The Real Housewives of London
My sincerest apologies for taking such a long hiatus. Thank you to all of my fans for your great emails and notes asking about the next post. I have been so busy traveling and working that I haven’t had a chance to post anything. My recent break in writing had me thinking about all of the famous royals who dedicated so much of their time to the arts, especially writing. It takes so much time and dedication to write a story and believe it or not, some royals were excellent storytellers. Especially, Georgiana Cavendish, The Duchess of Devonshire. I know I write about her a lot, but she was a remarkable woman and the movie did not do her justice! She was also an incredible writer and wrote successful plays, poems and books.
Georgiana seemed to have it all however, she disguised her hideous and demeaning private life. Within a few short months of her marriage to the Duke, she became a heavy drinker, drug-taker, and a gambling addict. By the time she realized what had happened to her it was too late. ‘When I first came into the world the novelty of the scene made me like everything,’ she wrote in 1778. “But my heart now feels an emptiness in the beau monde which cannot be filled…nobody can think how much I am tired sometimes which the dissipation I live in.” Feeling trapped by the world she became a part of, Georgiana chose to write about her situation anonymously. The result was a book in 1778 called, The Sylph, by ‘A Young Lady’, a tell-all about high society in general, and the Devonshire House Circle in particular.
The novel was a great success. Part of its allure was the mystery behind the author’s identity. At first, people believed that Fanny Burney was the author, and Burney’s publisher tried to hint as much in order to increase his sales. But soon Georgiana’s friends recognized some of their more intimate details in the book, and the secret was out. Plus, Georgiana didn’t really disguise some names in her book.
The Sylph shocked readers because it portrayed the aristocracy as a collection of drunks, blackmailers, wife beaters and adulterers. Written in a series of letters, the story follows the misadventures of the young and beautiful Julia Stanley, a naïve country girl who has married the cruel and reckless Sir William. Having only known her husband for a short while, Julia discovers too late that Sir William is a terrible man whose only interests are fashion and gambling. But she tries to keep his affections by learning the ways of the Ton (the circle that Georgiana was a part of). At first she is shy and timid, but slowly she becomes adept at living a la mode: she can talk, sing, dance, dress and think like a fashionable person. But during the process she realizes that her soul is being corrupted by the cynicism and heartlessness of her new friends and family.
The heart of the novel is Julia’s struggle to remain true to herself while those around her either submit or are beaten down into embracing an immoral life. The Sylph is a unique, insider’s glimpse of eighteenth-century High Society. Georgiana describes a competitive, vicious world where opportunists, liars and bullies flourish. It is a world that rewards vice and values hypocrisy; where women have few rights and must defend themselves in any way they can. The irony is that even as Georgiana was protesting against this world, she was also its creature. However, with the publication of The Sylph, she had made her first step towards independence. Her own career as the Leader of the Ton would be vastly different from her heroine’s but, after suffering disgrace and exile, Georgiana would eventually emerge as the most successful female politician of her era. What also makes this novel so compelling is that it predates Jane Austen’s masterpiece, Pride and Prejudice, by three decades.
Now, if Georgiana could pull of a secret, tell-all novel, can you imagine what her Twitter page would have looked like.
