Mary Cavendish, Duchess Of Devonshire

Mary Alice Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Gascoyne-Cecil), was born on 29 July 1895 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. She passed away on 24 December 1988 in Westminster, London. She was a British courtier and held the position of Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 until 1967.

Her full birth name was the Honourable Mary Alice Gascoyne-Cecil. She was the second daughter of James Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, and Lady Cicely Alice Gore. Her maternal grandparents were Arthur Gore, 5th Earl of Arran, and Lady Edith Jocelyn, daughter of Robert Jocelyn, Viscount Jocelyn, and sister of Robert Jocelyn, 4th Earl of Roden. Her paternal grandparents were Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, and Georgiana Alderson, daughter of Sir Edward Hall Alderson, a Baron of the Exchequer.

In 1903, upon her father's succession as the Marquess of Salisbury, she was styled as Lady Mary Gascoyne-Cecil. She had an older brother, Robert, who became the 5th Marquess of Salisbury in 1947, and a younger brother, Lord David Cecil, known for his work as a biographer and historian.

Mary Alice Gascoyne-Cecil served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to 1967, a role in the British Royal Household. She was also Chancellor of the University of Exeter from 1955 to 1972 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (Hon. LLD) from Exeter in 1956.

She developed an interest in Jacob sheep and maintained a flock at Chatsworth House, the seat of the Dukes of Devonshire, in Derbyshire. Following the formation of the Jacob Sheep Society in July 1969, she became its first president. From 1972 onwards, the society published a flock book documenting the breed.

On 21 April 1917, she married Edward Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. He was the eldest son of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, and Evelyn Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, herself the eldest daughter of Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne. Edward Cavendish succeeded his father as the 10th Duke of Devonshire in 1938.

The couple had five children:

- William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington

- Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire

- Lady Mary Cavendish

- Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Alice Cavendish

- Lady Anne Evelyn Beatrice Cavendish

Her husband died on 26 November 1950 at Compton Place after suffering a heart attack. At the time of his death, he was attended by John Bodkin Adams, a physician later suspected of serial killings. Following his death, there were substantial financial implications, as the transfer of his assets to their son fell within a five-year period prior to the statutory threshold, resulting in an 80% estate tax.

Mary Alice Cavendish was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1946 and was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1955. She was buried alongside her husband at Edensor, Derbyshire, near Chatsworth House.