during Spring Break of the senior year. (YES, I attended a very rich school.) For four years of high school English we focused a majority of our studies on Old English, history and current events of England.
During these four years, there was a huge spotlight on Prince Charles and Princess Diana. In fact, by my senior year, the royal couple had formally separated and rumors were rampant of Charles affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Most of the "current events" out of England centered around this royal scandal. My 9 classmates and I were completely intrigued, and thus began my infatuation with Diana, Princess of Wales.
No need to describe my devastation upon her death August 31 1997 (the day before my birthday).
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