{"id":238197,"date":"2023-10-09T11:36:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T11:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=238197"},"modified":"2023-10-09T11:36:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T11:36:29","slug":"diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Fascinating diary belonging to Princess Diana&#8217;s great-great-grandmother, in which she listed all the men she danced with at balls, goes up for auction<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour&#8217;s diary has\u00a0come to light<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Read More: Three of Princess Diana&#8217;s gowns are sold for \u00a31.3million at auction<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A fascinating diary kept by Princess Diana&#8217;s great-great-grandmother in which she listed all the balls she attended and the men she danced with has come to light.<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour was a member of Victorian Britain&#8217;s social elite who was invited to countless balls, banquets and gatherings during the &#8216;London Season&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>As an attractive 19-year-old born into an aristocratic family &#8211; she was a direct descendant of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII&#8217;s third wife &#8211; she would have been launched into society to find a husband.<\/p>\n<p>And judging by her &#8216;charming aide memoir&#8217; there was no shortage of potential suitors who waltzed with her in the ballrooms of some of London&#8217;s finest residences in the springs of 1844 and 1845.<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide made a note of the date and location of each event she attended, the name of the host and all the men who asked her to dance.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331921-12610139-image-a-52_1696846941475.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>A fascinating diary kept by Princess Diana &#8216;s great-great-grandmother in which she listed all the balls she attended and the men she danced with has come to light<\/p>\n<p>She also made summary comments about some of the balls.<\/p>\n<p>For example, for Madame St Aulaire&#8217;s do of May 2, 1844 she wrote: &#8216;Dreadfully crowded &amp; could not get into the ballroom till very late.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>However she found the Duke of Devonshire&#8217;s ball at Chiswick House on May 17 to be &#8216;a charming Ball&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>At most of the events Adelaide danced quadrilles and waltzes and her distinguished partners included various lords and &#8216;Prince Edward&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide had to wait 10 years before she married Vice-Admiral Frederick Spencer, the 4th Earl Spencer.<\/p>\n<p>Their great-grandson was John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, who was Princess Diana&#8217;s father.<\/p>\n<p>The booklet, which Adelaide titled &#8216;Balls and My Partners 1844-45&#8217; fell out of another book bought as a job lot by antiques collector Peter Hone about 40 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Hone recalled the book sale had links to Bagshot Park, the current home of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331571-12610139-image-a-53_1696846948298.jpg\" height=\"773\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour (pictured) was a member of Victorian Britain&#8217;s social elite who was invited to countless balls, banquets and gatherings during the &#8216;London Season&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331915-12610139-Princess_Diana_bore_a_striking_resemblance_to_her_great_great_gr-m-56_1696847142410.jpg\" height=\"928\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Princess Diana bore a striking resemblance to her great-great-grandmother (pictured during a Royal Tour of Nigeria in 1990)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331575-12610139-image-a-54_1696846997602.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>And judging by her &#8216;charming aide memoir&#8217; there was no shortage of potential suitors who waltzed with her in the ballrooms of some of London&#8217;s finest residences in the springs of 1844 and 1845<\/p>\n<p>He has kept it at his London flat ever since. Its true significance has only now been realised as he prepares to auction off some of the contents if his flat.<\/p>\n<p>Mimi Connell Lay, of Lay&#8217;s Auctioneers of Penzance, Cornwall, has researched the little booklet and discovered the identity of its author.<\/p>\n<p>She said: &#8216;I have never seen anything like it before. It is a lovely and fascinating record of all the balls she attended, the dances and danced and, of course, the partners she danced with.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This was all during the &#8216;London Season&#8217; in Victorian Britain when the great and the good held swanky balls almost every night. It is like something out of Sense and Sensibility only this was real life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Adelaide Seymour was obviously very well connected because she got invited to so many of these events.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;She also must have been very attractive judging by all of the distinguished men who asked her to dance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The booklet is tiny, about 10cms by 11cms. She cut up sheets of paper and stitched them together. There are probably 20 pages in all.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331553-12610139-image-a-58_1696847209634.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>For example, for Madame St Aulaire&#8217;s do of May 2, 1844 she wrote: &#8216;Dreadfully crowded &amp; could not get into the Ball Room till very late&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331569-12610139-image-a-57_1696847162413.jpg\" height=\"476\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The booklet, which Adelaide titled &#8216;Balls and My Partners 1844-45&#8217; fell out of another book bought as a job lot by antiques collector Peter Hone about 40 years ago<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331549-12610139-image-a-59_1696847309410.jpg\" height=\"845\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>For 1845 she attended 44 balls, four breakfasts and three teas and danced 373 times, including 134 waltzes and 118 polkas<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/09\/11\/76331537-12610139-image-a-60_1696847593700.jpg\" height=\"693\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>On the final page of the booklet, Adelaide tallied up all the balls she went to. For 1844 she worked out she went to 32 balls and danced 291 times<\/p>\n<p>On the final page of the booklet, Adelaide tallied up all the balls she went to.<\/p>\n<p>For 1844 she worked out she went to 32 balls and danced 291 times.<\/p>\n<p>For 1845 she attended 44 balls, four breakfasts and three teas and danced 373 times, including 134 waltzes and 118 polkas.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the men she danced with included Lord Worcester, Lord Northland, Lord Curzon and Leopold Paget.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The last two men must have been vying for Adelaide&#8217;s affections as their names pop up repeatedly in her little book.<\/p>\n<p>The booklet will be sold on Thursday and had a pre-sale estimate of \u00a3400.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-12610139\/Princess-Diana-grandmother-diary-auction.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fascinating diary belonging to Princess Diana&#8217;s great-great-grandmother, in which she listed all the men she danced with at balls, goes up for auction Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour&#8217;s diary has\u00a0come to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Diary of Princess Diana&amp;apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction - lovemainstream.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diary of Princess Diana&amp;apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction - lovemainstream.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fascinating diary belonging to Princess Diana&#8217;s great-great-grandmother, in which she listed all the men she danced with at balls, goes up for auction Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour&#8217;s diary has\u00a0come to&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"lovemainstream.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-09T11:36:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Diary-of-Princess-Dianaaposs-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/\",\"name\":\"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction - lovemainstream.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-09T11:36:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-09T11:36:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lifestyle\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/category\/lifestyle\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/\",\"name\":\"lovemainstream.com\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction - lovemainstream.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction - lovemainstream.com","og_description":"Fascinating diary belonging to Princess Diana&#8217;s great-great-grandmother, in which she listed all the men she danced with at balls, goes up for auction Adelaide Horatia Elizabeth Seymour&#8217;s diary has\u00a0come to&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/","og_site_name":"lovemainstream.com","article_published_time":"2023-10-09T11:36:29+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Diary-of-Princess-Dianaaposs-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/","url":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/","name":"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction - lovemainstream.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-09T11:36:29+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-09T11:36:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/diary-of-princess-dianas-great-great-grandmother-up-for-auction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lifestyle","item":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/category\/lifestyle\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Diary of Princess Diana&apos;s great-great-grandmother up for auction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/","name":"lovemainstream.com","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abc9aeefdadf991087d66599cfc40c8d","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38da2a5c83e5b947af91e83c833be9d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238198,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238197\/revisions\/238198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}