Sex intrigue & adultery in the world of high politics & huge wealth in late eighteenth-century Engl&. Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire was one of the most flamboyant & influential women of the eighteenth century. The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana Princess of Wales she was variously a compulsive gambler a political savante & operator of the highest order a drug addict an adulteress & the darling of the common people. This authoritative utterly absorbing book presents a mesmerizing picture of a fascinating world of political & sexual intrigues grand houses huge parties glamour & great wealth -- always on the edge of being squandered by the excesses & scandals of individuals.