On this date in 1741/2, the 1st Duchess of St
Albans was laid to rest in St George's Chapel beside Windsor Castle.
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| Diana, Duchess of St Albans |
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St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
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Born Diana de
Vere, she was the eldest surviving daughter of Aubrey de Vere, 20th
and last Earl of Oxford and his countess. A renowned beauty at the court of
William and Mary, in 1694 she married Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St
Albans, son of King Charles II and his actress mistress Nell Gwyn. After the
Hanoverian succession, Diana served Princes Caroline of Wales, King George I’s
daughter-in-law, as First Lady of the Bedchamber and Groom of the Stole.
My intensive study of Diana—and of the man she
married—began more than a decade ago. In that time I’ve discovered so much
about her: where she was most likely born (a house her father built in London's St James's Square), how she lived, what others thought of her, the colour of the horse her husband purchased for her in Newmarket, the
jewels and objets d’art she possessed, each of her pregnancies and its outcome,
her children’s births and and careers and death dates. And so much more than I could possibly fit into a work of fiction. It became an intimate acquaintance.
In writing a novel about a real person, whether or not the death occurs in the
course of the story (spoiler: hers does not), contemplating that event causes a certain peculiar pain.
Her exact birth date is uncertain but her death date is
known. She died on 15 January, 1742 (New Style) at Burford House, the palatial
residence inherited from her husband (who died in 1726, at Bath, where he was taking the cure).
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Burford House and part of its formal gardens during Diana's lifetime
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During her final year Diana suffered from illnesses, presumably age-related. In August of 1741 Lady Hertford writes to Lady
Pomfret about her visits to Burford House, comparing the invalid's existence to that of another
mutual friend:
Mrs Blount's manner of living appears to me a more proper object of envy than pity, and I have often thought the same of the Dowager Duchess of St. Albans, when I have visited her at Windsor, and found her sitting in a delightful room, furnished with extremely good pictures, and a large glass case full of all manner of varieties . . . and in every corner, stands with large basons full of flowers placed on them. This apartment looks upon a very pretty garden; and behind it, her chapel and closet run parallel with a little terrace ; but this she only looks on, for she never goes out of the door of her house, nor up a step in it : yet, till this last illness, she always appeared chearful and healthy, and much handsomer than most people that we see in public, or than she herself did, in the latter part of the time that she appeared there. I believe her pleasures in her solitude are owing to the goodness of her heart than the attainments of her head . . . the part of the day which is not employed in her devotions, is generally passed in receiving visits, and talking of news.
Five months after this letter was written, Diana died. Though her
age went unreported, she would have been in her middle or late sixties. Those of her family not in residence at the time attended her burial. According to Horace
Walpole, writing a correspondent on 22 January, “Five of our members were gone to the York election, and
the three Lord Beauclercs [sic] to their mother’s’ funeral at Windsor, for that
old beauty St Albans is dead at last.” The three sons were Lord Vere, Lord Henry,
and Lord Sidney Beauclerk. The “at last” is further evidence of Diana's state of decline during her final months.
Expences for her interment amounted to £37 10s 6d. On 1 February, 1742, shortly after her burial, permission for a marker was granted: “Agreed
that Leave be given to erect a Monument for the late Dutchess of St. Albans . .
..” in Rutland Chapel.
Although that particular chapel is off-limits, in November 2014 I was given permission to enter. A verger admitted me, and kindly left me there to privately commune with the spirit of my
heroine. Her gravestone is no longer in existence, although she was probably laid
to rest near her contemporaries whose slabs remain.
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Diana's Will
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Her last will and testament, dated 8 August, 1734, disposes to
her sons the estate she inherited from “my late most beloved husband deceased.”
In a codicil she makes additional bequests of capital sums and personal items
belonging to her, as follows:
to Lord Henry Beauclerk (son) £1000
to Lord George Beauclerk (son) £1000
to Lord Aubrey Beauclerk (son) £1000
to Lord Vere Beauclerek (son) £100 worth of either pictures,
china, or Japan[-ware]
to Lord Sidney Beauclerk (son) £100 worth of either pictures,
furniture, or plate
to Miss Caroline Beauclerk (granddaughter) my single stone diamond
ring
to Lord James Beauclerk (son) £100 of either plate, books,
or furniture
to my eldest son (Charles, 2nd Duke of St Albans)
my ruby ring
to his wife my emerald earrings
to Lady Diana Beauclerk (granddaughter) my ruby earrings
with pearl drops
to Lady Beauclerk (daughter-in-law) the agate dish she gave
me . . . the smallest of my mother’s pictures
to Lady Vere (daughter-in-law) my father’s picture in water
colours
to Lady Sidney (daughter-in-law) my gold box I wear in my pocket which the late Queen (Caroline)
gave me
She left generous legacies to her household servants. Those employed
at the time of her decease were to have a year’s wages. The largest legacy, £500,
went to her lady’s maid “for her diligent, honest, faithful service.” To
partially fund these disbursements, she instructed her executors to sell “my
large pearl necklace.”
Monetary comparisons are tricky, but using the currency converter provided by Britain's National Archives, £1000 in the 1740s had the approximate purchasing power of £86,000 ($130,750) in today's money. And £100 would therefore have a modern value of about £8,600 ($13,000).
Seven years after Diana’s death Joseph Pote, author of a
guide book to Windsor and environs, eulogized her. “Her grace constantly
resided at Windsor, and by a Life spent in piety and good works, became the
greatest character of the present, and a pattern for future Ages.”
Surprisingly, a highly detailed account of Diana surfaces four years after her death in
the sermon given at the consecration of her son, the Right Reverend Lord James
Beauclerk, when he became Bishop of Hereford.
Diana
is remembered as:
. . . that great and good lady, the late Duchess of St. Albans, whose memory will be ever precious among us, sweet as honey in the mouths of all that speak of her, and as music at a banquet of wine in the ears of all that hear of her . . . so bright an example, and so eminent a pattern of piety and good works . . . Lady Diana, who is deposited in a vault in the Rutland chapel, within the chapel of St. George in Windsor Castle, and who died Jan. 15, 1741 [O.S.]; and who, having resided chiefly in the palace of the St. Albans family at Windsor, desired to be there buried, notwithstanding the remains of the Duke her late husband were interred at Westminster Abbey. Of this Duchess Fame speaks highly. She was charitable to the utmost of her abilities. She searched for objects on whom she might bestow her fortune. She supported a dignity worthy of her high birth; yet was of so condescending, so affable, and so courteous a disposition, that she engaged and won the hearts of all who were admitted into her presence. Of her beauty little need be said. View the portraits of her at Hampton-Court and other places.
The Hampton Court portrait was painted by Sir Godfrey
Kneller and still hangs there in the King’s Dining Room. It was commissioned by
Queen Mary II during the period when Diana was part of her retinue. And a
cropped version (the original shows her full length) appears on the cover of my novel A
Pledge of Better Times.
The fact that Diana was so respected and admired in her lifetime and after her death most certainly does not preclude a depiction of her as a normal--and flawed--human being, beset by personal struggles and conflicts. Though the version of her in my novel is based upon a woman who lived and loved a few hundred years ago, she is a product of my imagination combined with the available historical accounts of her!