Last Mitford sister dies aged 94

Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, the last of the famous Mitford sisters, has died at the age of 94, her son has said.

As wife of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, whom she married in 1941, Deborah Vivien Cavendish was mistress of Chatsworth House, one of the grandest estates in England. But it is perhaps because of her position as the youngest of the six Mitford sisters that “Debo”, as she was called, will best be remembered.

The sisters, daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, fascinated and at times appalled society from the 1940s onwards.

Nancy, the oldest sibling, was a novelist and journalist, who lightly fictionalised the siblings' upbringing in a series of comic novels; Diana married Oswald Mosley at Josef Goebbels' house with Hitler as a guest of honour; Unity was a devotee and close friend of Hitler's; Jessica ("Decca") renounced her privileged upbringing to become a lifelong communist. Only Pamela, the second-oldest daughter, lived a quiet life largely out of the public eye in the countryside.

Though she called her memoirs, published in 2010 at the age of 90, Wait for Me! because she had always felt she was catching up with her siblings, Deborah's own life was hardly uneventful. She took tea with Hitler, knew Churchill and John F Kennedy, and was mistress of the robes at the Queen's coronation.

In later years, with the estate facing potentially crippling death duties following the death of the 10th Duke, she took an active role in the running of Chatsworth and was nicknamed the “housewife duchess”, opening the house fully to the public and becoming the driving force behind its shop and cafe.

She and her husband had six children, three of whom died at birth. Her son Peregrine is the current (12th) Duke of Devonshire.

– (Guardian service)