Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (Welbeck Abbey, 11 February 1715 – 17 July 1785, Bulstrode Park, Buckinghamshire), styled Lady Margaret Harley before 1734, Duchess of Portland from 1734 to her husband's death in 1761, and Dowager Duchess of Portland from 1761 until her own death in 1785. She was the richest woman in Great Britain of her time.
She was a daughter of the 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, bibliophile, collector and pa...
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Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (Welbeck Abbey, 11 February 1715 – 17 July 1785, Bulstrode Park, Buckinghamshire), styled Lady Margaret Harley before 1734, Duchess of Portland from 1734 to her husband's death in 1761, and Dowager Duchess of Portland from 1761 until her own death in 1785. She was the richest woman in Great Britain of her time.
She was a daughter of the 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, bibliophile, collector and patron of the arts, and the former Lady Henrietta Holles (1694–1755, the only child and heir of the 1st Duke of Newcastle and his wife, the former Lady Margaret Cavendish).She was also great-great-great-great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II through her mother's side.
Lady Margaret grew up at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire surrounded by books, paintings, sculpture and in the company of writers such as Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and Matthew Prior as well as aristocrats and politicians. As a child, she collected pets and natural history...
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