The first Marquess of Dufferin and Ava is largely forgotten today — rotten luck for the great diplomat of the Victorian age. In the second half of the 19th century, Dufferin zoomed around the empire, hoovering up the sweetest plums in the diplomatic service: Governor-General of Canada, ambassador to the courts of Russia, Turkey and Italy, ambassador to France, Viceroy of India.
Why did Queen Victoria’s proconsul slip into oblivion? Andrew Gailey, the Vice-Provost of Eton — until now best known as housemaster to Princes William and Harry — answers the question, telling not just Dufferin’s sad, dazzling story but the story of the empire at its high point, before the fall.
Practically all the good fairies gathered for Dufferin’s birth in 1826. The son of an Anglo-Irish peer, he was heir to a chunk of County Down, between Belfast and Bangor. Throughout his life, his path was scattered with stardust; by accident and design he was the Zelig of the empire.
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