Other Women by Fiona McDonald Page B

Prince of Wales.
    At the same time that Thelma was losing custody of her son, Gloria was battling for custody of her daughter. Gloria’s husband had died and his sister Gertrude Vanderbilt was trying to get hold of her brother’s little daughter. Gloria begged Thelma to help her through the emotional turmoil. Thelma obliged and set off for New York, promising the prince she would see him again as soon as she could.
    While in America Thelma met a very handsome man, Prince Aly Khan, with whom a casual dance led to a brief fling. On her return to London Thelma found that photos of her with the prince had made it into the hands of Wallis Simpson, who had shown them to Edward with the purpose of turning him from his mistress. When Thelma asked to visit him Edward suggested they have a break from each other. Thelma drove to the prince’s estate only to find that her place at his side had been well and truly usurped by Wallis Simpson. And that was the end of the affair between Thelma Furness and Edward David, the Prince of Wales.
    Thelma embarked on a relationship with Prince Aly Khan, although she knew it was no more than an extended fling. Finally, after a huge battle with Furness’s third wife over Anthony’s inheritance, Thelma returned to Hollywood to live with her widowed twin sister. She died in 1970 in New York.

Part 3
Mistresses of the
Aristocracy

T HE MISTRESSES OF THE DUKE
OF D EVONSHIRE
    William Cavendish became the 5th Duke of Devonshire when he was age 16. His father had died a rather embittered man, dismissed from his post as Lord Chamberlain by George III because of his leadership of the Whig party. The young king subsequently assembled his own government; one he thought he could trust.
    William, on becoming Duke of Devonshire, was automatically catapulted into the middle of Whig politics; a position for which he had neither the interest nor the talent. It was remarked by some of his colleagues in the party that, although he looked the part, he did not have the aptitude and was well known for his indifference. The same indifference seems to have spread to the feelings he had for his first wife, Georgiana Spencer. Various sources suggest that he was a man who liked his women particularly attentive to his comfort, who pandered to his whims and who did not make great public waves, as she tended to do.
    Whatever the secret to his charm, twice during his lifetime the duke had both a wife and mistress – the same wife but a different mistress. The second mistress was taken into the bosom of his family and became indispensable to both husband and wife in a genuine ménage a trois.
    The three women presented here have stories that intertwine so it seems best to tell their stories together: Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire (b.1757; d.1806); Charlotte Spencer (d.1778); Lady Elizabeth Hervey Foster (later Duchess of Devonshire) (b.1759; d.1824).
    Georgiana was a beautiful, intelligent young woman who earned a reputation for being both a leader of fashion and a notorious gambler. Her life with her husband and his mistresses is a fascinating one.
    Georgiana’s father was John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer; her mother was Lady Margaret Spencer ( née Poyntz). Georgiana, the eldest child of three, was her mother’s favourite and the two declared themselves best friends. Poor little Harriet who came along five years later was not so lucky, her mother pronounced her as an ugly baby and left it at that.
    When she was 16 Georgiana was introduced to the 24-year-old Duke of Devonshire. After a brief interlude, in which the two young people were thrown together socially, the duke put forward his request to marry Georgiana. The offer was accepted and the date of the wedding set for Georgiana’s seventeenth birthday. The match was considered a very good one. The Spencers and the Devonshires were socially on a par and Georgiana was going to have a splendid dowry settled on her at marriage; the duke was good-looking and