The First Lady Diana: Lady Diana Spencer 1710-1735 [Hardcover]

Victoria Massey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2001

Lady Diana Spencer, of Althorp and London, tall and beautiful, a lover of music and the arts, treasured by every young aristocrat, earmarked for marriage to the Prince of Wales, haunted by the death of loved ones, and destined to die at a tragically early age.

But this Lady Diana, in a life which was uncannily similar to the most recent holder of her title, lived nearly 300 years ago.

In this entertaining and informative biography the reader watches Lady Diana grow up, follows her education, her training for the aristocracy and shares her passion for art and music. Her marriage to Lord John Russell; their elevation to the title of Duke and Duchess of Bedford; the sad death of Lady Diana`s first child, and her subsequent miscarriages; her early death are all chronicled in this deeply researched and empathetic biography. This first Lady Diana was a captivating, caring beauty whose untimely death, after such a short, vivacious life, was deeply mourned. Readers will be as fascinated with the life of Diana of the early 1700s as they were with the late Princess of Wales and a study of this life can be the means by which many will be able to appreciate the history of eighteenth-century Britain.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While many have been captivated by the story of Diana, Princess of Wales, few may realize that her life paralleled in notable ways that of an ancestor who bore the same name. Like her famous 20th-century namesake, the 18th-century Lady Diana Spencer was born into a prominent family of British aristocrats, made a brilliant marriage and died young. Massey (an artist and author and illustrator of girls' stories) draws on a wealth of letters and historical documents to reconstruct in detail the life of "dear little Di" (as her family called her, although she grew to be quite tall). Orphaned young, Diana was taken in and raised by her grandmother, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who saw to it that she was well married at the then late age of 21 to the Duke of Bedford. One of the most notorious figures of the day, the duchess was tremendously rich, politically powerful and brashly outspoken, and by this account, Diana grew up very much in her shadow--so much so that, despite Massey's efforts to keep her narrative centered on its ostensible subject, it is actually Sarah who becomes its most compelling and well-rounded character. Diana herself remains an enigma: described as warm-hearted and generous by some contemporaries and vain and insincere by others, she apparently died (at 25, of tuberculosis) before developing much of a personality in her own right. Since Massey commendably refuses to embellish upon the known facts of Diana's life by surmising her thoughts and feelings, she produces the story of an era in the history of the British aristocracy rather than of an individual. Photos. (Feb.) chronicled in Amanda Foreman's Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire (1999).

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Since Massey commendably refuses to embellish upon the known facts of Diana's life by surmising her thoughts and feelings, she produces the story of an era in the history of the British aristocracy rather than of an individual." Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Allison & Busby (January 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1902809017
• ISBN-13: 978-1902809014
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,700,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The biography of the first Dear Lady Dye...., August 29, 2009

By 

K. Maxwell "katmax1" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Lady Diana (Paperback)

The first Lady Diana Spencer (1710-35) had only a short life, dying at age 25. Diana didn't live long enough to have a lot of significant accomplishments in her own name, yet despite this I found the book an interesting and worthwhile read. After the death of her mother Di (and she was called that by her family) was raised by her maternal grandmother, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. You learn a lot about Sarah in her old age in this book and the care she took raising her grand-daughters and as they got older the endless search for a suitable match for them.

This book gives you a real flavour of the early eighteenth century and the author has obviously done some impressive research. If you have an interest in the Spencer and/or Marlborough families then you'll undoubtedly find this biography a worthwhile read. It's a short, but intense book and worth the effort to pick up.