59 mins watch time
Posted May 2021
History
When Elizabeth Chudleigh 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 sensation. the Duchess’s biographer, Catherine Ostler and Simon Sebag Montefiore take a fresh look at Elizabeth’s story and reappraise a woman who refused to be defined by society’s expectations of her.
