Elizabeth Courtney was the illegitimate daughter of the Whig politician and future Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and socialite Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, while Georgiana was married to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire.
13 Facts About Eliza Courtney
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Eliza Courtney was brought to Falloden, Northumberland in northern England and adopted by her paternal grandparents.
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Unlike her mother's legitimate children from her marriage, Eliza Courtney was not raised as part of the Devonshire House set in London.
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In 1808, her maternal aunt Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, who didn't know she was Eliza Courtney's aunt, visited the Greys and was dismayed at what she observed:.
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Eliza Courtney was not informed of her true parentage until after the death of her mother in 1806.
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Eliza Courtney's brother was Freeman Freeman-Thomas, Viceroy of India and was created 1st Marquess of Willingdon.
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Eliza Courtney's first daughter, Georgiana, was born on 12 October 1817.
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Eliza Courtney's grandson was Sir Horace James Seymour GCMG CVO, a diplomat who was British Minister in Tehran from 1936 to 1939 and British Ambassador to China, 1942 to 1946.
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Eliza Courtney's second son, Charles Henry, was born in 1823 in Florence.
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Eliza Courtney married Louisa Caroline Lambton, a daughter of William Henry Lambton and niece of the 1st Earl of Durham.
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Eliza Courtney was subject of Vanity Fair treatment, 20 October 1877.
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Eliza Courtney died on 2 May 1859, at the age of 67, and was buried on 7 May at Kensal Green Cemetery, when her address was stated as Queen's Hotel, Norwood, and 2, Cadogan Place.
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Eliza Courtney's descendants include Sarah, Duchess of York, and her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of York, who are tenth and twelfth in line to the British throne, respectively.