The Duchess
The film tells the story of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, who was beautiful, glamorous and adored by the public. But while her beauty and charisma made her a household name, one thing always seemed to escape her: love. Many people have drawn parallels between her life and the life of Princess Diana.
Beneath Georgiana’s glamorous façade lay an intelligent, vulnerable woman stranded in a loveless marriage to the Duke, one of the richest and most powerful men in England. Frustrated by the limitations imposed on her by virtue of her sex and her class, she rebelled, entering into an intense relationship with the beautiful Lady Foster, thereby setting up a complex ménage a trois with the Duke. Georgiana’s rebellion extended to the public sphere where she tore down the conventions, becoming a political campaigner for the liberal party. In so doing she fell for Earl Grey, the future Prime Minister, finally discovering the meaning of true love. But can true love survive the strictures of the Duke, of Bess and of Society – the pressures of marriage and motherhood, of friendship and loyalty, of class and celebrity?
What followed was tragic, but Georgiana’s unquenchable spirit sustained her and, unlike Diana, she ultimately found peace…