Harriet Osborne, Baroness Godolphin
Harriet Osborne, Baroness Godolphin was a British noblewoman. An illegitimate child, her mother was the society figure Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, who became pregnant by her longtime lover Lord Granville Leveson-Gower. Henrietta gave birth to the girl in secret and sent her to be raised by a foster mother, though she stayed in contact through letters and gifts.
Harriet's mother, the Countess of Bessborough, never revealed her true identity to her daughter.
Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough
Henrietta Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough, born Lady Henrietta Frances Spencer, was the wife of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough; the couple were the parents of Lady Caroline Lamb. Her father, John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer, was a great-grandson of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Her sister was Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire.
1793 portrait by Angelica Kauffman
Henrietta Ponsonby with her sons Frederick and John by John Hoppner (1787)
Henrietta Frances Viscountess Duncannon, 1797