# Duchess Kitty — Midwinter character guide

> Duchess Kitty in Midwinter by John Buchan.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Lady Duchess Kitty, Kitty, the Duchess

**First appearance:** 0016-xiv-duchess-kitty-on-the-road

## Snapshot

A duchess past forty who looks like a girl in her teens, dressed as a milkmaid and mourning her lost poets, with a wit sharp enough to make treason sound like drawing-room talk.

## Who they are

Duchess Kitty holds court at Brightwell in flowered chintz and cherry-velvet ribbons, teasing Mr. Murray about the King's Solicitor and lamenting that Pope and Gay have left her without a versifier. Her childlike eyes and tripping walk disguise a woman who reads the room better than anyone in it, and who knows exactly how dangerous it is to be Scotch in this company. Her playful invitation to plot treason is not entirely a joke, and her presence gives the Brightwell scenes their glittering, uneasy surface.

## Relationships

### [Alastair Maclean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters/alastair_maclean)

_romantic_

Alastair and the Duchess share a passionate but forbidden romance, complicated by their different social stations.

### [Sir John Norreys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters/sir_john_norreys)

_psychological_

Sir John exerts a controlling, manipulative influence over the Duchess, using her as a pawn in his political games.

### [Sir John Norreys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters/sir_john_norreys)

_psychological_

Sir John exerts a controlling, manipulative influence over the Duchess, using her as a pawn in his political games.

### [Alastair Maclean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters/alastair_maclean)

_romantic_

Alastair and the Duchess share a passionate but forbidden romance, complicated by their different social stations.

### [Alastair Maclean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters/alastair_maclean)

_romantic_

Alastair and the Duchess share a passionate but forbidden romance, complicated by their different social stations.

## In the story

### [II: In Which a Nobleman Is Perplexed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/chapters/ii-in-which-a-nobleman-is-perplexed)

Lord Cornbury's sister, a lively and irreverent woman who discusses the Stuarts and politics.

### [Duchess Kitty on the Road](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/chapters/xiv-duchess-kitty-on-the-road)

Agrees to assist Alastair, arriving at Brightwell to witness Kyd's exposure.

### [XVI: Bids Farewell to an English Lady](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/chapters/xvi-bids-farewell-to-an-english-lady)

Agrees to take Claudia to Amesbury and shield her from the truth; describes Claudia as an 'archangel of angels.'

### [XVII: Ordeal of Honour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/chapters/xvii-ordeal-of-honour)

Mentioned as the Duchess of Queensberry, with whom Claudia has gone to Wiltshire.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters/duchess_kitty
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/midwinter_se/characters