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Last Mitford sister, Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, dies at 94 | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Deborah, the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, and the last surviving Mitford sister, has died aged 94. | |
The death was confirmed by the press officers for her stately home Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. | |
The Mitford sisters' activity fascinated - and sometimes scandalised - British society in the 1940s. | |
One of her sisters, Unity, was a friend of Hitler and another, Diana, the second wife of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley. | One of her sisters, Unity, was a friend of Hitler and another, Diana, the second wife of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley. |
But Deborah was more focused on her home life. Nicknamed the "housewife duchess", she made Chatsworth one of the most successful and profitable stately homes in England. | But Deborah was more focused on her home life. Nicknamed the "housewife duchess", she made Chatsworth one of the most successful and profitable stately homes in England. |
Born Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford on 31 March 1920, the duchess was the sixth daughter of the 2nd Baron Redesdale. | |
The Mitfords' childhood at at the Mitford home in the Oxfordshire village of Swinbrook was immortalised in her sister Nancy's novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. | |
Her parents made a poor job of hiding their disappointment that Deborah had not been born a boy, leaving Thomas their only son. | |
The Mitfords' father disapproved of educating girls, famously insisting that hockey would make their ankles fat, and Deborah spent her formative years skating and hunting. |