Diana and Georgiana - Echoes across time
by Joyce Westwood
The celebrated but troubled lives of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and her relative Diana, Princess of Wales are separated by over two centuries, yet the similarities between them in their personal lives and public roles are uncanny, as their birth charts demonstrate.
Diana, Princess of Wales and Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. These two phenomenal, aristocratic women were related by birth, born 204 years apart within the Spencer family yet they shared similar roles in life. Georgiana (pronounced ‘Jorjaina’) was born at Althorp House (the family home since 1508) while Diana was raised and is buried there. Georgiana is Diana’s great, great, great, grand aunt (related through the female line). Other sources such as Wikipedia and Tatler state “great great great great aunt”. This is an argument for another time.
Scientifically, we know family genes are passed on down through the generations. And there is anecdotal evidence, beliefs or claims that a soul can reincarnate into the same family. Is this why the psychological make-up of Diana and Georgiana maybe regarded as similar? Since this is a karmic question and one related to belief, it is impossible to answer with any certainty. However, from an astrological point of view, Georgiana’s Sun, Venus and Pluto lie across Diana’s Ascendant/Descendant and they share Moon/Saturn and Moon/Chiron conjunctions.
Expediently, Georgiana was painted by Maria Cosway in 1782 as the goddess Diana. Diana’s sisters nicknamed her ‘Duch’, then later her stepfather called her ‘Duchess’ which was adopted by her friends. The two women were both physically charismatic and alluring (Georgiana’s Venus opposition Pluto; Diana with Mars conjunct Pluto). They both loved dancing and exercise (Georgiana’s Moon is in Pisces, Mars opposition Jupiter; Diana has Venus in Taurus square Moon; Mars in Virgo).
They were two of the most influential women of their time. Wherever they went, they were loved and admired – everyone was addicted to them. Both women have Jupiter/Neptune squared. Jupiterarian and Neptunian energy knows no bounds. Georgiana’s grand water trine (almost a kite) is squared from Jupiter to Neptune and Diana’s grand water trine (also almost a kite) is squared by Neptune to Jupiter which led them into overwhelming, engulfing, addictive behaviour given more emphasis by their Plutos. Interestingly, Mother Theresa whom Diana became friends with had a Jupiter-Neptune square and all three women have Disseminating Moons. Such people yearn to give themselves up to the Big Dream or lose themselves down to the Big Illusion.
Addictions and dysfunction
In Georgiana’s case, she gambled in a big way so that by the time she died, her debts ran to over £3 million in today’s money. As a child, her parents tried to console themselves through the death of two younger children by setting up gaming tables and she would have joined in as early as 9 years old. When she was between 6 and 7, her parents went to Italy in the hope of improving her father’s health. Their absence made her lose confidence. In the decadent, boozy world of the 18th century, Georgiana (mutable/water) was easily influenced into excess through her circle of friends. She would retreat in private for a whole week taking little food during the day, then indulge in extreme all-night drinking and eating – her weight fluctuated (Moon in Pisces trine Jupiter). By this passive/aggressive punishment regime she attempted to avoid facing the truth that she had fallen short of successful self-management. Without doubt, her Mars-Jupiter-Neptune t-square was responsible for insatiable cravings. Perhaps old anger issues fuelled her cravings with Mars’ opposition to Jupiter, and added to that, alcoholism had been in the family.1
Diana, shy and unsure of herself (Saturn in Capricorn in 1st) developed the eating disorder bulimia nervosa and made suicide bids soon after she was married. As a 6-year-old she had felt unloved and abandoned by the departure of her mother and the arrival of a stepmother (Raine, Countess Spencer). She was literally feeding herself love and then taking it away whenever she encountered non-reciprocation of feelings of care (t-square of Void of Course Moon-Uranus-Venus). She suffered guilty feelings of being female through the death of a baby boy to her parents prior to her birth: they had wanted a son to prolong the Spencer line and did not hide their disappointment (Mars conjunct Pluto opposition Chiron). Few people were aware of the inner torment behind their smiles, a trick learnt from the female line. Both Georgiana and Diana were publicly adored but privately aggrieved.
