Kingston, Elizabeth (Chudleigh), Duchess of

(c.1720 - 88), dau. of Col. Thomas Chudleigh; m. 1 1744 Hon. Augustus Hervey (later 3rd E. of Bristol), 2 [bigamously] 1769 2nd D. of Kingston (d. 1773); tried for bigamy 1776, acquitted as a peeress; resided abroad from 1776.

1774 - 5 Rome (Jan. - May 1774), Florence (May), Genoa (May) [England Jul.] Rome (by 12 Nov. 1774 - Mar. 1775), Florence (6 Mar.)

1778 Leghorn (Jul.), Rome (Jul. - Sep.)

'That pompous piece of effrontery and imposture, the Duchess of Kingston',1 first arrived in Rome in January 1774. Following the death of her second husband, the Duke, whose considerable real estate she had inherited, she was threatened by an action from Augustus Hervey, her first husband. Their secret marriage of 1744 had never been publicly acknowledged or legally terminated, and Hervey wished to remarry but the discovery of a previous marriage would invalidate her succession to the Duke's estate.

In Rome the Duchess, shunned by English society, displayed signs of piety.2 In deep mourning, she showed regard for the poor Irish Franciscans and was presented to the Pope. Cardinal Albani lent her the Villa Albani though, as it had no garden, she feared it would not do.3 She hoped to purchase the Villa Negroni, offering some £;16,000, but the deal had fallen through by August.4 Horace Mann said she was learning Russian and had a band of music with her, and Father Thorpe observed that she bought a 'great number of wretched paintings'. She returned briefly to England in the summer, passing through Florence and Genoa in May.5

She was in London for a day early in July 1774, fleeing when she heard that the Duke of Kingston's will was being disputed by his nephew. It had in any case been her intention to return to Italy for the winter and probably for the rest of her life.6 She was back in Rome by November 1774,7 bringing with her in her beautiful yacht, the Minerva, 'a shipload of plunder' from the Kingston estates.8 Early in December she received with La Mar?chale de los Balbazes (sister to the Constable Colonna) 'visits from the Roman Ladies', and was then going to 'live with all her retinue in the Palace of the Rufo ... which the Prelate who is the Owner, has given the use'. She was furnishing it with the treasure she had brought out from England, which, wrote Thorpe, was 'permitted to enter without paying any duty'; the Romans, Thorpe continued, 'expect a Carnaval in her; she already begins the Masquerade, for she has got a white bear skin for her Coach box ... & her Servants mourning is new trimmed with silver which makes them look like so many Pantalones'.9 In January 1775 she was 'bewailing her fate in Rome', and in March she returned to London to face the charge of bigamy; she left her treasures in Rome in the care of the Pope, and passed through Florence on 6 March 1775.(10)

In April 1775 the Court of Chancery referred her case to the House of Lords, whereupon she assembled a second cargo of riches from the Kingston estates for Civitavecchia.(11) In April 1776 she was found guilty of bigamy by the Lords and, hearing that the Duke's nephews were to bring an action against her over the will, she quickly escaped to France. She was to spend most of her remaining life in France and Russia.

Although she was expected back in Rome in November 1776, she did not appear and her apartments in Rufo's palace were re-let in February 1777.(12) Her last visit took place in July 1778 when she sailed from Calais to Leghorn in seventeen days, in order to fetch her treasure from Rome.(13) She was still there on 15 September, but had left by October, having had 'sad broils' with the custodians.14 On her death in 1788 she still had many valuables in Rome, and she made bequests to the Pope and to the Abb? Filateri.15

1. Wal.Corr., 23:556. 2. See Wal.Corr., 23:559, 564, 567. Thorpe letters MSS (26 Feb., 9 Mar., 9 Apr. 1774). 3. Morrison, 1:24 (no.35, 7 May 1774). 4. Thorpe letters MSS (23 Apr. 1774*). SP 93/29 (Hamilton, 26 Apr. 1774). Wal.Corr., 24:31. 5. Wal.Corr., 24:6n6. 6. SP 93/29 (Hamilton, 26 Apr. 1774). 7. Thorpe letters MSS (12 Nov. 1774*). 8. Wal.Corr., 24:59n2, 3. 9. Thorpe letters MSS (7 Dec. 1774*). 10. Wal.Corr., 24:79, 83n2, 3. 11. Ibid., 118. 12. Thorpe letters MSS (2 Nov. 1776, 5 Feb. 1777). 13. Wal. Corr., 24:398. 14. Ibid., 409. Knight Letters, 70 - 1, 29 Oct. 1778. 15. Thorpe letters MSS (1 Nov.88).