Elizabeth Waldegrave (1758-1823)

Obituary
COUNTESS DOWAGER OF CARDIGAN.

June 23. At her house in Seymour-place, May Fair, aged 65, afted a short but painful illness, of an inflammation which baffled the skill of her physicians, Elizabeth Countess Dowager of Cardigan, widow of James the 5th Earl of Cardigan, who died Feb, 24, 1811, and to whom she was married April 28, 1791.

Her Ladyship was the eldest daughter (her twin sister Amelia having died, June 8, 1768) of John the third Earl of Waldegrave, and Lady Elizabeth Leveson Gower, sister of Granville first Marquis of Stafford, K.G. and was born May 26, 1758. On the establishment of the Household of the Princess Royal (now Queen Dowager of Wurtemberg), she was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber to her Royal Highness, and continued in that situation up to the period of her marriage ; shortly after that she succeeded to the same office with our late most gracious and excellent Majecty Queen Charlotte, and discharged the duties of the same till her lamented decease. The attachment of all the members of the Royal Family to her Ladyship commenced in their earliest youth, remained unshaken to the last, and their sincere grief at her loss is the best tribute to her numerous virtues, her steady friendship, and amiable qualifications.

Her Ladyship has left behind one surviving sister and brother, viz. Lady Caroline Waldegrave, also Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princesses; and Admiral Lord Radstock, G.C.B.

Her remains were interred in the vault of the Earl of Waldegrave's family at Navestock in Essex on the 1st of July. The body was inclosed in a coffin of rich Genoa crimson velvet, with heraldic ornaments, and plate, on which was the following inscription: " Elizabeth Countess Dowager of Cardigan, died June 23, aged 65 years." The funeral procession was agreeable to her rank ; the carriages of their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Gloucester, Princess Sophia, and Princess Sophia Matilda, and many others, attended.


 * The Gentleman's Magazine, July 1823, page 83.

__SHOWFACTBOX__