Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington

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For other people named Kathleen Kennedy, see Kathleen Kennedy.

Kathleen Agnes Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (February 20, 1920 – May 13, 1948), born Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, was the second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and a sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Joseph Kennedy ambassador to the Court of St. James's, his daughter Kathleen spent a year and a half living in London. Beautiful and spirited, she was named the "most exciting debutante of 1938." In 1943 she returned to England to work in a center for servicemen set up by the Red Cross. Despite the opposition of her intensely Catholic mother, on May 6, 1944, Kathleen Kennedy, known to friends as "Kick", married William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, a Protestant and the eldest son and heir of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Four months later, he was killed by a German sniper in World War II. (Billy Hartington's younger brother, Andrew, married to Deborah Mitford, became heir to the Dukedom.) Lady Hartington's mother, Rose Kennedy, reportedly interpreted her son-in-law's death as retribution from God.

Popular on the London social circuit and admired by many for her high spirits — though more traditional members of British society found fault with her boisterousness — the dashing young widow eventually became the mistress of Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam. The couple planned to wed after Fitzwilliam's planned divorce. Instead, while on a trip to visit Joseph Kennedy Sr. and gain his blessing for their relationship, both Lord Fitzwilliam and Lady Hartington died in an airplane crash over Sainte-Bauzille, Ardèche, France.

Only her father represented the Kennedy family at her funeral. Her mother, Rose, declined to attend because of Kathleen's intentions to marry outside the Catholic church. It is said that Rose Kennedy also discouraged Kathleen's siblings from attending for the same reason. Rose apparently forgave Kathleen not long thereafter, and in 1951, was delighted that her first grandchild, Robert F. Kennedy's daughter, Kathleen Hartington Kennedy, was named after her late daughter.

Kathleen Agnes Kennedy is buried in the Cavendish family plot at Saint Peter's Church, Edensor, near Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. Among the wreaths that covered her coffin was one with a handwritten note from Winston Churchill. The gymnasium at Manhattanville College is named in her honor.