Career
Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West was the youngest child of William and Mary Cornwallis-West. Later they lived together at Eaton Hall, Cheshire. The Duke was one of the richest men in the world.
They had three children:
Lady Ursula Mary Olivia Grosvenor (21 February 1902 – 1978), whose descendants are the only descendants of the Duchess and of the Duke
Edward George Hugh Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor (1904 – February 1909)
Lady Mary Constance Grosvenor (27 June 1910 – 7 June 2000)
The Duchess was one of only two women to compete in sailing at the 1908 Summer Olympics as owner and extra crewmember of the 8-metre bronze medal-winning yacht Sorais.
She distributed the diplomas of special merit to the competitors of the other Olympic sports on 25 July 1908. In 1909, the couple"s only son and heir apparent to the dukedom died following an operation for appendicitis while the Duchess was away.
The Duke accused her of neglecting the child, and the Duchess did not attend the boy"s funeral. In 1913, the Duke requested separation but, with the outbreak of the First World War, the couple turned their attention to war service - the Duke joined his regiment and the Duchess sponsored a military hospital in Le Touquet, housed in a local casino.
In 1918, the Duchess was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her service in the war.
The couple were divorced - on the grounds of the Duke"s adultery and desertion - the following year, with the decree being made absolute 19 December 1919. On 14 January 1920, the former secretly married her private secretary and agent, Captain John Fitzpatrick Lewis, then in his thirties, at Lyndhurst, Hampshire. She had met Lewis early in the war, while he was being treated at her hospital in Le Touquet.
They had no children.
The former duchess died aged 92. Dennis Wheatley dedicated his 1961 thriller Vendetta in Spain to her.