‘Queens of society’
These ‘Queens of society’ individually crusaded and inspired, bridging divides, speaking with ease and charm with a knack of making a great many people feel as if they belonged to them, drawing them like magnets (Georgiana’s only cardinal planet Mercury is well aspected and slightly OOB; Diana’s Mercury in the 7th is also well aspected, with Uranus trine Ascendant). They went out onto the streets to meet and greet people and in so doing caught the public’s imagination – every day the newspapers were full of their latest activities, their hairstyles, how they dressed and what they said and being electrifyingly Venusian, their coiffeurs and bespoke fashions copied instantly and constantly. They were hailed as the dedicated leaders of fashion! Their fame went hand-in-hand with the sale of souvenirs.
On marrying, their respective husbands William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire, and Charles, Prince of Wales carried on with their own habitual interests, leaving their new wives to their own devices which turned out be unwise, indicated by their shared Venus square Uranus. Georgiana was 17 and William nine years her senior; Diana was 20 and Charles 13 years older. Curiously, William and Charles were both born on the 14th day of adjoining months, 200 years apart.2 William was the most powerful aristocrat of his time and Charles, of course, was and is the first in line to the throne; both men immensely wealthy. As newlyweds, they both became the most celebrated couples of their times.
The tendency to emotionalism and to romanticise can be seen in Georgiana’s Moon in Pisces trine Mercury in Cancer and in Diana’s Sun conjunct Mercury in Cancer trine Neptune; but their Saturn trine Venus gave them the ability to work through denial of reciprocation in relationships (neither husband was equipped to respond to wifely emotional neediness). Both Saturns are in dignity (old rulership for Georgiana). Looking at their North Nodes, both in Leo in the 8th house, we see they dealt with loneliness by relying on their own strength, ignoring ingrained attitudes of what constituted acceptable female behaviour and developing creative lives, shining as beacons and giving generously of themselves to society. Vivacious, witty, kind, liberal and noble, they did not hold back any opportunity to help others.
Errant, emotionally distant husbands
Both women were naively confused about their new husbands, both of whom had mistresses. William’s was a servant called Charlotte Spencer (no relation, ironically) who had just given birth to their baby immediately before marrying Georgiana. After Charlotte’s death in 1778, the child came to live at Devonshire House in Piccadilly and Georgiana accepted her willingly, having no child of her own at that time. In 1782 she and the Duke rented a ‘holiday home’ in Bath, belonging to the Duke of Marlborough and there they came in contact with Lady Elizabeth Foster, separated from her husband with little financial credit. They immediately became friends and the Duke invited her back to London, a stay which lasted 25 years. Initially, Georgiana was convinced the threesome was a brother-sisterly relationship. In time, however, it became clear that this was not so, as bed-hopping between herself and Lady Elizabeth (Bess) resulted in a baby girl each, both born in August 1785, 13 days apart. All in all, five babies were born in a perfect sandwich formation to both women and the Duke over seven years. Bess’ pregnancies were kept secret from her best friend. To avoid scandal as was the custom, she was sent abroad to have her babies and in time Georgiana was able to accept the illegitimate children.
Until Georgiana and Diana became aware of the truth that they were not the only women in their husbands’ lives, their female instincts kicked in. Before Georgiana knew of the Duke’s affair, she had strange physical spasms accompanied by high anxiety. From the time of her engagement, Diana was troubled by the constant signs of affection travelling from Charles to another woman. Feeling vulnerable, neglected and rejected, the power of their Pluto oppositions eventually brought intense jealousy to the surface. Georgiana, however, loved Bess and decided to tolerate her presence for two important reasons – Bess was her confidante over her gambling debts even though Bess appeared unsupporting of her, yet her presence soothed the unease between Georgiana and the Duke.
Diana never accepted her ‘threesome’ with Camilla Parker Bowles (now the Duchess of Cornwall as wife of the Prince of Wales) and suffered badly because of it.
Rejection and personal power
A common trait of Chiron-Pluto aspects, and Diana’s is exact, is underestimating one’s own power and overestimating the power of others, pushing people away but wanting to pull them in, then turning aggression in on oneself when the need for love is not reciprocated. A craving or obsession for intense feeling is set up hence an addiction. With Moon opposing Uranus, the more rejected she felt, the more unfulfilled and rebellious she would have been. She did a good job of punishing herself. She needed to feel helpless and in crisis before taking back control.
Diana knew that to survive she needed to trust her strong Cancerian instincts which were drawing her to help others. She was Princess of Wales but also a “prisoner of war”3 within the royal family. She felt blocked and cut off (Saturn in Capricorn 1st house; Uranus opposing Moon). She felt betrayed and abandoned by the deceit of her marriage. Hostility became a common sequel to events. Diana’s bulimia served to release anger and resentment which then created an unhealthy cycle of self-punishment. It was that Mars-Pluto conjunction opposing Chiron working so efficiently here! With the internal battle won against bulimia by 1986, she could then battle for those who were sick, abused, marginalised or dying. This took her into homes, hospitals and abroad, secretly to begin with from 1992. She had a vision to escape the monotonous round of public engagements. Like Georgiana, she wanted a role in life to make a difference to people’s lives by going to the ‘heart’ of matters.
Enormous debt, the threat of blackmail and an inability to conceive a son were further fuelling Georgiana’s anxiety, so she would gamble recklessly, like one possessed even when pregnant with her daughters, and take opiates to blot out the reality; then become more anxious, more secretive, more deceptive and more manipulative which gave her headaches, playing off creditors against creditors, creditors against husband, lying through fear of revealing how far her gambling habit had got her, sponging off all her friends; a lonely hiding place to be (Sun-Venus opposing Pluto). An uneasy restlessness and lack of self-control became the habit shown by her Saturn at the South Node and Neptune’s conjunction to the North Node. She hated herself for being in debt. Speculation was the worst thing she could have done (Mars, only planet in earth is under pressure from Jupiter and Neptune) and, coupled with not having produced a son, she was treated as an outsider in the Cavendish family (Sun-Venus square Uranus). Diana also felt like an outsider with her royal in-laws (Aquarian Moon at the South Node opposing Uranus).
Georgiana could be prostrate for days, cradling disappointment in herself and worrying more about other people’s crises. Her friend Mary Graham helped her to reflect on her dissipating existence and cool marriage (Pisces Moon; Venus trine Saturn). Despite her difficulties, she would rather condemn herself than hurt anyone and remained sublimely generous and good natured. Diana also would retreat for days behind closed doors nursing her hurt (Moon square Venus). Her friend Carolyn Bartholomew was proactive in getting her to do something about her illness.
Georgiana kept a diary about the characters she knew, wrote a vast number of letters and poetry, and one book, The Sylph, a thinly masked autobiography, revealing a competitive world where women were abused and side-lined under the respectability of marriage. She fantasised about escape to a different life.4 The Mars-Jupiter-Neptune t-square explains why a lot of her incriminating correspondence was destroyed, courtesy of the Cavendish family. Similarly, Diana’s paperwork mysteriously disappeared (Neptune ruler of 3rd square Jupiter, old ruler of 3rd). Writing and riding helped Georgiana relieve her anxiety with Mars opposition Jupiter, Mercury trine Moon. What to do with surplus energy? By a judgement of their Mars, Georgiana’s bounded like a puppy’s; Diana’s was like a dog without a bone.
Before marriage, Diana took delight in housework but at her marital homes such as Kensington Palace or Charles’ country retreat Highgrove, the servants attended to that. Cathartically, she swam, got sporty and adopted certain therapies, confiding in close friends about her marriage (Mars opposition Chiron; Mercury in Cancer trine Chiron). Both women loved music. Georgiana once accompanied an Italian operatic group on the harp and wrote a song for one of Sheridan’s patriotic plays; Diana danced with Wayne Sleep at the Royal Opera House. They associated with many talented personages of their day – artistes, politicians, wits and the educated, VIPs; enjoying their company, having fun and by fraternity, helping to promote them (Georgiana’s Venus is sextile Neptune; Pisces Moon; Sun/Venus in Gemini; Moon trine Mercury. Diana’s Venus is ruler of MC and in the 5th in Taurus square Moon; Sun/Mercury trine Neptune). The creative pay-off softened neglect from their husbands.
Devoted mothers
Their children, to whom they were utterly devoted, took prime position in their hearts. Unusually for women in privileged positions, they breastfed them, enjoying their company, taking them out, talking and playing with them and giving them free rein to learn by experience (Mercury is in Cancer sextile Mars in both charts). Georgiana with her Sun-Venus opposing Pluto heartbreakingly suffered several miscarriages and stillbirths.
With Mercury in Cancer, Georgiana affectionately gave nicknames to her children, husband William and some acquaintances. William was named ‘Canis’ because of all his dogs about him, and Charles Fox was called ‘Eyebrow’ – just google his image. Code names were useful when someone’s identity needed to be kept secret, e.g., Black or Black Sea for Charles Grey. Nicknames were not Diana’s thing except in extreme cases (Mars and Pluto), e.g., when she and her siblings used the famous ‘Acid Raine’ for their stepmother. Georgiana adopted a way of speaking in the Devonshire House Circle which was referred to as the ‘Devonshire Drawl’.
Her only Saturn aspect to Sun and Venus expressed the consolidating principle through relationships and Geminian activities. Charles Fox, leader of the Whig Party, was a main influence on her life. What attracted her to him was his fight for civil rights – righting wrongs and supporting freedom was her passion (t-square of Sun-Venus, Uranus Pluto). She loved the political infighting (Mercury sextile Mars). He treated her as his equal intellectually and depended on her help to raise the profile of the Party which she did admirably and tirelessly, even when unwell, with various promotional and publicity stunts and hosting political dinner parties (Moon trine Jupiter) which always received favourable press. Alongside the Prince of Wales, she was instrumental in raising the Whigs to popularity from a near defeat and her fame spread from “Land’s End to John O’Groats”5 even without Twitter. Only actresses and courtesans had that kind of public persona back then. Suburban canvassing by Georgiana and her sister Harriet was regarded as a novelty.
She wouldn’t stay in her carriage but got out and talked to everyone going door-to-door to impress upon anybody for votes. Innocently, she’d thank tradesmen for their votes with a kiss, a little over the top perhaps, but that’s a gushing Jupiter for you, wooing shopkeepers by overspending on purchases. As the premiere Whig hostess, she led a party of about 11 women (Chiron sextile Uranus, grand trine). She became an official personage in the Party in 1784 after the Government failed to turn voters against her and as a result, was treated like a heroine.
It was inevitable with Mars in Taurus opposing Jupiter that she was drawn to military sport. In 1778 with England’s defence against a possible attack by the French army, rather than renting a house at Coxheath, Kent, she set up camp to be near the action. But when the men tired of her presence, out of the ensuing boredom, she broke with tradition and designed a female military uniform in matching colours. How she enjoyed parading about on horseback and organising her ladies to cheer the men on! Diana didn’t like horse riding, but she liked horseplay!
The taking of extra-marital lovers
Once the male heir had been born to the Cavendishes after 16 years of marriage, Georgiana took a lover as was the official custom, as long as it was kept secret. Her man was Charles Grey, seven years younger, interested in reform, moody and impulsive unless winning – and inevitably she became pregnant. She confessed to William who gave her an ultimatum – “Give up Grey or never see your children again”. There was no question in her mind. She gave Grey up and was sent to France to have baby Eliza, giving her up almost immediately to foster parents in 1792. William allowed Georgiana back after two years travelling about in Europe. Her children had suffered a great deal through her absence, especially her deaf son Hart who did not recognise her as his mother (Sun-Venus in a t-square). She visited Eliza in secret after Grey’s parents adopted her.
Diana was worried that her two children would be taken from her, so she made sure she showed respect in the royal household (Venus-Saturn). The fact that she was able to be such a loving, positive influence on her children in the face of a royal tradition which forbids a royal mother any say in their upbringing demonstrated power. She took lovers, and one just before she died, Dodi Fayed, a Muslim already engaged to someone else and described by the media as a playboy, who bought her love with expensive gifts confirming an old pattern of paternal affection arising from guilt and insecurity (Sun trine Neptune; Moon square Venus).
