Heart-Wrenching Facts About Harriet Spencer, Countess of Bessborough
The Countess of Bessborough was born into the illustrious Spencer family. But the only thing she inherited in life was a predisposition to heartbreak and a penchant for scandal. Despite a long list of lovers (and we mean, long), Harriet never actually found love...not until the very end.
1. She Fell Far From The Tree
Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough—or just “Harriet” as her friends and family liked to call her—was born in June 1761. She was the youngest surviving child of John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, and Margaret Georgiana Poyntz. Unlike her parents, however, Harriet would not have a storybook romance. Far from it.
2. She Wasn’t Loved
Harriet’s parents had a loving and lasting marriage. Her mother thought that her father was “handsomer than an angel,” and even wrote to her friend, “I will own it, and never deny it that I do love Spencer above all men on Earth”. But despite all the love in the house, Harriet received very little of it. In fact, she received basically none of it.
3. She Wasn’t The Favorite
Even before she was born, Harriet’s mother confessed that her heart was full of love for her eldest daughter Georgiana, who she affectionately called "little Gee". But because her mother had already found her golden child, there was very little room in her heart for poor baby Harriet. In fact, the way she treated her youngest daughter was downright shocking.
4. Her Mother Called Her Ugly
Harriet’s own mother mistreated her from the time she was a baby. She even called her a “little ugly girl” who had “no beauty to brag of but an abundance of fine brown hair”.
The favoritism within the Spencer family was brutal—and it didn't stop there.
If Harriet thought that she could find comfort from her father, she was so wrong.
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