CAVENDISH, Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice (1926-2018)

[Richard R]

Lady Elizabeth Cavendish obituary

Childhood friend of the Queen, lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and mistress, companion and carer of the poet John Betjeman

Times obit on 18 September 2018: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/lady-elizabeth-cavendish-obituary-39k082mpv

EXTRACT

Elizabeth Cavendish was a 25-year-old lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret when she met John Betjeman, the future poet laureate, at a dinner in Mayfair in May 1951 given by the political hostess Lady Pamela Berry. The meal was delayed because Guy Burgess, one of the guests, failed to appear; it later transpired that he had been busy defecting to the Soviet Union.

Betjeman and Cavendish, who was conspicuously tall and extremely shy, did not speak to each other that evening, but a connection had been made and he would later refer to having met “a jolly girl”. Soon he was throwing dandelions at the window of her home in Chelsea. They became friends, then lovers, even though he had been married to Penelope (née Chetwode) since 1933 and would remain so for the rest of his life. For 30 years the home of Cavendish’s mother in Edensor, on the Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire, was the setting for their trysts....

...Elizabeth Georgiana Alice Cavendish was born on April 24, 1926, making her three days younger than the Queen, who, as Princess Elizabeth, was a childhood friend; they were both members of the Girl Guide company at Buckingham Palace. In 1996 Cavendish was granted royal permission to talk to Ben Pimlott for his biography of the Queen.

She was the fourth of five children of Edward Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington, who was MP for West Derbyshire and held junior posts in the colonial and commonwealth offices before succeeding his father in 1938, to become the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Elizabeth’s mother, Lady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil (known as “Moucher”), was a woman of note in her own right. She was the first chancellor of the University of Exeter and in the coronation year, 1953, she was appointed mistress of the robes, the most senior of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, a position she held for 16 years. Elizabeth had four siblings: William, who was killed in action during the war; Andrew, who married Deborah “Debo” Mitford, became the 11th Duke in 1950 and died in 2004 (obituary, May 4, 2004); Mary, who had died in 1922 at 11 days old; and a younger sister, Anne, who became Lady Anne Tree and died in 2010 (obituary, August 23, 2010). Elizabeth’s family nickname, coined by Deborah, was “Deacon”, on account of the serious Anglican faith she later shared with Betjeman.....

She was d of 10th Duke of DEVONSHIRE (1895-1950) and Lady Mary Alice GASCOYNE-CECIL (1895-1988) d of 4th Marquess of SALISBURY (1861-1947) and Lady Cicely Alice GORE (1867-1955) d of 5th Earl of ARRAN, and related to many of the families of whom we treat. Long time companion of the late Poet Laureate, John Betjeman.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Also sister-in-law of Kathleen Kennedy, sister of President Kennedy. Kathleen was the widow of Lady Elizabeth's brother,  William, the Marquess of Hartington.

Brooke

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph and Times of 29 September 2018: CAVENDISH Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice, CVO, died peacefully at home on 15th September 2018, aged 92. Funeral on Thursday 4th October 2018, 12 noon at St Peter’s, Edensor, followed by Cavendish Hall, Edensor, Bakewell, Derbyshire. All welcome. Family flowers only. Donations, if wished, to St Peter’s Church, Edensor.

[ThomasFoolery]

4 October 2018
Balmoral Castle

The Queen was represented by The Lady Sarah Chatto at the Funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (formerly Extra Lady in Waiting to The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon) which was held at St. Peter's Church, Edensor, Derbyshire, today.

The Princess Royal was represented by the Hon. Dame Shân Legge-Bourke.

Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy was represented by Mrs. Peter Afia.