Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland

Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland (21 May 1806-27 October 1868) was born Lady Harriet Howard, daughter of the 6th Earl of Carlisle and his wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish, who was a daughter of the famous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. On 18 May 1823 Harriet married Earl Gower, who was the eldest son of the 2nd Marquess of Stafford and a man twenty years her senior. Her father-in-law was created Duke of Sutherland in 1833, and was succeeded by his son later that year, whereupon Harriet became Duchess of Sutherland. She served several times as Mistress of the Robes to her great friend Queen Victoria, a post which was later held by her eldest daughter Elizabeth Georgiana (Duchess of Argyll) and her daughter-in-law Anne (Duchess of Sutherland). The duchess was an active Whig and a close friend and correspondent of W. E. Gladstone. She introduced the Italian revolutionary Garibaldi into London high society and organised a petition from the women of England in support of the abolition of slavery. In 1871, while her son-in-law, the Duke of Argyll, was serving in the Cabinet, his son (Harriet's grandson), Lord Lorne, married one of Victoria's daughters, Princess Louise. Harriet's eldest son became 3rd Duke of Sutherland in 1861, and her younger daughters became wives of the 12th Lord Blantyre, the 4th Duke of Leinster and the 1st Duke of Westminster, respectively.

References

K D Reynolds, Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain OUP (1998)