Caroline Agar-Ellis, Viscountess Clifden (27 October 1763 – 23 November 1813),[1] formerly Lady Caroline Spencer, was an English noblewoman.
She was the eldest daughter of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough,[2] and his wife, the former Lady Caroline Russell.[1] In August 1782 she was due to marry George Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham, but the wedding was called off and instead she became engaged to George Gordon, Lord Strathavon; this engagement was also broken off.
She married Henry Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden (a former suitor of her sister Elizabeth), on 10 March 1792. They had one son, George Agar-Ellis (1797-1833), who later became Baron Dover.[2] Their only daughter, Caroline Anne (1794-1814), died unmarried.
A portrait of the future Viscountess with her sister Elizabeth, painted in 1791 by George Romney, was commissioned by their father.[3] It purports to show the sisters in the guise of the muses of Music and Painting (with Caroline representing the visual arts).[4] The painting became known as "the Clifden Romney"; when sold in 1896, it raised the third highest price ever paid for a painting in the UK.[5] It later came into the possession of the American businessman and collector Henry E. Huntington.[6]
Viscountess Clifden died at Blenheim Palace, aged 50, and was buried in the family vault of the Dukes of Marlborough, next to her mother.[7]
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