Mitford Geekiness

Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire

The organisation I work for is fundraising for an aid project at the moment, and we've written to everyone who's ever been involved with us to donate. And that includes the occasional Dowager Duchess!

My mum loves all things Mitford and has read (I think) every book written by them and about them. There were 6 Mitford sisters - all incredibly unique and equally fascinating. Diana - a great beauty, who married British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; Nancy - incredibly funny and clever author of some of my favourite books and movies (inspired by her childhood and early-adulthood), Jessica - who was also a writer and a communist; Pamela - who loved domesticity and country life and shunned the fame her sisters enjoyed; Unity - a devotee of Hitler and fascism, who attempted suicide at the outbreak of WW2, devastated that her idol and her homeland could be at war; and Deborah - the baby of the family, who became the Duchess of Devonshire, rescued Chatsworth and turned it into a successful enterprise.

As you can see I'm pretty interested in them too, so it was exciting to get a letter from the secretary of Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire today!!! It's not even the Duchess herself, and I'm squealing like a schoolgirl. But she is an amazing person, and it's yet another example of the books I love coming to life in this amazing country. I would never have recieved a letter like that had we stayed in Australia!