Wife of one of Britain's richest men, châtelaine of the Eaton Hall estate, and owner of 50 per cent of . To be the Duchess of is to be one of the most privileged women on the planet. No doubt the thought crossed Olivia Henson’s mind when she took on the title, after marrying Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster, in the society wedding of the year this June.
But, as one of her predecessor’s found out, even life in the lap of luxury can be a gilded cage. Loelia Ponsonby, who passed away 31 years ago on Friday 1 November, married the 2nd Duke of Westminster in 1930. The partnership was, wrote, ‘a definition of unadulterated hell’.
What a testament to the extraordinary life of Loelia Ponsonby, later Lady Lindsay, that she refused to be defined by her hateful first marriage to one of the world’s wealthiest peers. A riotous Bright Young Thing who ruled the social scene alongside Cecil Beaton and Evelyn Waugh, she was a virtuoso at needlepoint, a lauded hostess, and a talented journalist. Her memoir, is considered one of the finest chronicles of aristocratic life that the country has to offer.
Three decades after her death, let introduce you to the marvellous Lady Lindsay, once the Duchess of Westminster. The wedding, of course, was a magnificent affair. Hugh ‘Bendor’ Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, had already been married twice, to and Violet Nelson, and was known to have conducted an affair with Parisian couturière Gabrielle 'Coco' .
Loelia, 22 years his .