The Duchess Countess cover art

The Duchess Countess

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Duchess Countess

By: Catherine Ostler
Narrated by: Catherine Ostler
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

 A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR
A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR
A VOGUE BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A rollicking read... [Ostler] tells Elizabeth's story with admirable style and gusto' Sunday Times
'Terrifically entertaining: if you liked Bridgerton, you’ll love this. . . and her research is impeccable' Evening Standard

When the glamorous Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, Countess of Bristol, went on trial at Westminster Hall for bigamy in April 1776, the story drew more attention in society than the American War of Independence.

A clandestine, candlelit wedding to the young heir to an earldom, a second marriage to a Duke, a lust for diamonds and an electrifying appearance at a masquerade ball in a diaphanous dress: no wonder the trial was a sensation. However, Elizabeth refused to submit to public humiliation and retire quietly. Rather than backing gracefully out of the limelight, she embarked on a Grand Tour of Europe, being welcomed by the Pope and Catherine the Great among others.

As maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth led her life in the inner circle of the Hanoverian court and her exploits delighted and scandalised the press and the people. She made headlines, and was a constant feature in penny prints and gossip columns. Writers were intrigued by her. Thackeray drew on Elizabeth as inspiration for his calculating, alluring Becky Sharp. But her behaviour, often depicted as attention-seeking and manipulative, hid a more complex tale – that of Elizabeth’s fight to overcome personal tragedy and loss.

Now, in this brilliantly told and evocative biography, Catherine Ostler takes a fresh look at Elizabeth’s story and seeks to understand and reappraise a woman who refused to be defined by society’s expectations of her. Historical Military & War Politicians Politics & Activism Royalty

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Three Times a Countess cover art
Vanderbilt cover art
The Sphinx cover art
The Duchess cover art
The Real Queen Charlotte cover art
Queen Victoria's Cousins cover art
Fortune's Many Houses cover art
The Cartiers cover art
Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918 cover art
Grandmama of Europe cover art
The Quest for Queen Mary cover art
The Lost Queen cover art
Catherine the Great cover art
Anne Boleyn cover art
The King is Dead, Long Live the King! cover art

Critic reviews

‘What a superb, gripping, decadent, colourful biography that brings an extraordinary woman and a whole world blazingly to life. Filled new research, written so elegantly with empathy, passion and cool analysis, The Duchess Countess is an unforgettable, unputdownable read that seems both modern and historical, utterly relevant today - featuring a cast of characters from Marie Antoinette to Catherine the Great, but also the life of a woman who is both adventuress and victim, who achieved vast wealth and great notoriety, becoming one of Europe's most famous women and the star of the most scandalous court case of the century.’ (Simon Sebag Montefiore)
‘Although this book is a beautifully written and deeply researched life of one of the most remarkable women of the eighteenth century, it is also a scintillating portrait of an age. Since Elizabeth Chudleigh knew so many of Europe’s most talented, fascinating and important people – as well as its most dissipated rakes – the book is populated by as wide a galere of personalities as one is ever likely to meet in a biography. The author has ransacked every archive and visited every place connected with her subject from London to St Petersburg, and the result is the first ever fair-minded estimation of one of the great adventuresses of history. Funny, intelligent, witty, profound and on occasion moving, this book sets a new standard for eighteenth-century biography writing.’ (Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny and Napoleon the Great)
‘Fascinating. Magnificent. Sensitively told. Complex, capricious, beautiful and boldly ambitious, Elizabeth Chudleigh was also one of the most reviled women in Georgian England. In resurrecting her tale, Catherine Ostler allows the Duchess of Kingston to emerge from the prejudices of the past like a resplendent phoenix.’ (Hallie Rubenhold)
‘This is a scintillating story superbly told by Catherine Ostler... She has a remarkable ability to demonstrate her deep knowledge of the period without being boring or a show-off. She packs every paragraph with eye-opening detail, making you feel as though you’re living in the 18th century, but never veers from the central story of a woman trying to hold herself together in that vicious society while the men did as they pleased.’ (Ysenda Maxtone Graham)
'A rollicking read...[Ostler] tells Elizabeth's story with admirable style and gusto, and clearly finds her heroine irresistible. A series of gloriously implausible soap-opera twists... anticipating Thackeray's Becky Sharp... All this would be entertaining enough, but the real drama was yet to come. No wonder the scandal sheets loved it.' (Dominic Sandbrook)
'A dazzling portrait of a woman and an age - I was gripped from start to finish.' (Antonia Fraser)
All stars
Most relevant
A good listen
A fascinating life. Well portrayed
Recommended for anyone interested in late 18th century history.

excellent book. Well worth listening to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Overall, the book is a fascinating and thoroughly researched account of a lesser known figure of the Georgian period, who probably deserves more recognition. Elizabeth Chudleigh was a pioneering woman who wanted more for herself than society was prepared to allow. That said, there were a few issues with the telling. Catherine the Great’s private note to herself ‘be kind’ was repeated in the audiobook version. I also question whether the author should have narrated the book herself. I did not find her voice the easiest to listen to and she seemed to stumble over the beginning of words frequently. Her pronunciation was also jarring on occasion. Thus, Rhenish became ‘Ree-nish’ instead of ‘Wren-ish’; Cartagena was ‘Carta-gee-na’ instead of ‘Carta-hay-na’
There were also several long words that the narrator stumbled over, which were unnecessary and would have made a more fluent listen had simpler alternatives been used.
I felt there was too great a tedious, repetitive emphasis on the author’s conclusion of borderline personality disorder, with little corroborating evidence. The cultural norms of the day were so different, that it seems odd and unconvincing to cling to this as a definitive diagnosis.
Otherwise though, the author’s insight into this lady’s approach to life, self-advancement and the politics of relationships were involving and convincing.

Fascinating account with some author’s oddities

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautifully written, masterful storytelling and read with panache.
Loved every minute of it. Must goto the Hermitage to see the treasures again.

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I was really looking forward to this book but sadly the narrators voice spoiled in for me. I actslly had to give up listening. Shame.

Strident voice spoiled the story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
it is an incredible story and the level of detail immersed me into the era.

Amazing history book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews