The Duchess of Gordon was witty, clever and ambitious. She married one of the richest men in Europe and helped run his vast family estates. She had seven children and became the leader of fashionable society in London and Edinburgh. In Romney's impressive double portrait, the Duchess is shown with her elder son, George, Marquess of Huntly who became Duke of Gordon in 1827. When George was recruiting a regiment for the army, his mother is said to have helped him by offering the king's shilling from between her own lips.