Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford (née Lady Diana Spencer) (1710–1735) was a prospective Princess of Wales and, later, Duchess of Bedford.
Diana was the daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Lady Anne Churchill, daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. She spent much of her youth living with her maternal grandmother, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, at Cumberland Lodge in Old Windsor.
The Duchess encouraged her to hope for a royal alliance with the Prince of Wales, Frederick, which was prompted more by the prince's hope of an increased financial allowance than from any mutual affection. However, the idea of such a marriage was quashed by King George II and Robert Walpole, and Lady Diana married, in 1731, John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Frederick married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.
Her only child, a son named John, died at birth on 6 November 1732. She died on 27 September 1735 at Southampton House, London, England, from tuberculosis, without surviving issue. She was buried on 9 October 1735 at Chenies, Buckinghamshire, England.
She is sometimes confused with her distant relative, Lady Diana Spencer (1961–1997), who was named after her and who indeed married a Prince of Wales centuries later.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Russell, Diana, Duchess of Bedford |
| Alternative names | Lady Diana Spencer (birth name) |
| Short description | English noblewoman |
| Date of birth | 1710 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | 1735 |
| Place of death | |
Famous quotes containing the words diana, duchess and/or bedford:
“Everywhere I go I smell fresh paint.”
—Princess Diana (b. 1961)
“The earth is the earth as a peasant sees it, the world is the world as a duchess sees it, and anyway a duchess would be nothing if the earth was not there as the peasant sees it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“When, said Mr. Phillips, he communicated to a New Bedford audience, the other day, his purpose of writing his life, and telling his name, and the name of his master, and the place he ran from, the murmur ran round the room, and was anxiously whispered by the sons of the Pilgrims, “He had better not!” and it was echoed under the shadow of the Concord monument, “He had better not!””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)