6 April—Connecticut Public Television aired “The Duchess” last night. The 2008 lavishly costumed and locationed, not inaccurate, most enjoyable historic flick is based on the marriage and affairs of Georgiana Spencer and William Cavendish. Georgiana was the daughter of the very wealthy first Earl Spencer and William was the even wealthier fifth Duke of Devonshire.

If any Monitor readers have seen the movie and are wondering what became of Georgiana’s boyfriend Charles Grey, he inherited his father the general’s earldom in 1807 and rose to prime minister in 1840. And he gave his name to Earl Grey tea.

More to today’s point, Georgiana was the sister of George John Spencer, Viscount Althorp during the events depicted in the film, later to become the second Earl Spencer upon his father’s death. And that brought to mind Althorp’s tutor, of whom I last wrote in 1981, in my column in the now defunct (i.e., Hearstified) Torrington Register, when the Prince of Wales popped the question to Lady Diana Spencer.

So here’s the 5 March 1981 “Outside View” column straight out of The Register, typesetter’s typos and all, about an admirable, brilliant, honest man: