Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire: Her Life in Pictures

duchess of devonshire was one of the most charming people of our time she was a great favorite of the world her late husband was the first to say that she was far more important to Chatsworth than he was I'm sure he was joking but part of it was sincere Debra Medford was born in 1922 Lordan lady reads Dale she was one of seven children she was the youngest they were a famously eccentric family the girls were all renowned for their wit their beauty their eccentricity from the beginning they made headlines while two of her sisters staked out positions on opposite extremes of the political spectrum debbye preferred quiet country life that's what she expected in 1941 when she married Andrew Cavendish the second son of the tenth Duke of Devonshire three years later Andrews elder brother William the markers of Hartington was killed in action during World War two and then in 1950 the tenth Duke died unexpectedly at age 55 leaving Andrew and debo the new Duke and Duchess of Devonshire they inherited chatsworth which was one of the great treasure houses of England after the war people really were not interested in these houses they were not considered tourist destinations people believed didn't understand a lot about the great treasures that were inside and Deborah did a lot of incredibly innovative things at the time making gift shops farm shops she used the craftsmen in the estate to make wonderful things she really captured people's imagination and got people interested in these houses in a way that hadn't been done before she always made it look incredibly glamorous but she rolled up her sleeves from the very beginning and worked very hard it was really the Duchess's energy that made that house work today it's one of the biggest tourist attractions in England shortly after her husband died in 2004 the Duchess moved into what was known as the Old Vicarage tower house on the estate at the time it was greatly disheveled but she made it like she'd been there forever one of the interesting things about the Old Vicarage as well as Chatsworth is that the Duchess basically decorated everything herself I was lucky enough to meet her a few times she told me that can't live with anyone else's ideas contrary to what many other ladies averse Asian were doing at that time hiring established decorators she really liked to do things in her own style it was a great reflection of her personality it was full of style before charm and she furnished it with a wonderful assortment of pieces some knew and some old all things that met think something to her there was a lot of memorabilia from authors that she was very close to it's a lot of Kennedy memorabilia her husband's elder brother had been married to Kathleen Kennedy wonderful greatest passion it was Elvis she was the biggest fan she devoted her powder room to Elvis besides doing such an amazing job on the inside of the house the Duchess planted an extremely elaborate garden in very short order that I remember her telling me I'm starting with a bang because when you're 87 you can't wait she always had a great combination of style and great practicality it's not exaggerating at all to say it began to be narrow when the Duchess died she was totally unique you

Channel: Sotheby's

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Id: Bc9CXCeZgOo

Length: 3min 48sec (228 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 27 2016