LOVELY SETTINGS FOR A LOVELESS MARRIAGE: THE DUCHESS

Lady Georgiana Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana, was born in Althorp, where the Princess is buried.  At the age of 17 she was married off to William Cavendish, 5^th Duke of Devonshire, whereupon she became the Duchess of Devonshire.  On paper it sounds like a fairy tale for the young Georgiana, but unfortunately the Duke turned out to be a philanderer who was only interested in gaining a male heir.  Georgiana’s first two children, as sod’s law would have it, were female, but she finally managed a son the third time round.  Meanwhile, Georgiana became friendly with Lady Elizabeth Foster from Suffolk while on a visit to Bath.  Predictably, Elizabeth caught the roving eye of the Duke and she ended up in a ‘menage a trois’ with the pair of them, bearing two illegitimate children by him and finally becoming his wife three years after Georgiana’s death in 1806, only for the Duke to die two years later.  This saga is the subject of the 2008 film The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley as Georgiana and Ralph Fiennes as William. 

The scenes depicting Georgiana’s time at Althorp did not make use of the real-life Spencer family seat, but were filmed at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire.   One twist to this whole sorry tale is that Georgiana fell madly in love with Charles Grey (played by Dominic Cooper), a Whig Party member who would later become Prime Minister, but in spite of William’s own infidelities he would not allow her to continue the liaison (which resulted in an illegitimate daughter).  In the film she is seen flirting with Charles, a scene filmed at the South Front of Kedleston Hall.  The scene in which her mother (Charlotte Rampling) is filmed meeting with William to persuade him of her daughter’s charms was filmed in the Library.  Another scene in which Georgiana’s hair catches fire was also filmed here, this time in the Marble Hall. 

Kedleston Hall 04. Photo by Glen Bowman, via Wikimedia Commons.

The country estate of the Dukes of Devonshire is Chatsworth House, one of Britain’s best-known stately homes.  Chatsworth played itself in the film when the wedding scenes were filmed there.  However, the Dukes had another base in London called Devonshire House in London’s Piccadilly.  The scenes depicting Devonshire House made use of a number of locations for the interior and exterior shots.  The original building was demolished in 1924, so the film-makers had to find an alternative for the exterior, and Somerset House in The Strand proved the perfect choice.  The interior scenes were all over the place, making further use of Kedleston for some scenes, plus Clandon Hall, Guildford, with Holkham Hall in Norfolk used to depict the dining room. The streets of London, in which the newly-weds are filmed trundling along in their carriage being cheered by crowds of people, are actually the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Chatsworth Bridge. Photo by Rob Bendall, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the scenes in which Georgiana goes to Bath to take the waters, this beautiful city gets to play itself, as the graceful Royal Crescent comes into view.  Another famous Bath landmark is the Assembly Rooms in Bennett Street.  The tea room forms the backdrop to the scene where Georgiana is presented to the throng and where she first meets Elizabeth.  However, the river scenes seen in this part of the film were not filmed in Bath, but back at Kedleston.

Royal Crescent, Bath 2014 04. Photo by Mike Peel, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kedleston Hall, to the north-west of Derby, is an 18^th century neo-classical house designed by Robert Adam and surrounded by sumptuous parkland.  The property is owned by the National Trust.  Chatsworth House, on the banks of the River Derwent near Bakewell, Derbyshire, is privately owned but open to visitors complete with retail and refreshment points.  The house was initially completed in 1708, with later additions the following century.  The extensive grounds include many interesting features, including fountains, a temple and a rectangular lake known as the Canal Pond.

Somerset House is a neo-classical building on the south side of The Strand in London.  It is been used for many purposes over the years, but its current role is principally as an arts centre.  The Old Royal Naval College dominates the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich.  A naval college since 1873, it forms part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The College has been used extensively in filming, proving useful to film-makers as a quieter alternative to Central London for street scenes, Clandon Park, to the north-east of Guildford, Surrey,  is owned by the National Trust, but unfortunately Clandon Hall itself was destroyed by a catastrophic fire in 2015 and still stands as a ruin today.  Holkham Hall is in Holkham in North Norfolk, famous for its vast sandy beach.  An 18^th century house in the Palladian style surrounded by extensive parkland, it is privately owned but open to visitors.

The Royal Crescent in Bath was started in 1767 and consists of 30 Grade I listed terrace  houses.  For those wanting to immerse themselves in the Georgian spa town experience, part of the crescent has been given over to Bath’s poshest hotel, the Royal Crescent Hotel and Spa.  The Assembly Rooms, another National Trust property and designed in 1769, were the focal point of Georgian Bath’s social scene.  The building is used for functions and conferences, and can be visited when not in use.  There is also a Fashion Museum on the premises.  Both the Royal Crescent and The Assembly Rooms were designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger.