TAB Corley's profile of Elizabeth Chudleigh, later the Countess of Bristol and Duchess of Kingston upon Hull (c.1720-1788), notes that
... After a fling with James, sixth duke of Hamilton, on 4 August 1744 Elizabeth secretly married Lieutenant the Hon. Augustus John Hervey RN (1724-1779)... This secrecy allowed her to remain at court, but when in 1746 Hervey returned from two years' naval service in the West Indies, he was incensed to learn that she had not been faithful to him. A reconciliation, won after lavish payments of money by him, resulted in the birth of her only child [who] died soon afterwards. After much provocation, early in 1749 Hervey severed all relations with her.Elizabeth stuck to a good thing, "speedily" becoming the mistress of the second duke of Kingston upon Hull. In 1759 the imminent demise of George Hervey, second earl of Bristol, inspired her hopes that her husband would succeed to his brother's title. She "confessed all to the princess dowager of Wales", as one does, then "dashed down to Hampshire, acquired a blank parish register, and had her marriage recorded, with one other entry for credibility's sake". Alas, in 1769 a court ruled that the marriage had not taken place. She then married the duke of Kingston.
Perhaps that brush-off led to Elizabeth's reckless appearance, at a masquerade at Ranelagh that May, as Iphigenia undressed for sacrifice: she wore a smile, some foliage rather low round her middle, and a covering of the flimsiest flesh-coloured gauze. Princess Augusta reacted to this audacious impression of nakedness by throwing her veil over Elizabeth. The infatuated George II asked if he could place his hand on her bare breasts; with great presence of mind, she offered to put it on a still softer place and guided it to the royal forehead. Far from taking offence, the king gave her a 35 guinea watch and made her mother a housekeeper at Windsor.
Elizabeth was now approaching fifty. Like a later temptress, Emma, Lady Hamilton, she had grown fat, thanks to overeating and a fondness for the bottle. Yet she remained voluptuous, with large bovine eyes, a roundish nose, and sensual lips, never short of admirers. Trouble really began when the duke died in 1773 and was found to have left her the income from his real estate for life and the whole of his personalty as long as she remained a widow; he feared that she could easily be taken in by some adventurer.The duke's nephew and heir immediately disputed the will and had her indicted for bigamy. No matter, as Thackeray would say, she was safely offshore. From Rome, where she "more or less decorously captivated the intelligent but weak Clement XIV and half the curia", the merry widow hastened home
having demanded with menaces (by brandishing a pistol) the necessary funds from a reluctant English banker. The law took its ponderous course until in April 1776, as a peer (Hervey had lately become third earl of Bristol), she was tried before her fellow peers in Westminster Hall. She defended herself by putting the blame on her lawyers and others, including the princess dowager. The Lords believed not a word of this defence, and all 119 of them declared her guilty. She evaded the clerical punishment of being branded on the hand, and escaped in an open boat to Calais before the [Duke's] family could legally prevent her from leaving the country.She never returned. Although wealthy (with an income of £20,000 a year), Elizabeth "became so restless, irritable, and moody that she had no close friend". In 1777 she moved to St Petersburg in a private frigate - the super-yacht of that era - but was soon bored with life at the court of Catherine the Great and became involved with a supposed Albanian prince who relieved her of some loot, was unmasked as a swindler and committed suicide after arrest for forgery. Elizabeth bought an estate near St Petersburg and established a vodka distillery, which she bestowed on a young English carpenter - "no doubt for services rendered" – when she moved back to France.
Characteristically, a dispute over purchase of a mansion saw her back in court. Corley notes that "on hearing that she had lost the case, she threw such a hysterical tantrum that she burst an internal blood vessel. On the following day, 26 August 1788, she died suddenly in Paris".
