Affair of state

the long version

"This is the story of the nineteenth-century politician Lord Hartington - later the 8th Duke of Devonshire - and of Louise Alten, who was his mistress as Duchess of Manchester and later his wife. It is a tale that spans the world of politics and the high-living circle round the Prince of Wales, with whom Hartington and Louise were intimate friends." "Hartington was the aristocratic heir of one of the great Whig families that had traditionally dominated Liberal politics. His career included five years as Liberal leader, his service in three Cabinets, his break with Gladstone over the issue of Irish Home Rule and his refusal three times to be Prime Minister. The issues of the time and the clash of personalities made this one of the most dramatic and exciting periods in nineteenth-century political life." "Louise, the 'Double Duchess' of Manchester and Devonshire, came to fame as one of the legendary beauties of Victorian high society. She became the mistress of young Hartington as he disentangled himself from a tumultuous affair with the famous society courtesan 'Skittles', and their loyalty to each other was to remain constant for thirty years. On her first husband's death she married her lover to become the leading political and society hostess of the age, when she was said to be the most powerful person outside the government. Her lavish house-parties at their Chatsworth estate were attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales - from 1901 the King and Queen - and epitomize the fashionable country-house life of the time. Readers are given a fascinating insight into the last years of a social and political world that was shortly to fall into complete eclipse, within this first full-length biography of two of the age's most significant figures."--Jacket.