Naturally the newspapers (Jupiter-Neptune) were keen to print stories of Georgiana and Diana to increase sales, at first pumping up their popularity but later ridiculing and criticising them, all of which made fascinating reading. Georgiana got stick for “meddling” in campaigns and was accused of giving sexual favours in exchange for votes (Venus-Uranus-Pluto t-square). Despite the ridicule, she couldn’t keep away from the excitement (Jupiter and Pluto are in mutual reception). Media hostility towards Diana became intolerable for her at the point when she was perceived to be a threat to the royal establishment. She reacted aggressively to this and the invasion of her privacy (Mars conjunct Pluto). She was accused of secretly wanting this controversial kind of publicity. Abuse from media bosses followed after the bombshell Panorama programme and the Andrew Morton book Diana: Her True Story came out. Certain people in politics, the media and in the royal family wanted to make her look mentally ill. The public made their own minds up about both women whose natural gift for expanding and dissolving society’s boundaries showed genuine humility and originality. By being themselves, they had risked being open to attack.
Rebels who identified with their publics
Their great talent was speaking to commoners as equals, challenging class prejudice (their grand trines; Georgiana’s Chiron sextile Uranus; Diana’s Moon opposition Uranus). Contact with key people was marked in both women indicated by Georgiana’s Sun, Venus, Uranus, Pluto aspects and Diana’s stellium in the 8th house. Georgiana had helped draw Charles Grey into Whig society when elected to Parliament, becoming PM in 1830; PM Tony Blair helped Diana to achieve her ambition as a humanitarian ambassador with the visit to Angola where landmines were putting lives at risk. With Georgiana’s banishment from England when carrying Grey’s child, came the opportunity to overcome the cruel self-sabotage by educative sightseeing and broadening her interests into chemistry and mineralology (Jupiter in Scorpio in exact trine to Mercury), also organising relief for refugees during the French Rebellion. Their Mars-Mercury sextiles led them undauntingly to dodge their way through danger zones.
After Georgiana’s return to England in 1793, she lived a more secluded life, partly because the Whig Party split in 1794 meant she had nothing to do and partly there was pressure on her to keep out of politics, so as ever she put her energy elsewhere into becoming patron of young scientists. In 1796 she suffered an agonising eye ulcer which left her blind and scarred in the right eye, undergoing barbaric medical invasions and electric shock treatment. Some years later kidney stones afflicted her; laudanum was prescribed and addiction to that ensued. With Mars in Taurus, she endured pain with great courage which helped lessen her shame and doubt.
Within the last years of their lives, there was a point at which both women realised they could no longer wear the Jupiter square Neptune mask without more suffering. Their escape route was borne out of guilt, Georgiana turning to religion, hosting charity galas and cutting spending, and Diana’s borne out of a sense of obligation and victimisation to save lost people. An observation of their Plutos indicates why Georgiana never revealed the true extent of her financial debt to the Duke and why, after Diana’s marriage broke down, she revealed the secret of affairs on both sides in a most explosive way.6
Diana in June 1997
With true charisma, they unconsciously acted as figureheads for the yearnings of the masses, a kind of glamorous, voluptuous/religious fantasy tune-in. They broke through the formal constrictions of society and became their own ambassadors. In Diana’s last five years she paired down the number of servants, ladies-in-waiting and bodyguards. In 1996 divorce stripped her of the HRH title and in her final year she auctioned her ‘official’ wardrobe attire, stating she had become free (Venus square Uranus), no longer Princess of Wales but Princess of the World. Her death, aged 36, was catastrophically violent and ‘speedy’ (Mars ruler of 4th part of Stellium in 8th). She changed the royal family from inside out. Georgiana’s death was acutely painful, most probably from an abscess on the liver and died aged 48 (Mars in Taurus opposition Jupiter).7
Both deaths left a gaping hole in people’s hearts. There was such outpouring of grief when they died. At Georgiana’s death the Prince of Wales declared, “The best-natured and the best-bred woman in England is gone.”8 A letter to Bess from her son Augustus stated, “There is no part of this world...where the angelic Duchess will not be deeply regretted; her kindness and beneficence were wound up with the happiness of so many’.9 Georgiana’s and Diana’s families were distraught. The grief of thousands and millions was testament to a deep pain which went further than ordinary bereavement at Georgiana’s Chiron return on the transiting Ascendant when Saturn and Uranus squared this, and Neptune reached 0º Sagittarius and transiting Chiron in Diana’s 10th trined her Moon and squared her Saturn.
