KATHLEEN KENNEDY
Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (February 20, 1920 - May 13, 1948),
born Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, was the second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
and a sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and widow of the heir to the
Devonshire dukedom.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Joseph Kennedy ambassador to the
Court of St. James's, his daughter Kathleen spent a year and a half living in
London. Beautiful and spirited, she was named the "most exciting debutante of
1938." In 1943 she returned to England to work in a center for servicemen set up
by the Red Cross. Despite the opposition of her intensely Catholic mother, Rose
Fitzgerald Kennedy, on May 6, 1944, Kathleen Kennedy, known to
friends as "Kick", married William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, a
Protestant and the eldest son and heir of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Other
than her brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., no one from the Kennedy family attended
the marriage ceremony. Her husband was killed only four months later by a German
sniper in World War II and his younger brother Andrew Cavendish, married to
Deborah Mitford, became heir to the dukedom.
Popular on the London social circuit and admired by many for her high spirits
though more traditional members of British society found fault with her
boisterousness the dashing young widow eventually became the mistress of Peter
Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam. The couple planned to wed after
Fitzwilliam's planned divorce. Instead, while on a trip to visit Joseph Kennedy
Sr. and gain his blessing for their relationship, Lord Fitzwilliam and Lady
Hartington died in an airplane crash over Sainte-Bauzille, Ardèche, France.
Only her father represented the Kennedy family at her funeral. Her mother, Rose,
declined to attend because of Kathleen's intention to marry outside the Catholic
church. It is said that Rose Kennedy also discouraged Kathleen's siblings from
attending for the same reason[citation needed]. Rose apparently forgave Kathleen
not long thereafter, and in 1951, was delighted that her first grandchild,
Robert F. Kennedy's daughter, Kathleen Hartington Kennedy, was named after her
late daughter; however, the family requested that the child not be nicknamed
Kick.
The Marchioness of Hartington is buried in the Cavendish family plot at Saint
Peter's Church, Edensor, near Chatsworth in Derbyshire. Among the wreaths that
covered her coffin was one with a handwritten note from Winston Churchill.
The gymnasium at Manhattanville College is named in her honor.
Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (February 20, 1920 - May 13, 1948),
born Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, was the second daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
and a sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and widow of the heir to the
Devonshire dukedom.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Joseph Kennedy ambassador to the
Court of St. James's, his daughter Kathleen spent a year and a half living in
London. Beautiful and spirited, she was named the "most exciting debutante of
1938." In 1943 she returned to England to work in a center for servicemen set up
by the Red Cross. Despite the opposition of her intensely Catholic mother, Rose
Fitzgerald Kennedy, on May 6, 1944, Kathleen Kennedy, known to
friends as "Kick", married William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, a
Protestant and the eldest son and heir of the 10th Duke of Devonshire. Other
than her brother Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., no one from the Kennedy family attended
the marriage ceremony. Her husband was killed only four months later by a German
sniper in World War II and his younger brother Andrew Cavendish, married to
Deborah Mitford, became heir to the dukedom.
Popular on the London social circuit and admired by many for her high spirits
though more traditional members of British society found fault with her
boisterousness the dashing young widow eventually became the mistress of Peter
Wentworth-FitzWilliam, 8th Earl FitzWilliam. The couple planned to wed after
Fitzwilliam's planned divorce. Instead, while on a trip to visit Joseph Kennedy
Sr. and gain his blessing for their relationship, Lord Fitzwilliam and Lady
Hartington died in an airplane crash over Sainte-Bauzille, Ardèche, France.
Only her father represented the Kennedy family at her funeral. Her mother, Rose,
declined to attend because of Kathleen's intention to marry outside the Catholic
church. It is said that Rose Kennedy also discouraged Kathleen's siblings from
attending for the same reason[citation needed]. Rose apparently forgave Kathleen
not long thereafter, and in 1951, was delighted that her first grandchild,
Robert F. Kennedy's daughter, Kathleen Hartington Kennedy, was named after her
late daughter; however, the family requested that the child not be nicknamed
Kick.
The Marchioness of Hartington is buried in the Cavendish family plot at Saint
Peter's Church, Edensor, near Chatsworth in Derbyshire. Among the wreaths that
covered her coffin was one with a handwritten note from Winston Churchill.
The gymnasium at Manhattanville College is named in her honor.