Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster

Emily FitzGerald, Duchess of Leinster (6 October 1731 – 27 March 1814), known before 1747 as Lady Emily Lennox, from 1747 to 1761 as The Countess of Kildare and from 1761 to 1766 as The Marchioness of Kildare, was the second of the famous Lennox sisters, daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond (who was illegitimately descended from King Charles II of England) and his wife, Sarah Cadogan.

Lady Emily married James FitzGerald, 20th Earl of Kildare, on 7 February 1747. After their wedding in London, the couple returned to Fitzgerald's native Ireland, first residing at Leinster House then Carton House.

Their marriage was reportedly a happy one, despite Lord Kildare's infidelities. The couple had nineteen children:

• George FitzGerald, Earl of Offaly (15 January 1748 – Richmond House, 26 September 1765) he died at the age of seventeen.
• William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster (12 March 1749 – 20 October 1804) he married Hon. Emilia St. George (daughter of St George Saint-George, 1st Baron St George) on 4 November 1775. They had nine children
• Lady Caroline FitzGerald (21 June 1750 – 13 April 1754) died at the age of three.
• Lady Emily Mary FitzGerald (15 March 1751 – 8 April 1818) she married Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont on 20 August 1774. They had five children.
• Lady Henrietta FitzGerald (9 December 1753 – 10 September 1763) died the age of nine.
• Lady Caroline FitzGerald (April 1755)
• Charles FitzGerald, 1st Baron Lecale (30 June 1756 – 30 June 1810) he married twice and had two illegitimate children.
• Lady Charlotte Mary Gertrude FitzGerald (29 May 1758 – 13 September 1836) she married Joseph Strutt on 23 February 1789. They had four children.
• Lady Louisa Bridget FitzGerald (19 June 1760 – January 1765) died at the age of five.
• Lord Henry FitzGerald (30 July 1761 – 8 July 1829) he married Charlotte Boyle-Walsingham on 3 August 1791. They had twelve children.
• Lady Sophia Sarah Mary FitzGerald (26 September 1762 – 21 March 1845).
• Lord Edward FitzGerald (15 October 1763 – 4 June 1798) he married Stéphanie Caroline Anne Syms on 27 December 1792. They had three children.
• Lord Robert Stephen FitzGerald (1765 – 2 January 1833), a diplomat; married Sophia Charlotte Fielding and had issue.
• Lord Gerald FitzGerald (January 1766 – 1788). Drowned, went down with the ship in which he was serving.
• Lord Augustus FitzGerald (15 January 1767 – 2 January 1771) died at the age of three.
• Lady Fanny FitzGerald (28 January 1770 – 1775) died at the age of five.
• Lady Lucy Anne FitzGerald (5 February 1771 – 1851) she married Admiral Sir Thomas Foley on 31 July 1802.
• Lady Louisa FitzGerald (1772 – 1776) she died at the age of four.
• Lord George Simon FitzGerald (16 April 1773 – May 1783). Recognized as son of Lord Kildare, but in fact was the biological child of the Fitzgerald children's tutor, William Ogilvie.

Lord Kildare was created successively Marquess of Kildare and Duke of Leinster in recognition of his contribution to the political life of his country.It was partly the Duke's influence that led to a rift between the Duchess and her eldest sister, Caroline Fox, 1st Baroness Holland.

After the death of Lord Kildare on 19 November 1773, Emily married her children's tutor, William Ogilvie on 26 August 1774. Emily had begun an affair some years earlier in Frescati House. Despite her remarriage she continued to be known as The Dowager Duchess of Leinster.

Ogilvie was nine years her junior, and was the natural father of her youngest son from her first marriage. They lived for part of their marriage at Ardglass Castle in Ardglass, County Down, where Ogilvie worked to develop the village. A further three children were born to them after their marriage:

• Cecilia Margaret Ogilvie (9 July 1775 – 1824) she married Charles Lock on 12 July 1795. They had three daughters.
• Charlotte Ogilvie (born and died 1777).
• Emily Charlotte "Mimie" Ogilvie (May 1778 – 22 January 1832) she married Charles George Beauclerk (son of Topham Beauclerk and his wife, Lady Diana Spencer; briefly an MP) on 29 April 1799. They had thirteen children.

Emily was treated generously in her first husband's will. He left her a jointure of 4,000 pounds annually (increased from the 3,000 promised in the settlement), and a life interest in Leinster House (Dublin) and Carton (which she exchanged for Frescati House and 40,000 pounds) together with all their contents. She had brought the usual ducal daughter's dowry of 10,000 pounds, so the jointure and other payments would cripple her son the 2nd Duke of Leinster financially.

The 1st Duke also made over-generous provisions for his younger sons and all his daughters. Emily, Duchess of Leinster and her second husband, also received the usual annuity of 400 pounds annually for each of the minor children who lived with her.

Thus, Emily and William Ogilvie were probably financially better off than the 2nd Duke, who existed on less than 7,000 pounds annually out of which he had to run two large houses, play a role in Irish politics, and also provide lavish dowries of 10,000 each for three sisters who married.He also had to pay huge annuities (2,000 each) to the next youngest brothers Lord Lecale and Lord Henry Fitzgerald, and to pay the youngest brothers 10,000 each at their majority.Since Emily lived to 1814 (outliving the 2nd Duke by ten years), all these generous testamentary provisions, along with the huge building costs incurred by the 1st Duke, crippled the Leinsters for generations.

Fourteen of her children predeceased her. One of her sons, Lord Edward FitzGerald, was a major figure in the republican movement, and was killed during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

She died on 27 March 1814 in Grosvenor Square, London.

In 1999, a six-part BBC miniseries based on the lives of Emily Lennox and her sisters aired in the U.K. It was called Aristocrats.