Lady Dorothy Macmillan

Dorothy Macmillan
Born 28 July 1900(1900-07-28)
Died 21 May 1966(1966-05-21) (aged 65)
Spouse Harold Macmillan
Children Maurice Macmillan
Lady Caroline Faber
Lady Catherine Amery
Sarah Macmillan
Parents Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire
Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Lady Dorothy Evelyn Macmillan GBE (28 July 1900 – 21 May 1966) was a daughter of the 9th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and the wife of the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

Contents

Family life

Born Dorothy Evelyn Cavendish, she spent her first eight years at Holker Hall, Lancashire, and Lismore Castle, Ireland.[1] She became known as Lady Dorothy from 1908, when her father succeeded to the dukedom, and the family moved into Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, and the other ducal estates.[2] She received lessons in French, German, riding and golf. From the age of sixteen she lived with the family at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, where her father served as Governor General of Canada.[3]

In 1920 she married the publisher and Conservative politician Harold Macmillan, who had been on her father's staff in Canada. Their lavish wedding, on 21 April at St. Margaret's, Westminster, was attended by royalty, aristocracy and leading literary figures, and was hailed as the social event of the London season.[4]

Lady Dorothy was a dutiful political wife and the couple remained together (despite her long-lasting affair with the Conservative politician Robert Boothby) until her death from a heart attack at the Macmillan family estate at Birch Grove, East Sussex, in 1966. Her husband outlived her by 20 years.

She and Harold had four children:

Brother

On 26 November 1950, her brother Edward Cavendish, the 10th Duke of Devonshire had a heart attack and was attended by suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams. He died.[5] Adams was put on trial for murder in 1957 and the prosecution of the case has been described as half-hearted.[6][7] The link with Edward Cavendish especially was not pursued, it has been suggested, because the government did not want to attract attention to Lady Dorothy's private life, and specifically her affair with Boothby.[8]

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Charles Williams, Harold Macmillan (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2009), ISBN 978-0297851943, p. 53.
  2. ^ Williams, Macmillan, pp. 53-54.
  3. ^ Williams, Macmillan, p. 54
  4. ^ Williams, Macmillan, p. 58
  5. ^ Pamela V. Cullen, A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams (London: Elliott & Thompson, 2006), ISBN 1-904027-19-9.
  6. ^ Cullen, Stranger in Blood.
  7. ^ Rodney Hallworth and Mark Williams, Where There's a Will... The Sensational Life of Dr John Bodkin Adams (Jersey: Capstan Press, 1983) ISBN 0946797005.
  8. ^ Cullen, Stranger in Blood, p. 619
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Clarissa Eden		 Spouse of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1957-1963		 Succeeded by
Elizabeth Douglas-Home

Sources