Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford

Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford (née Lady Diana Spencer; 31 July 1710 – 27 September 1735), was a member of the Spencer family known for the unsuccessful attempt of marriage with Frederick, Prince of Wales.

Orphaned by the age of 6, Lady Diana, known by her family as "dear little Di", joined the household of her rich and ambitious maternal grandmother, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. She was her grandmother's favourite grandchild and closest confidante. The highly influential Duchess of Marlborough tried to arrange a secret marriage between Lady Diana and the Prince of Wales, King George II's eldest son and heir apparent to the throne. When the scheme was frustrated by Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Lady Diana was married off to Lord John Russell, later 4th Duke of Bedford. The couple's only child was a son named John, whose preterm birth was induced by a carriage accident and who lived for a day. Following a further miscarriage, the Duchess of Bedford died of tuberculosis at the age of 25.

Her brother John's descendant Lady Diana Spencer, who married Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1981, was named after her.

Lady Diana Spencer was born into the rising Spencer family in London on 31 July 1710. She was the second daughter and youngest of five children of the English statesman Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, and his second wife, Anne Spencer, Countess of Sunderland (née Lady Anne Churchill). The Countess of Sunderland was the second-born but favourite and politically most active daughter of the English soldier and statesman John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Lady Sunderland's mother, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, was one of the most influential women of the time due to her close friendship with Queen Anne, who died in 1714.

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