Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond
Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond, was a British aristocrat and peeress best known as the hostess of the Duchess of Richmond's ball.Biography
Born at Gordon Castle, Lady Charlotte Gordon was the eldest child of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, and his wife, Jane Maxwell. On 9 September 1789, she married Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox and 4th Duke of Aubigny.
In 1814, the family moved to Brussels, where the Duchess gave the ball at which the Duke of Wellington received confirmation that the Army of the North under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte had entered the territory of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands near Charleroi.
The Duchess and her family continued to live in Brussels until 1818, when her husband was appointed Governor General of British North America. The Duchess was widowed in 1819, and in 1836, she inherited the vast Gordon estates on the death of her brother, George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, who had left no legitimate children. She died at the age of 73 in London on 5 May 1842.Family
The Duke and Duchess had seven sons and seven daughters:
- Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond. Diana, Princess of Wales descended from him, through Rosalind Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn.
- Lady Mary Lennox, married Sir Charles Fitzroy and had issue.
- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord John George Lennox, married Louisa Rodney and had issue.
- Lady Sarah Lennox, married Peregrine Maitland.
- Lady Georgiana Lennox, married William FitzGerald-de Ros, 23rd Baron de Ros, and had issue.
- Lord Henry Adam Lennox, fell overboard from HMS Blake and drowned.
- Lord William Pitt Lennox, married first Mary Ann Paton and second Ellen Smith; had issue by the latter.
- Lady Jane Lennox, married Laurence Peel and had issue.
- Captain Lord Frederick Lennox.
- Lord Sussex Lennox, married Hon. Mary Lawless and had issue.
- Lady Louisa Maddelena Lennox, married Rt. Hon. William Tighe, died without issue.
- Lady Charlotte Lennox, married Maurice Berkeley, 1st Baron FitzHardinge of Bristol, and had issue.
- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Arthur Lennox, married Adelaide Campbell and had issue.
- Lady Sophia Georgiana Lennox, married Lord Thomas Cecil, died without issue.