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Anne Luttrell
b. 1743 d. 28 Dec 1808 at Trieste, Italy (buried there)
daughter of Simon Luttrell, of Luttrellstown, Earl of Carhampton
Married (1st) Christopher Horton (Houton) of Catton Hall
Married (2nd) Henry, Duke of Cumberland, brother to King George III of England
"The Duke's marriage to the commoner Lady Anne Horton (or Houghton) (1743-1808) on October 2, 1771 was the catalyst for the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which forbids any descendant of George II to marry without the monarch's permission. There were no children from this marriage. Lady Anne, though from a good family -- she was a daughter of Simon Luttrell, Earl of Carhampton, and the widow of Christopher Horton of Catton Hall -- seems to have been rather loose with her favors, given one wag's comment that she was "the Duke of Grafton's Mrs Houghton, the Duke of Dorset's Mrs Houghton, everyone's Mrs Houghton."
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Frederick,_Duke_of_Cumberland Anne Luttrell Houghton, Duchess of Cumberland
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"Anne, Mrs. Horton, will be for ever famous, not only for her beauty, which was unsurpassed in a day when beauty was at its highest standard, but for her marriage with the Duke of Cumberland, which brought about all the stir and commotion of the Royal Marnage Act.
She had married when a mere girl Christopher Horton, a sporting squire, of whom little is known save that he was owner of Catton Park, Derbyshire. After a few years he died, leaving his widow a moderate provision, not a quarter sufficient to satisfy her extravagant tastes. She was 24, with bewitching eyes, which, when she pleased, she could animate to enchantment. "Her coquetry was so active, so varied, and yet so habitual, that it was difficult not to see through it, and yet as difficult to resist it." Horace Walpole describes her as a coquette beyond measure, artful as Cleopatra and completely mistress of her passions and projects. "Indeed," he adds, "eyelashes three-quarters of a yard shorter would have served to conquer such a head as she has turned."
For all that, Horace was mightily well pleased when his niece, the beautiful Lady Waldegrave, made the conquest of the Duke of Gloucester, whose mental qualifications were much on a par with those of his brother, the Duke of Cumberland.
Mrs. Horton met the Duke, it is said, at a boarding-house, whither he had gone until the scandal of one of his numerous love affairs had blown over. He was no match for the beautiful widow, whose dancing of the minuet completely carried his slight defences, and, finding she was impervious to any proposal save orthodox marriage, he followed her to Calais, where the knot was tied hard and fast, all legal forms being duly executed, and no loophole left through which the royal captive could wriggle.
The Duchess did not gain all she expected. The Royal Marriage Act indeed could not separate her from the Duke, or take from her the title of Duchess; but these advantages (especially the first) hardly repaid her for the snubs of the Court and for the isolation of her life, this latter lasting many years, the nobility being too good courtiers to risk irritating their Majesties by paying any deference to the interloper into the royal circle.
Later, the Duchess and her husband took a fiendish method of retaliation. When the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) came to man's estate, the Duchess wove her toils about him so as to attain great influence over his easily governed mind: neither she nor the Duke made any secret that their object was to intimidate the party into receiving the Duchess, and the plan succeeded; although not publicly recognized, she had the entrée to the more intimate family circle.
Her triumph, however, did not last long, as much of her glory was shorn when the Duke died in 1790. From that time we get only occasional glimpses of the beautiful Duchess, who survived her husband some twenty years."
from http://indigo.ie/~kfinlay/Picturesque%20Dublin/picturesque12.htm
"Walk in Kew Garden"
by Thomas Gainsborough
Portrait of Henry, Duke of Cumberland, with the Duchess of Cumberland and Lady Elizabeth Luttrell. 1783-85. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection, UK.
Anne Luttrell Houghton, Duchess of Cumberland
