Bess of Hardwick was born minor gentry. Very minor. And through her marriages rose to be one of the richest women in England and, through her fourth marriage, became Countess of Shrewsbury. Her second marriage to Sir William Cavendish was the marriage that propelled her to even greater heights. The Greys, parents of the tragic Lady Jane Grey, hosted their wedding at their house Bradgate Manor at the odd hour of 2 AM.
Through this marriage, Bess gained eight children of which six survived to adulthood and the estate of Chatsworth and a lot of debt. Her third marriage resulted in her husband paying her deaths and later she inherited several additional estates and an income that in 2023 would be equivalent to £24,000,000 per year. Her last marriage to The Earl of Shrewsbury brought her an aristocratic title and a prisoner Mary, Queen of Scots, who managed to sabatoge the Shrewsbury marriage by playing the couple against each other, convincing Shrewsbury that Bess was stealing from him and wrote a letter telling Queen Elizabeth what Bess had supposedly said about her.
Astrology of the Cavendish Wedding
The all important Ascendant is in Leo. Fame, children, aristocracy, princes. Leo is the zodiac sign of those who are near the King. Sir William Cavendish was the Treasurer of the King’s Chamber. The King was Henry VIII. Sir William was involved in assessing the monasteries during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. This let him determine the choicest manors and estates to obtain. Bess was his third wife but he had only three surviving daughters.
In the wedding chart, Sir William is the ruler of the Ascendant the Virgo Sun in the second house. He is the servant of a King and he has procured significant wealth for himself. The second house is your personal estate. Wealth not money but assets. Sir William and his estates. Bess is his partner, the Virgo Uranus in the third house. Virgo Uranus. The servant commoner. Until now she has served the servants. Those who serve the king also have attendents and that is how Bess comes into the orbit of the grandees of the King’s court. Not Leo but Aquarius. Although Sir William is much closer and higher than Bess, he is not a magnate of the aristocracy. As a couple in Virgo, they are manifesting material things. This marriage was about the hard work required to obtain wealth. It was through this couple that the Cavendishs, now Dukes of Devonshire and other titles, became true Leonine grandees.
Manifestation in this marriage happens in the second and third houses but the source of the material is in the eighth and ninth houses. Debt and the King himself. The retrograde Pisces Jupiter in the eighth. The spiritual King bent on destruction.
The marriage has a Scorpio north node – Taurus south node. This points to mounting debts but the south node produces material wealth. By going into debt, the marriage produces wealth. The retrograde Aquarius Pluto is the skipped steps of the nodes. Located in the eighth house, Pluto is in the influence of Bess as the Virgo Uranus. Sir William dies and Bess inherits heavily indebted estates. Land rich, cash poor. Although we may never know how Pluto impacted the small elements of her life, this is very much you have to spend money to make money. Bess is Scarlett in Gone with the Wind ripping down the old drapes to make a beautiful gown in an attempt to look flush with cash while she is seducing a man with actual cash. Sir St. Loe was taken with her, married her and paid off her debts. After she was poisoned and recovered and he later died probably poisoned by his brother, he left everything to her. The Scorpionic malignancy of the younger brother led to wealth. Bess was now both asset rich and cash rich.
The Leo Ascendant of this marriage promised children, fame, aristocracy. It was her fourth marriage that sealed her ascent. Marriage to The Earl of Shrewsbury made her the wife of a magnate of the realm. Bess was a grand builder and rose to serve the Queen. She was also the gaoler of another Queen, Mary of Scots. The malignant Queen Mary ruined Bess’ marriage but in the end Bess remained powerful, rich and close to the monarch’s wife. She had gone from minor gentry to the train of the Queen. Her second house Sun marriage was fulfilled and the estates she built and the children she had maintain Leonine status even today.