Georgiana’s downfall was her gambling and eventual bankruptcy which had led to depression and anxiety. In her final days, Diana gave herself up to an unrealistic expectation of love which could have repeated a pattern of hurt and rejection. They both were gullible and escapist, but we should not judge them harshly for that. The Jupiter-Neptune square lost them down to the Big Disillusion, but the masses resurrected them because they were able to live their lives with sensitivity, loyalty, humour, compassion and imagination. They were celebrated spokeswomen for the radical collective conscience, fading out traditional and constitutional views.
Their lives were like an echo between two centuries over mountains and valleys, reverberating change.
Bibliography:
Hugh Stokes, The Devonshire House Circle, Herbert Jenkins Ltd 1917.
Amanda Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, HarperCollins 1999.
Andrew Morton, Diana Her True Story – In Her Own Words, Michael O’Mara Books Ltd, 2017, Memory banks of the essayist!
https://www.anglotopia.net/british-history/great-britons-georgiana-cavendish-duchess-devonshire (accessed March 26, 2019).
https://www.regencyhistory.net/2012/10/lady-elizabeth-foster-later-duchess-of.html (accessed 9 April 2019).
Chart data:
Georgiana Spencer birth date and place source: Amanda Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, HarperCollins 1999, p. 3. Rodden Rating C (time rectified and verified several times over a period of two years by dowsing over the signature sourced from the Chatsworth archives. See Ingrid Lind, Astrologically Speaking, L N Fowler & Co. Ltd, 1981, Chap.8: The Importance of the Birth Moment, pp. 118-119, 128).
Diana Spencer: Rodden Collection (LR, A): from memory of mother (AA Chart Database with Astro-Databank)
Endnotes:
1. C.E.O. Carter, The Astrological Aspects, L N Fowler & Co Ltd, 14th Ed 1977.
2. William Cavendish, 14 December 1748, Hardwick, Derbyshire (according to Geni World Family Tree); time rectified by author to 21:45, Rodden Rating C. Charles, Prince of Wales, 14 November 1948, 21:14, London, LR, A.
3. Amanda Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, HarperCollins, 1999, p. 135.
4. Hugh Stokes, The Devonshire House Circle, Herbert Jenkins Ltd 1917, p. 194.
5. BBC TV, Panorama: An Interview with HRH the Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir, 20.11.95.
6. Georgiana died 30.03.1806, 3:30 am, London (A. Foreman, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, p. 389); Diana died 31.08.1997, 4:00 am, Paris from her injuries in a car crash at 12:25 am (The Times, 01.09.97).
7. https://houseswithhistory.wordpress.com/2012/5/23/georgiana-duchess-of-devonshire/ (accessed 26 March 2019).
8. Vere Foster (ed), The Two Duchesses: Family Correspondence 1777-1859, Blackie & Son Ltd, 1898, letter from Augustus Foster to his mother Lady Elizabeth Foster on 28 May 1806.
9. Ibid.
Published by: The Astrological Journal, Jan/Feb 2022
Author:
Joyce Westwood studied with the Faculty of Astrological Studies and gained the certificate in 1982 which bears the signatures of three greats – Charles Harvey, Martin Freeman and Al Gordon. After that she became a healer, then an artist with astrology unforgotten and under-used. In 2008 after a mystery virus courtesy of Neptune, her husband bought her Solar Fire 7 and since then she has been working with and helping difficult family members, friends and clients in a person-centred psychological and psychodynamic way. She is undertaking research into OOB planets and number sequencing. Email: jwestwood@gmx.com.
Images:
Diana 1983, Nova Scotia: Russ Quinlan, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Georgiana 1780/81: Joshua Reynolds, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Georgiana by Thomas Gainsborough: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Devonshire: Thomas Rowlandson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Diana 1997: John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
© Joyce Westwood, 2022
