The Duchess Countess

'A scintillating story superbly told. . . [Ostler] packs every paragraph with eye-opening detail' - Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times 'A rollicking read. . . [Ostler] tells Elizabeth's story with admirable style and gusto' - Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'Fascinating. Magnificent. ? Sensitively told' - Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five and The Covent Garden Ladies 'Catherine Ostler’s superb, gripping, decadent biography brings an extraordinary woman and a whole world blazingly to life' - Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Catherine the Great and Potemkin When the glamorous Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, Countess of Bristol, went on trial at Westminster Hall for bigamy in April 1776, the story drew more attention in society than the American War of Independence.

A clandestine, candlelit wedding to the young heir to an earldom, a second marriage to a Duke, a lust for diamonds and an electrifying appearance at a masquerade ball in a diaphanous dress: no wonder the trial was a s