page_title: Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford
section_title: Teenage years
hierarchical_section_title: Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford / Teenage years
caption_attribution_description: Lady Godina's rout; - or - Peeping-Tom spying out Pope-Joan, by James Gillray (died 1815), published 1796. See source website for additional information. According to the National Portrait Gallery of the UK, the caricature refers to Lady Georgiana Gordon (1781–1853), Duchess of Bedford from 1803 until her death; the title and the lecherous servant refer to Lady Godiva. Pope-Joan is a card game; Lady "Godina" is holding the diamond nine, which is called the "Pope" in that game. The man sitting on Lady "Godina"'s right is John Sneyd (1763–1835); the fat woman sitting on her left is Albinia, Countess of Buckinghamshire (died 1816). The fashion of women wearing vertical feathers or plumes in their head-dresses is abundantly satirized. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG.
context_page_description: Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford, formerly Lady Georgiana Gordon, was a British aristocrat, patron of the arts and wife of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford.
  Georgiana was born at Gordon Castle in Scotland, a younger daughter of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, and his first wife, Jane. In 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens, the Duchess of Gordon took Georgiana to Paris to pursue the option of a marriage with Eugène de Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon, who was around her own age, but political sensitivities put an end to the plan. As a second option, the Duchess of Gordon then arranged for her to become engaged to Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford; he died, aged 36, before they could marry. The duchess advised Georgiana to wear black when meeting Francis's younger brother, who had inherited the title and had been widowed with several children.
context_section_description: Her mother was an inveterate party-giver, first in Edinburgh, then in London.  James Gillray's caricature of 1796 shows Lady Georgiana Gordon, at the age of 14, at a rout-party, gambling at a game called "Pope Joan".  Behind the card-tables is a tight crush of people.  She is wearing an extreme décolletage, as was fashionable.
caption: Lady Godina's rout; - or - Peeping-Tom spying out Pope-Joan, by James Gillray, 1796. She holds the ♦9, a powerful card in the game, the so-called Curse of Scotland.
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